What's the point of a train pass?

[Samurai_Jerk]

The link is in the behavioral pattern. Not in the banana-to-train-ticket link.
People start eating bananas, availability dwindling, OMG people eat banana, must be good, must do same.
Long waiting line for restaurants, OMG must be good, must eat there.
Rush for ETC device when highway got discounts... No matter the actual highway use done...
Car ribbon stickers... I know it's also an happenstance in other countries, but the Japanese ones universally make no fucking sense whatsoever...
pretty sure you could make the same link for wii-fit and rock-band.
Wouldn't take much to manipulate the same demand for stuff like railpass.

All populations tend to have common temporary trends or fashions but with the locals it reach levels where you wonder if you are not facing a 'collective mind' syndrome straight of the worst scifi made for TV movie...

Still no relation to commuter passes.

My Japanese colleagues know perfectly well how to select the cheapest way from A to B. But they are also subject to administrative rules.

So does your company require a receipt to get paid back for transportation?

[matsuki]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Car ribbon stickers... I know it's also an happenstance in other countries, but the Japanese ones universally make no fucking sense whatsoever...

I saw one last week that said "THANK YOU JAPAN" on the back of a taxi

[Russell]

So does your company require a receipt to get paid back for transportation?

Nope, a copy or scan of the teikiken.

[yanpa]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

[Russell]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

He probably means the 0-alcohol ones.

Or the 125cc's...

[Samurai_Jerk]

So does your company require a receipt to get paid back for transportation?

Nope, a copy or scan of the teikiken.

Fucking pathetic.

[yanpa]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

He probably means the 0-alcohol ones.

Or the 125cc's...

Ah yes, a man's drink

Anyway I reckon with my teikiken I save about 30% compared to the base ticket price, so no grounds for complaint. OPMMV, and I don't use Toei.

[matsuki]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

He probably means the 0-alcohol ones.

Or the 125cc's...

Ah yes, a man's drink

Fuck you guys! I was just using 100yen to get my point across

...although 0-alcohol do get regularly handed out after some of our playoff games (people have to drive home) I promptly shake and spray that shit all over out keeper.

[Samurai_Jerk]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

He probably means the 0-alcohol ones.

Or the 125cc's...

Ah yes, a man's drink

Fuck you guys! I was just using 100yen to get my point across

...although 0-alcohol do get regularly handed out after some of our playoff games (people have to drive home) I promptly shake and spray that shit all over out keeper.

Why drink that shit? Just have a Coke or an oolong cha or something.

[matsuki]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

He probably means the 0-alcohol ones.

Or the 125cc's...

Ah yes, a man's drink

Fuck you guys! I was just using 100yen to get my point across

...although 0-alcohol do get regularly handed out after some of our playoff games (people have to drive home) I promptly shake and spray that shit all over out keeper.

Why drink that shit? Just have a Coke or an oolong cha or something.

I don't, same with Happoshu, shit is terrible.

[Samurai_Jerk]

So to sum things up, these discounts are like supermarket discounts. 100yen for a beer and 598yen for a six pack....but if you buy 3 cans before noon and 3 cans after noon, for some reason the total cost is 498yen ?????

Where can you buy 100 yen beers?

He probably means the 0-alcohol ones.

Or the 125cc's...

Ah yes, a man's drink

Fuck you guys! I was just using 100yen to get my point across

...although 0-alcohol do get regularly handed out after some of our playoff games (people have to drive home) I promptly shake and spray that shit all over out keeper.

Why drink that shit? Just have a Coke or an oolong cha or something.

I don't, same with Happoshu, shit is terrible.

But at least happoshu has alcohol. By the way, some of the Belgian-made cheap happosei that seems to be for the Japanese market isn't bad.

[matsuki]

Belgian white neko something or other? I might have a can or two of that in the fridge. (was a gift assholes!)

[Kanchou]

If you live a significant distance from and there are stations/areas within your teiki's "kennai" that you visit often it can be pretty useful. Akihabara (or at least a station right next to it) was in my route so I went there... a lot.

I remember when I was in school in Tokyo a three or six month teiki for a 30 minute train ride was only a couple thousand yen...

If your teiki's area of use includes a major hub station like Tokyo, it saves you several hundred yen every time you go any distance out of your area.

In fact, if you go waaaay out of your area but can go home without exiting the turnstiles you can make the return trip for the minimum fare.

[Russell]

If you live a significant distance from and there are stations/areas within your teiki's "kennai" that you visit often it can be pretty useful. Akihabara (or at least a station right next to it) was in my route so I went there... a lot.

I remember when I was in school in Tokyo a three or six month teiki for a 30 minute train ride was only a couple thousand yen...

If your teiki's area of use includes a major hub station like Tokyo, it saves you several hundred yen every time you go any distance out of your area.

In fact, if you go waaaay out of your area but can go home without exiting the turnstiles you can make the return trip for the minimum fare.

If you don't go through the turnstiles, your teiki is not checked out, and you won't be able to get in the next time.

[yanpa]

If you live a significant distance from and there are stations/areas within your teiki's "kennai" that you visit often it can be pretty useful. Akihabara (or at least a station right next to it) was in my route so I went there... a lot.

I remember when I was in school in Tokyo a three or six month teiki for a 30 minute train ride was only a couple thousand yen...

If your teiki's area of use includes a major hub station like Tokyo, it saves you several hundred yen every time you go any distance out of your area.

In fact, if you go waaaay out of your area but can go home without exiting the turnstiles you can make the return trip for the minimum fare.

If you don't go through the turnstiles, your teiki is not checked out, and you won't be able to get in the next time.

He means you can travel as far as you like, but as long as you don't exit through any turnstiles other than the ones covered by your tekiken, you won't have to actually pay anything. I.e you can spend the day travelling, even on other lines if they have turnstile-free interchanges. I did that a lot when I was an impoverished student with much time and little money...

I wonder if there is some kind of time limit which will stop one's card working if one has spent too much time in the system?

[wagyl]

I wonder if there is some kind of time limit which will stop one's card working if one has spent too much time in the system?

Based purely on the existence of whole shopping centres within the ticket wickets at some JR stations, I would say no, perhaps within the same "business day" (even if the day goes until that Japanese specialty, 26h00) although departing at the exact same station you entered can raise a red flag.

[Russell]

I wonder if there is some kind of time limit which will stop one's card working if one has spent too much time in the system?

Based purely on the existence of whole shopping centres within the ticket wickets at some JR stations, I would say no, perhaps within the same "business day" (even if the day goes until that Japanese specialty, 26h00) although departing at the exact same station you entered can raise a red flag.

You can just say that you went to the toilet in the station with your teikiken.

And it took a couple of hours because of constipation.

After all, your bowels are much shorter than those of Japanese...

[Kanchou]

I'm pretty sure the system doesn't give a fuck how many hours you spent in the system. As long as you put your ticket through a turnstile within your range, it will let you in our out.

The teiki gives you a lot of leeway to do a lot of things as long as your 'kennai' is reasonably large and includes at least one major hub (Shinjuku, Tokyo, Ueno, Shinagawa, Akihabara, etc)

[yanpa]

Tragically the days of free-for-all (or at least ¥130-for-all) kiseru are gone...

[Russell]

Just wondering: is it legal to travel in a zone not covered by your teiki?

Methinks if they check your teiki in the train and you are in an area not covered, you could expect some shit to happen?

[yanpa]

Just wondering: is it legal to travel in a zone not covered by your teiki?

I can't see how it would be, as you always have the possibility of paying excess fare at your destination. Presumably illegal would be the act of not paying for the services used, but that would be hard to prove anyway.

Methinks if they check your teiki in the train and you are in an area not covered, you could expect some shit to happen?

Only if you admit that you have no intention of paying the excess fare at your destination, I guess. Not that I've ever had my ticket checked while actually on a normal train.

[Russell]

Just wondering: is it legal to travel in a zone not covered by your teiki?

I can't see how it would be, as you always have the possibility of paying excess fare at your destination. Presumably illegal would be the act of not paying for the services used, but that would be hard to prove anyway.

Methinks if they check your teiki in the train and you are in an area not covered, you could expect some shit to happen?

Only if you admit that you have no intention of paying the excess fare at your destination, I guess. Not that I've ever had my ticket checked while actually on a normal train.

But if you travel back from a destination not covered by your teiki to a destination covered by your teiki, it will be hard to make the case that you intended to pay the excess fare.

[GomiGirl]

There used to be a "glitch" in the system that allowed you to use your teiki ken on the way out of your home station and not requiring a start ticket.

I once made it all the way home from Narita on a 130 yen ticket and just by choosing the right norikae stations, I didn't have to go through any wickets. At my home station I just swiped my teiki and I was out.

I found that I got most of my value when coming home from my non start station - even on weekends.

But it has been years since I bought and used a teiki. I mainly ride a bike these days.

[wagyl]

Fun fact, now condemned to the history bucket since the system does not let these things through any more: the naughty but common practice described by GomiGirl was called kiseru, named after a smoking pipe, because there was 金 at one end, 金 at the other end, but no 金 in the middle.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

...called kiseru, named after a smoking pipe, because there was 金 at one end, 金 at the other end, but no 金 in the middle.

I don't fu金 get it....

[wagyl]

...called kiseru, named after a smoking pipe, because there was 金 at one end, 金 at the other end, but no 金 in the middle.

I don't fu金 get it....

I reckon you fu金 do, but it make it clearer, there was (お)金 at one end, (お)金 at the other end, but no (お)金 in the middle.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

...called kiseru, named after a smoking pipe, because there was 金 at one end, 金 at the other end, but no 金 in the middle.

I don't fu金 get it....

I reckon you fu金 do, but it make it clearer, there was (お)金 at one end, (お)金 at the other end, but no (お)金 in the middle.

Just jo金！
Now, I'm than金！

[matsuki]

There used to be a "glitch" in the system that allowed you to use your teiki ken on the way out of your home station and not requiring a start ticket.

I once made it all the way home from Narita on a 130 yen ticket and just by choosing the right norikae stations, I didn't have to go through any wickets. At my home station I just swiped my teiki and I was out.

I found that I got most of my value when coming home from my non start station - even on weekends.

But it has been years since I bought and used a teiki. I mainly ride a bike these days.

This still works with the JR Rail passes....one could ask a friend to buy/bring/activate and extra one for you when they come to visit the land of four, sometimes five, seasons.

[Kanchou]

Fun fact, now condemned to the history bucket since the system does not let these things through any more: the naughty but common practice described by GomiGirl was called kiseru, named after a smoking pipe, because there was 金 at one end, 金 at the other end, but no 金 in the middle.

So you can't do that any more?

I would think JR was losing more from people jumping the fences at inaka stations or just lying about which station they boarded at when there are mujineki with no machines. Of course, I usually lie but I make it at least two or three stations instead of one... hehe.

[yanpa]

Back on topic, it seems my new employer is reimbursing me for the basic two-way fare for each working day, which comes to approximately 2,000 yen per month more than the equivalent monthly teikiken, tax free no receipts required.