Five JR companies (Hokkaido, East Japan, Tokai, Shikoku and Kyushu) have started the sales of commuter passes that can be used from April 1 a week earlier than in usual years. The purpose is to avoid the tickets offices getting overwhelmed after the consumption tax goes up from 5% to 8% on April 1.
Normally they start sales of commuter passes a week before their starting date. JR officials said long queues in 1997 -- when the consumption tax was last hiked -- caused chaos. The rail operators are advising commuters to purchase their passes sooner rather than later.
© Japan Today
8 Comments
Login to comment
Magnus Roe
Cute. Northern europe with their 25% VAT says hello.
I'm sick of lunch discussions over this tax "hike", it is for all intents and purposes negligible. I have a rather expensive commuter pass at roughly 28 000 yen a month, it will be 808yen more expensive per month, money you will waste by waiting for probably over an hour in line.
If you're building a house, it makes sense, but just barely.
slumdog
Yet, for each time the tax was implimented or raised the economy has tanked.
But, wouldn't most commuters consider hurrying to buy them before the hike takes effect?
Jean ValJean
I bought a new pass for a year at the current, lower cost instead of the usual monthly.
Garthgoyle
Thanks for that explanation Educator60. I couldn't understand much from the article even after reading it twice.
justbcuzisay
I still don't understand the moderators comment that JR doesn't want millions to buy them AFTER, why would there be any kind of higher demand after the raise? It seems that the problem would be with only one week before to buy everyone would be eager to get it BEFORE causing crowds, instead of some people who might normally buy it later
Moderator
The story is easy to understand. According to JR, they do not want millions of commuters swarming their offices on April 1 or 2, which is what happened in 1997 when the consumption tax was last hiked. At that time, millions of commuters did, in fact, wait until after the tax was hiked. This is why JR is urging commuters to buy their passes earlier this time. That ends discussion on this point.