Tokyo-Hakata Nozomi bullet trains eye reducing nonreserved seats

Tightwads.

Anyone noticed how they’ve also changed the seishun juuhachi kippu so that it’s now totally impractical. Come on JR, you can do better.

NewgirlintownToday  07:21 am JST

Anyone noticed how they’ve also changed the seishun juuhachi kippu so that it’s now totally impractical. Come on JR, you can do better.

indeed....

the 'fast' train to Tokyo from out here on the Sotobo, formerly mostly non-reserved cars, recently became reservation-only (and fewer trains). you don't have to book on ekinet but, for busy times, advisable. it also allows you a whopping Y100 discount, though you can opt out of this ( ・◇・)？

a trend on JR East as other businesses.... more hype, less customer convenience.

Can you stand on an all reserved train? It's been so long I can't remember.

The trains are for transporting as many people as need them, not for providing a certain number of people with a certain experience.

The demand for more Nozomi reserved seats is probably from a few factors.

For one, way fewer foreign tourists now get a Rail Pass since they jacked up the price last year. Previously with the Rail Pass, the Nozomi was not allowed, but since foreigners don't use the Rail Pass nearly as much and need to buy the individual tickets, they just opt for the faster Nozomi since its the same price as the other shinkansen trains, and paying a few hundred yen more for a guarenteed seat is nothing for most people. And for those who do get the Rail Pass, it is now possible to use the Nozomi (with an extra fee).

Also, many foreign tourists (particularly first-timers) methodically plan every part of their trip and get reserved seats because they think it is required to book their train tickets well in advance or else they can't somehow get on a train if buying their tickets on the day of travel and going with unreserved.

And anyone using a travel agent usually has their tickets and seats pre-booked for their whole trip.

And there is also the fact that anyone (foreign or Japanese) bringing onboard the increasingly ubiquitous massive suitcases must now have a reserved seat in order to be allowed to take their behemoth baggage on any shinkansen (or else pay an extra 1000 yen baggage fee, which is usually more than the reserved seat fee).

Another veey bad decision by JR.

Personally, for me, I find very convenient the unreserved seats, not for the price, but for the flexibility they provide by choosing my own time of departure. I don't have to be on a fixed schedule and make my plans based on when is the train leaving.

This measure is another one, taken by old geezers from JR, without thinking about the inconvenience and hassle they create to some of their passengers.

This measure is another one, taken by old geezers from JR, without thinking about the inconvenience and hassle they create to some of their passengers.

Privatised monopolies don't give a toss about what the passenger wants. Every step forward since JNR was privatised has been met with a service downgrade at the passengers expense. And they know can get away with it

"We are studying how to offer optimal seating arrangements based on how reserved seats are used," said an official of JR Central.

What a grotesque hypocrite corporate salad of words. What they actually want to do is to increase the prices since more people will have to pay more for a seat.

Geez. As it is now, only 3 of the cars are non-reserved (all in them the first three cars) no matter how long the train are (eight or sixteen carriages).

Plus, when it's not that busy, the non-reserved seating is much more convenient because you can sit anywhere and don't have to get stuck next to someone you don't want to sit next to. Plus, you're free to take any of the trains on that day.

I used to travel on business a lot during off-peak hours and there was never a necessity for me to pay the expensive reserved seat prices, especially since the trains were almost empty or less than half full.

Greed.

Oh boy what is going to happen during the busy times, unsuspecting tourists will get the non re-served tickets only to be met with a very over crowded train cartridge, no dout the excited or wiry traveler who wants to sit down will spill over into the other carriages, where there are empty seats, will the conductor shuffle them back into non re-served coach where there is no room? I can see this leading to a lot of angry passengers. I've been on the bullet train during busy times and they are crowded, but reducing the seats by 85 is ridiculous

If there is one thing that says Japan is an overcrowded country; it’s the trains.

JR is just emphasizing the point.

A nice welcome to Japan for the international tourist.