IC fare card Pasmo for trains and buses

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The new IC card, named Pasmo, will allow passengers to ride trains, including subways, as well as buses operated by about 60 different transportation companies in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures using the IC card, the card operator Pasmo Co said. The Pasmo card will debut on March 18 in Tokyo. The IC card covering of the railways and buses in the Tokyo metropolitan area was demonstrated to the media Sunday. Two types of card will be available-adult and child. In the adult card the owners name will be on the card while address etc will be registered. If lost the card will be re issued. You can buy a card with maximum 20,000 Yen credit. With the introduction of the new card, which can be used interchangeably with East Japan Railway Co’s Suica IC fare card, the convenience of Tokyo commuting will improve significantly.


Pasmo, named after PASsnet MOre, also has electronic money functions like Suica (Suica stands for “Super Urban Intelligent CArd”, and the pronunciation is also a pun on the Japanese word for watermelon, “suika”) enabling users to shop and dine at designated stores within and outside stations.