I recently transferred to my new apartment.
My daily route is from Kokubunji to Shinjuku (Chuo Line) and from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro area (JR Yamanote Line).
I’ve been using my PASMO Card and enrolled it to a commuter’s pass but it expired already last November 1, 2023. My route from that time is from Ikebukuro to Gotanda and from Gotanda (JR Yamanote Line) to Kamata area (Ikegami Line). I am renewing it in the Ikegami Line that time when I still haven’t moved out from my old apartment.
I want to renew my PASMO Card in my Kokubunji or in any Chuo Line Train Stations but my PASMO Card is not being accepted by the Machine. All the Commuter’s Pass machine only accepts SUICA Card. What should I do? I tried searching for commuter’s pass machines (that accepts PASMO) but I just really can’t find any.
Isn’t that SUICA Card and PASMO Card are just the same?
My questions are:
1. Do I need to buy a SUICA just to enroll it to a commuter’s pass?
2. Are there commuter’s pass machines that accepts PASMO?
Thank you so much in advance for your answers.
6 comments
Conclusion ahead: you need to buy a new SUICA commuter pass.
SUICA is issued by JR (former Japanese National Railways)
PASMO is issued by an alliance of private railways in the Kanto region.
They are interchangeable, but there are very slight differences because they are operated by completely different companies. That is, commuter passes that span both JR and other lines can be issued by either SUICA or PASMO, but commuter passes that cover only JR lines can only be issued by SUICA.
Just go to the machine and make a new commuter pass. You need a SUICA commuter pass if you will be using JR lines only. Your old station seems like it was on a Tokyu line and therefore you were issued a PASMO. Yes the price of the new card will be included in the total, but it’s only 500 yen for the card.
Get off at one of the TOEI stations that intersects the Chuo Line. There’ll be Pasmo machines there, inside the TOEI station.
As others have suggested, you could consider purchasing a SUICA card as your new commuter pass. However, if you’re heading to Shinjuku, you have the option to renew your current PASMO card at the Keio line. Additionally, using a mobile app is a convenient alternative. This way, you can keep your physical card at home and renew it through your smartphone whenever necessary.
Ask the station staff they have to unlock an option on the machine as they currently have it disabled due to the lack of new pasmo.
I had a similar problem. I had a commuter pass purchased from the Odakyu Line. I moved to another line that still uses PASMO, but they couldn’t help me change my route because they didn’t issue my card. They said I’d have to go back to an Odakyu office to change the route. I ended up just buying a new commuter pass PASMO.