First-class section being added to Tokyo commuter trains this month with double-decker Green Cars

Every morning, thousands of commuters pile into trains on the Chuo Line to ride from the affordable suburbs of west Tokyo into the downtown office area, then make the journey in reverse to head home at the end of the day. Starting this month, though, some of those commuters are going to be more comfortable than others, as operator East Japan Railway Company/JR East is introducing a first-class section for the Chuo Line.

Technically, JR calls them “Green Cars,” but functionally they’re a first-class section that gets passengers access to a more luxurious and spacious section of the train for an additional fee. Not every Chuo Line train will be getting Green Cars, but they’ll be added to 12-car Chuo Line Rapid service trains, with the double-decker Green Cars positioned in the car number 4 and 5 slots. That means trains with Green Cars will make stops in the city center at major stations such as Tokyo, Kanda, Ochanomizu, Shinjuku, and Nakano, and also stations further west of downtown including Kichijoji, Mitaka, Tachikawa, and Hachioji, plus western end-of-the-line Otsuki in Yamanashi Prefecture.

So what sort of niceties await Green Car passengers? The biggest perk is actual individual seats. Like most commuter trains, Chuo Line cars usually have bench seating positioned parallel to the sides of the train, but inside the Green Car are two-by-two rows of seats that recline and are equipped with fold-out seatback trays and coat hooks, like you’d find on the shinkansen. Each seat has its own power outlet and there’s free Wi-Fi too. Green Cars also have in-car trash cans, so you can toss away the empty can of coffee you drank as an on-the-way-to-work eye opener, and there’s a bathroom as well, in case you downed too many fluids and have a sudden need to use the facilities.

JR East is also adding Green Cars to trains on the Ome Line between Ome Station, on the northwest outskirts of Tokyo, and Tachikawa, which is an urbanized enclave with numerous offices and schools itself in addition to being a transfer hub for those continuing on to downtown.

We took a Chuo Line Green Car preview ride a while back, and it was definitely comfier than what we’re used to on the commuter route. But how much does that extra comfort cost? It’s a little complicated…and also pretty expensive.

The way Green Cars work is that you pay for a regular-class ticket and then tack a supplementary Green Car charge onto that (paid for at a ticket kiosk at the station). The Green Car charge varies by distance ridden, but in the case of the Chuo and Ome Lines, the applicable tiers are the under-50-kilometer fee, which is 1,010 yen, and the 50-to-100-kilometer fee, which is 1,260 yen.

Based on that, let’s see what the total cost would be to take the Green Car for four possible one-way commutes, starting with their base ticket prices.

● Base ticket price

Hachioji to Tokyo: 824 yen

Takao to Shinjuku: 571 yen

Takao to Tokyo: 945 yen

Otsuki to Shinjuku: 1,342 yen

The first two routes are both under 50 kilometers, while the others will require the more expensive 50-to-100-kilometer Green Car surcharge. That means the ticket prices more than double for the first three routes, and even the Otsuki-to-Shinjuku ride sees a nearly 95-percent price increase.

● Base ticket prices plus Green Car surcharge

Hachioji to Tokyo: 1,834 yen

Takao to Shinjuku: 1,581 yen

Takao to Tokyo: 2,205 yen

Otsuki to Shinjuku: 2,584 yen

▼ Those extra-large Green Car window views comes at an extra-large price.

However, odds are hardly anyone on the Chuo/Ome Line Green Cars will be paying the full surcharge. That’s because JR East offers a discount if you pay for the surcharge using either its Suica prepaid IC card or the Suica mobile app. Doing that knocks 260 yen off the price, dropping the ones in our discussion down to 750 and 1,000 yen. Since virtually everyone who regularly rides the trains in Tokyo has a Suica card, it’s a safe bet that almost all Green Car passengers will take advantage of the offer.

● Base ticket prices plus Green Car surcharge (paid for using Suica)

Hachioji to Tokyo: 1,574 yen

Takao to Shinjuku: 1,321 yen

Takao to Tokyo: 1,945 yen

Otsuki to Shinjuku: 2,324 yen

Bear in mind, though, that these are all one-way fares. If you want to take the Green Car both two and from work, you’ll need to shell out for the surcharge again on the way home, so even if you’re getting the Suica discount, you’re adding 1,500 or 2,000 yen to your round-trip commuting cost. Assuming a 20-day work month, that adds up to an additional 30,000/40,000 yen a month, or 360,000/480,000 yen a year.

That’s a major outlay, and especially so when you consider that the Green Car ticket only guarantees you access to the car, and does not reserve a seat for you. In other words, there’s a chance that after paying the surcharge, you’ll step into the Green Car and find every seat already taken, in which case you’ll have to stand.

There’s one more aspect to consider in all this though, which is that it’s common for employers in Japan to pay for their regular employees commuting expenses. Odds are the perk won’t be extended to recompensating workers for Green Car commutes, but having the base ticket price taken care will make it easier for commuters to pay the surcharge out of pocket if they so desire. And since Green Car tickets are sold on an individual-ride basis, there’s no need to commit to a full month of the additional charges, so it may turn out that more so than taking them for both halves of the commute every day, the Chuo/Ome Line Green Cars will become popular with workers occasionally splurging on a little extra luxury, maybe when en route to an important meeting or on their way home from an exceptionally busy day.

The Chuo and Ome Line Green Cars go into service on March 15.

Source: JR East, Financial Field via Yahoo! Japan News via Golden Times

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