To welcome the World Swimming Championships, Fukuoka City introduced a new service. If your credit card supports touch payment, you can use it for riding the subway. When using a credit card with Touch functionality to take the Fukuoka subway, if your daily fare exceeds 640 yen, only 640 yen will be deducted, and the rest of your fares will be free.

Maximum 640 Yen for Fukuoka City Subway!

Starting from July 7, 2023, in anticipation of the World Swimming Championships, Fukuoka City has released a new subway service. By using a credit card with touch payment, the daily maximum fare for riding the subway is 640 yen, which is equivalent to the price of a Fukuoka City Subway Day Pass.

This service applies to all stations on Fukuoka City Subway’s Airport Line, Hakozaki Line, and Nanakuma Line.

With this service, you no longer need to charge like using an IC card as you did in the past. You won’t face any issues of insufficient fare, and there’s no need to queue at ticket machines or fare adjustment machines. For foreign visitors, you won’t need to purchase tickets or IC cards for transportation; you can simply use your credit card to touch and ride, making it extremely convenient.

This is the first time such a system is being tried in Japan’s railway system.

This service will start from July 7, 2023, and is expected to end on March 31, 2024. If you plan to travel to Fukuoka during this period, give it a try.

A simplified calculation: If you ride the Airport Line from Fukuoka Airport to Ohori Park Station, then walk and continue using the subway to reach Nishijin Station, where Fukuoka City Museum is located. Afterward, you use the Airport Line to go to Akasaka Station to enjoy some night market snacks, and finally return to Hakata Station. If you use a transportation IC card (like Suica, PASMO, or ICOCA), it would cost 1,030 yen (300 yen + 210 yen + 260 yen + 260 yen). However, if you initially use a credit card for touch payment, it will only cost 640 yen.

Credit Cards Supported for Fukuoka Subway Touch Payment

The credit card brands in the above table can be used for this new transportation service in Fukuoka City.

However, your credit card must support touch payment. If your credit card has the symbol shown below, it can be used:

How to Use Credit Card Touch Payment on Fukuoka Subway

At the Fukuoka Subway ticket gates, in addition to the usual card reader for IC cards, a new card reader for credit card touch payments has been added, as shown in the picture below:

All you need to do is use your credit card to touch the card reader when you board the subway, and then touch it again when you exit the station. Everything else for riding is the same as using a regular transportation IC card.

When you touch your card on the same day between 3:00 AM and 3:00 AM the next day (which counts as “one day”), the system will only deduct a maximum of 640 yen from your card, even if the total fare exceeds that amount.

Notes on Using Credit Card Touch Payment on Fukuoka Subway

The 640 yen maximum applies only when using the same card number and the same payment method.

For example, if you use two credit cards with different card numbers, one card consumes 560 yen, and the other consumes 300 yen. Although the total exceeds 640 yen, you will still be charged 560 + 300 = 860 yen.

Additionally, some credit cards can be used directly and through mobile phone payments. In this case, if you use a physical credit card to ride and consume 560 yen and then use your mobile phone to ride and consume 300 yen, even if it’s the same card number, the payment methods are different. Therefore, you will still be charged 860 yen.

Also, please note that the credit card touch payment and the daily maximum fare of 640 yen are only applicable to all stations on Fukuoka City Subway’s Airport Line, Hakozaki Line, and Nanakuma Line. There are other train lines in Fukuoka City, such as JR Chikuhi Line and Nishitetsu Kaizuka Line. When riding these trains, you may not be able to use credit card touch payment, and even if you can, the fare will be calculated separately and will not be subject to the 640 yen limit.