Japan planning ‘smart’ tickets for Asia’s metros

By 2011, one ticket will be used to travel in several cities

TOKYA: Japan will start testing a smart card next year that could eventually be used to ride buses and trains in big cities throughout Asia.“It's difficult to buy tickets if you don't speak the language. This will solve such inconvenience,” Japanese transport ministry official Hiroyuki Hotta said.

Smart cards, which are held briefly over a scanner to open ticket gates, are widely used in such cities as Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. But they have yet to transcend borders because there are no international standards for the data they contain.

Japan's transport ministry aims to solve this by developing cards with chips that work in different countries. “It's significant for such a system to be developed in a region like Asia, where there are subways and commuter railways in densely populated areas,” Hotta said. The smart cards should be in use by 2011, Hotta said.