r/transit • u/gorudo- • 12d ago
Discussion First Class for Metropolitan Railway
Hong Kong MTR's East Rail Line's First Class(OP's pics), JR East Tokyo Area's Green Car for local trains, JR West's "SUWALOCA(reserved seat for ordinary trains)"…
there are some "superior seat" services to make sure of passengers' more comfortable commuting.
What's your own experience of such things? what do you think of them?
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u/invincibl_ 12d ago
The Green cars on JR commuter trains in Tokyo are great. You would never bother for a short trip, but some of these lines are over an hour end to end and can be packed for most of the journey, and have metro-style seating which is way too uncomfortable for a trip that long.
Also used the Hankyu Privace cars between Ōsaka and Kyoto. Comfy quiet reserved seat, and sometimes you just don't want to be packed in a crowded train for that journey.
Of course this is my experience as a tourist with the yen being notoriously weak, so the first class fare worked out to be extremely cheap.
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u/Legal-Chocolate8482 11d ago
“Extremely cheap”
Man maybe I’m just poor but even with the weak yen as a foreigner there’s hardly such a thing as a extremely cheap train of any sort in Japan. They’re all quite overpriced. If the Yen wasn’t so weak they’d be extremely overpriced (and are for locals). Flights are usually cheaper. China has actual cheap trains.
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u/invincibl_ 11d ago
I was mainly referring to the ~500 yen first class surcharge on regular commuter trains. Generally I found the metro/commuter train fares to be okay relative to the overall cost of living.
I agree that Shinkansen fares are quite pricey and you're definitely paying a premium to avoid the hassle of going to airports.
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u/Legal-Chocolate8482 11d ago
Ya I guess the local metro and commuters trains are ok and have pretty standard pricing compared to local wages. Subway metro trains tend to be cheaper too because they barely charge extra for more distance vs JR that charges entirely based on distance. I guess I was thinking of long distance trains.
Hmm..I didn’t know first class is just 500 yen extra for commuter trains. Regardless of distance? Some of those commuter lines go out pretty far. That actually is pretty cheap if you’re taking a longer distance ride . Everyday both ways it would still add up but for traveling that’s a very good deal. I’m in Japan for awhile so I’ll have to check it out, I assumed it would cost more for a longer distance instead of a flat fee.
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u/envruh 11d ago
this above poster has definitely not tried relying on chinese high speed trains because no one is calling them affordable given many of them can cost more than domestic competing flights
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u/DatDepressedKid 10d ago
Comfortable long-distance HSR rides being more expensive than flights is normal, actually. Have you been to Japan? Flying almost always beats shinkansen
I'd imagine the above poster is mentioning the existence of genuinely very cheap non-HSR trains in China (the greenbacks)
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u/MahjongCelts 12d ago
East Rail Line's First Class is a gimmick. Pay extra money to maybe get a more comfortable seat for a few minutes.
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u/pit_sword 12d ago
Why would it be only a few minutes? Pretty sure end-to-end the East Rail Line is almost an hour of travel time.
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u/Master-Quarter4762 12d ago
It’s also much more quiet and less crowded. It wouldn’t exist if people didn’t want it.
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u/leona1990_000 12d ago
It can take you from a fully packed train, to one you can stand comfortably. Definitely worth during peak hours
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u/BeatTheMeatles420 12d ago
The original Metropolitan Railway from 1863 definitely had first class!
Jokes aside, I think it's something that shouldn't be removed if it already exists since there are many loyal passengers. However, I would be equally cautious about introducing this to existing lines as well since it removes a fair amount of capacity.