Following the government’s approval of its passenger fare change application, Seibu Railway will implement a fare revision in March 2026 and has filed a notification of the fare change to introduce a flat fare for children.
The 10 yen surcharge “barrier-free fare” will be abolished.
Seibu cited the fact that commuter pass passenger numbers have only recovered to about 80% of pre-COVID levels, and that the business environment is expected to remain tough due to labor shortages and rising material prices. This is the first fare revision in 24 years since 2002, excluding those due to the consumption tax rate change, and the regular fare will be revised by 11.9%, and the starting fare (IC card) will be increased from the current 157 yen to 169 yen.
Commuter pass fares will be revised in line with the increase in regular fares, but student passes will remain unchanged from their current fares to reduce the burden on households. In addition, in order to promote the development of barrier-free facilities such as platform doors, a “railway station barrier-free fare” that adds 10 yen to the regular fare has been introduced since March 2023, but it has been decided to abolish the fare collection with this fare revision, assuming that the development will continue.
Children can ride unlimitedly for one month for 1,000 yen
In line with the fare revision, in order to support children and their families living along the line, the children’s IC fare will be a flat 50 yen per ride regardless of the section. For example, if a family of four, consisting of two adults and two children, travels between Ikebukuro Station and Seibu Chichibu Station round trip using an IC card ticket, it currently costs a total of 4,776 yen (796 yen for adult and 398 yen for child per one-way trip), but after the revision, it will cost 3,400 yen (800 yen for adult and 50 yen for child), which is about 30% cheaper. In addition, the price of a child’s school commuter pass will be standardized to 500 yen (1 month) and a child’s commuter pass will be standardized to 1,000 yen (1 month), and a new “child’s all-line free commuter pass” will be released for 1,000 yen (1 month, child IC card only) that allows unlimited use of all Seibu lines, which can be used for a wide range of purposes such as commuting to school, lessons, and leisure activities on holidays.
According to Seibu, this will be the first time that a flat fare for a child’s commuter pass and a free all-line pass limited to child IC cards will be introduced by a major private railway company. The free all-line pass will be sold as a commuter pass that does not require a school attendance certificate when purchasing, but it cannot be used as a connecting pass for other companies’ lines, and if you want to use a single pass that covers other companies’ line sections, you will need to choose a child’s commuter pass of the same price that sets the section of use. The implementation date of the fare revision and the child’s flat fare will be announced as soon as it is confirmed.
