Disability News Japan Podcast: Nagoya subway replaces platform timetables with QR codes to cut costs

By Barrier Free Japan

September 4 2023

JAPAN – All timetables have been removed from platforms on the Nagoya Municipal Subway Sakura-dori Line and replaced by QR codes that allow users to check the schedule on the web instead.

While some other railroad companies are working to remove physical timetables, this is the first time this has been done by the Nagoya Municipal Subway. The city’s Transportation Bureau explained the switch, completed by Aug. 31, was for “cost-cutting.” According to the bureau, changing the timetables costs several million yen (several tens of thousands of dollars) each time the schedule is revised, while passengers can already check when the next train is leaving on the platforms’ electronic bulletin boards.

Episode Notes: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230901/p2a/00m/0bu/012000c