The operator of a short railway that runs in a city near Tokyo will launch a facial recognition ticketing system on Saturday. It will be the first time to introduce such a system in a full-fledged way on a railway in Japan.
The Yamaman Yukarigaoka Line runs in a residential area of Sakura City in the prefecture of Chiba. The entire route is about 4 kilometers.
Passengers will need to register their facial photo, credit card and other information online in advance. Cameras installed at the ticket gates will confirm their face, allowing them to board with fares automatically paid by credit card.
Paper tickets will remain available, but those with magnetic backing will be replaced by ones with QR codes. There will be some exceptions such as discounted tickets.
The rail operator says a firm that develops facial recognition technologies has tapped it to use the system, saying that the firm hopes to start on a small-scale route with an eye to expanding the service across the country.
The operator spent about 60 million yen, or 381,000 dollars, including government subsidies, to introduce the system.
A senior official of the operator, Yoshida Hideaki, said the cost to provide passenger tickets is expected to decrease by about 30 percent.
The official expressed hope that passengers will try the convenient system.