Nishi-Nippon Railroad will introduce contactless credit card payments across all route buses in the Fukuoka metropolitan area. It will also issue a new nimocle Card and establish a system for earning V Points.
Nishi-Nippon Railroad announced on the 16th that it will introduce contactless cashless payments across all route buses in the Fukuoka metropolitan area. Using Sumitomo Mitsui Card's service for public transportation, it aims to support approximately 1,300 buses by fiscal 2028. At present, the system has been introduced on 161 buses, including highway buses and some route buses.
The system has already been introduced at all 73 railway stations, which is expected to make transfers more convenient. Atsushi Tabata (田端 敦), president of Nishitetsu's group company nimoca, said he believes it will help capture inbound demand and reduce staffing requirements.
Issuance of the new credit card, the "nimocle Card (ニモクルカード)," will also begin on 16 November, allowing users to earn V Points when using trains, buses and commercial facilities. Koichi Hayashida (林田 浩一), president of Nishi-Nippon Railroad, said cashless payments are becoming more widespread and that promoting them is necessary to maintain public transportation.
Nishi-Nippon Railroad will add a function to top up nimoca balances via smartphone from the 16th. The existing balance inquiry app will be enhanced to enable smartphone top-ups, but users will not be able to board using only a smartphone and will still need to tap their card as before.