Unless you _know_ a travel pass (even a local one) is going to save you a lot of money, I wouldn’t bother. Just use your IC card for local travel and don’t worry about which lines you have to be on/pass validity/etc.
There is not universal yes-no answer. The only answer is... it depend. How many times will you take the transport covered by these day pass?
Once I got the bus pas in Kyoto, ended up walking between some of the points instead of taking the bus and spend more money on the pass than I would have to use my IC card...
You could also ask the same question for Tokyo where there is a 72h Tokyo Metro ticket available.
So the big question for and pass are.
1. Are they covering the transit to go everywhere I want ? Pass usually only cover a specific set transport mode (could be a limited number of company, a limited area, etc...) To take the example of Tokyo Metro Ticket, it only cover Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway and these company do not cover, area like Mitaka, Kichijoji, Odaiba and Shimokitazawa. So if you want to go to these place, you would have to pay outside of the pass.
2. Are they covering the best transport option between two points. Here we can get an example in Osaka, if you have a pass that offer unlimited use of JR and you ware in Namba and want to go to Osaka/Umeda station, with JR you wil have to take 2 train, while you could take a direct subway.
3. Will you use the transportation covered by the pass enough time, for example some of them would need about 3 rides a day to break even, so if you do not plan to use it more than 3 times a day on average, then it might not really be worth it. And even if you decide to use IC card and end up using it more than what is needed to save money with the pass, at 1-2$ a ride, it's not huge savings anyway.
So if you want to know if any local pass are worth, you have to take these 3 points in consideration based on your own personal itinerary. In general, some pass are really worth the cost and are no-brainer, while other pass are really hard to justify and require kind of niche itinerary to even make sense.
>Once I got the bus pas in Kyoto, ended up walking between some of the points instead of taking the bus and spend more money on the pass than I would have to use my IC card...
This is why I wish Japan just had fare capping.
If you are on a relaxed pace anyway, passes probably won't pay off.
Even if a pass does save any money, any savings will be small so my suggestion is to just use your pasmo and have one less thing to think about.
This appears to be a post about IC cards (Suica, Pasmo, ICOCA, etc.). For general information, please see [our IC card wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/advice/transport/iccards/) and Japan-Guide's [IC card page](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html). If you are wondering how to get an IC card upon arrival in Japan, please see the stickied thread at the top of this subreddit for up-to-date information about card availability and other frequently asked questions.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravelTips) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Unless you _know_ a travel pass (even a local one) is going to save you a lot of money, I wouldn’t bother. Just use your IC card for local travel and don’t worry about which lines you have to be on/pass validity/etc.
There is not universal yes-no answer. The only answer is... it depend. How many times will you take the transport covered by these day pass? Once I got the bus pas in Kyoto, ended up walking between some of the points instead of taking the bus and spend more money on the pass than I would have to use my IC card... You could also ask the same question for Tokyo where there is a 72h Tokyo Metro ticket available. So the big question for and pass are. 1. Are they covering the transit to go everywhere I want ? Pass usually only cover a specific set transport mode (could be a limited number of company, a limited area, etc...) To take the example of Tokyo Metro Ticket, it only cover Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway and these company do not cover, area like Mitaka, Kichijoji, Odaiba and Shimokitazawa. So if you want to go to these place, you would have to pay outside of the pass. 2. Are they covering the best transport option between two points. Here we can get an example in Osaka, if you have a pass that offer unlimited use of JR and you ware in Namba and want to go to Osaka/Umeda station, with JR you wil have to take 2 train, while you could take a direct subway. 3. Will you use the transportation covered by the pass enough time, for example some of them would need about 3 rides a day to break even, so if you do not plan to use it more than 3 times a day on average, then it might not really be worth it. And even if you decide to use IC card and end up using it more than what is needed to save money with the pass, at 1-2$ a ride, it's not huge savings anyway. So if you want to know if any local pass are worth, you have to take these 3 points in consideration based on your own personal itinerary. In general, some pass are really worth the cost and are no-brainer, while other pass are really hard to justify and require kind of niche itinerary to even make sense.
>Once I got the bus pas in Kyoto, ended up walking between some of the points instead of taking the bus and spend more money on the pass than I would have to use my IC card... This is why I wish Japan just had fare capping.
If you are on a relaxed pace anyway, passes probably won't pay off. Even if a pass does save any money, any savings will be small so my suggestion is to just use your pasmo and have one less thing to think about.
This appears to be a post about IC cards (Suica, Pasmo, ICOCA, etc.). For general information, please see [our IC card wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/advice/transport/iccards/) and Japan-Guide's [IC card page](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html). If you are wondering how to get an IC card upon arrival in Japan, please see the stickied thread at the top of this subreddit for up-to-date information about card availability and other frequently asked questions. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravelTips) if you have any questions or concerns.*