Is "ticket iron" difficult?

March 5, 15:58

There are many types of railroad enthusiasts, but there is also a genre called "ticket iron".

I am one of the enthusiasts who collect tickets from all over the country.

The new coronavirus has dramatically changed the environment surrounding transportation.

Railway companies and travel agencies are facing a sharp decline in sales, and unmanned train stations and the abolition of ticket counters (ticket offices) are accelerating nationwide.

For ticket collectors, this is an unprecedented headwind.

(Matsuyama Broadcasting Station reporter Shigefumi Goto)

The charm of the ticket is

Railroads, buses and ships.

A "ticket" is indispensable for getting on a vehicle.

And my hobby that focuses on railway tickets is "ticket iron".

Even for railways, we collect a wide variety of tickets such as tickets, limited express tickets, admission tickets, coupon tickets, commuter passes, personal belongings tickets, hard tickets, supplementary tickets, and regular tickets.

The types of tickets handled by JR and private railways are different, some tickets can be purchased at ticket machines, and some tickets are issued at the counter.

IC cards that can be used as substitutes for tickets have become widespread, and it has become possible to ride the Shinkansen without tickets, but there are countless tickets that do not diminish the desire to collect.

Tickets can be bought not only at stations.

It is also sold by travel agencies all over the country.

I think everyone has used the light blue JR ticket issued at the window of the station.

Please pay attention to the bottom of the ticket.

The name of the station that issued the ticket or the branch office of the travel agency is written, and when the travel agency issues the ticket, the abbreviation of the company is attached to the head.

With JTB, you can see where the ticket was issued, such as "Ko" for ○, "Sun" for ○ for travel to Japan, and "Agriculture" for ○ for Nokyo Tourist Corporation.

Because of these characteristics, you will want to go around stations and travel agencies around the world to buy tickets.

Travel agency closed, scale down

The travel agency is going out of business and shrinking in scale.

While it has become easier to book accommodations and transportation via the Internet, making it easier for individual travelers to travel, it is becoming more difficult for travel agencies to catch customers at stores.

Last November, the largest travel agency "JTB" and the major "KNT-CT Holdings", which develops "Kinki Nippon Tourist", made strict announcements one after another.

JTB will reduce 115 stores, which is about a quarter of domestic stores.

The number of Kinki Nippon Tourist stores, which is about 130, has been reduced to one-third.

Both of them also announced a large-scale reduction of personnel, which was big news.

In addition to reducing the number of stores, some stores have closed down.

Founded in 1963, "Travel Japan" (Tokyo) closed its business in December last year.

In addition, "Shizuoka Railway Tourism Service", which was founded in 1965 by a group company of Shizuoka Railway, will end its history at the end of March.

And in mid-January, it was announced that "Nippon Express Travel", which was founded in 1954, will be closed at the end of March.

Nippon Express Travel is a long-established travel agency pioneer that sold overseas travel products "Look" together with Nippon Express Corporation (currently JTB) in the 1960s.

Some people may remember that they were actively releasing commercials during the bubble era.

All of them are long-established stores in the industry, but they cannot withstand the sharp decline in demand and have had to close their businesses.

In addition, the travel industry division of railway companies is shrinking one after another due to the corona wreck.

JR Hokkaido had "Twinkle Plaza" and Enshu Railway (Hamamatsu City) had stores for individuals under the brand name "Entetsu Travel", but all the stores were closed by the end of February. It was done.

Males in Shikoku are also affected

Naturally, Shikoku is not unrelated to this trend.

Fuji Travel Service, a travel agency in Ehime Prefecture, announced in January that it would significantly reduce its store network.

Fuji Travel, a travel agency headquartered in Matsuyama City.

As a group company of Shikoku's largest supermarket "Fuji", it is a travel agency representing Shikoku with 23 stores in Shikoku, mainly in Ehime prefecture.

Due to the impact of the new Corona, sales in the travel industry from March to November last year decreased by 80% year-on-year.

He said that "the future is tough" and announced that nearly half of the 10 stores will be abolished, and decided to continue operations in "Ehime and Hiroshima, which have a strong Fuji network and a large population."

I visited a store that is scheduled to close

Following the announcement of Fuji Travel, I visited a store.

It is a branch "Toms Kochi Sales Office" that was decided to close in late February.

The store was located right next to the entrance to Fuji Grand Kochi, a large commercial facility in the Asakura district of Kochi City.

At the store, there were almost no pamphlets for overseas travel, reflecting the damage of Corona, and pamphlets for the company's domestic travel brand "SWING" targeting nearby Chugoku and Shikoku, JTB, and ANA were lined up.

And on the wall of the store, there is a signboard of "Midori no Madoguchi", and you can see that you can buy JR tickets here.

In Kochi prefecture, where more than 90% of stations are unmanned stations and there are few travel agency stores, it can be said that it is a valuable place where you can purchase tickets for all JR lines on the spot.

Immediately, when I ordered some tickets, the staff at the counter operated the terminal behind the counter.

The ticket came out immediately.

"FJ" is an abbreviation for Fuji Travel.

In addition, the name of the issuing office is printed with the branch name Kochi and the acronym "M" for the ticketing system "MARS", proving that the purchase was made here.

Since last fall, Fuji Travel has removed most of the ticketing terminals in stores in the Chugoku region, including stores scheduled to close.

The person in charge of Fuji Travel said that the reason is that the purchasers of Shinkansen tickets are not in stores but on JR's online reservation services such as "e5489" and "Express Reservation", and sales are declining. I was talking.

Due to the mass closure in late February, tickets issued by stores in Kochi and Takamatsu are no longer available.

In that sense, these tickets seem to be rare.

Chasing the disappearing ticket

There are about 11,000 travel agencies nationwide, but only about 50 companies nationwide, including railway companies in the third sector, can sell tickets for all lines under consignment from JR6.

Of these, Fuji Travel is the only travel agency whose retail business is the parent company.

An environment where you can buy tickets at stations and travel agencies, which was a daily scene.

It's an era where it's not strange when it disappears.

Because of this situation, I would like to collect and record the disappearing tickets in various places.

I think the tickets you collect will remind you of that era.

I hope that these hobbies will help travel agencies in trouble.

We will continue to pursue the changing railway culture all over the country and continue to convey it.

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