Can I buy Shinkansen tickets that allow onward travel on JR regional trains?
The other day, I took a train trip from a station just outside the Kyoto city boundaries to Yokohama using the Nozomi Shinkansen for the Kyoto–(Shin-)Yokohama portion. I noticed on my outbound journey that if you are connecting from JR regional trains, you can directly transfer to the Shinkansen part of the staion by buying the appropriate ticket after feeding the machine your regional journey ticket (an IC card in my case).
On my return journey, I used that to my advantage, taking a JR train from Yokohama to Shin-Yokohama. I was also able to transfer through the ticket gates directly to Kyoto JR station to board my local train. However, getting off at my final station, I had to buy a fare adjustment ticket for the final local train portion at my destination station.
Question: Since I already knew at the time of purchasing the Shinkansen ticket that I would take an onwards local JR train, is there any way to purchase a ticket for the entire journey, eliminating the need for fare adjustment?
Or is fare adjustment the only and expected way to transfer from Shinkansen on to local JR trains?
Note: Please assume a non-online purchase spontaneously on the day, if it matters for the answer.
Best Answer
Yes, it's possible. You can even buy these from vending machines if you're feeling brave enough to navigate that twisty maze, but the easiest thing is to visit a manned ticket office (????? midori no madoguchi) and let them sort it out. Writing down your start and end stations plus date, time and class of service will help.
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Answer 2
When going from your departure station "just outside Kyoto" to Yokohama, the base fare part of your ticket was from that station to the Yokohama city zone, which basically means any station in Yokohama. Hence it was valid to exit at Yokohama station.
When going back, you probably just purchased a ticket to Kyoto, and the base fare part was from the Yokohama city zone (any station in Yokohama) to the Kyoto city zone (any station in Kyoto). Again, it was thus valid to enter at Yokohama station. However, your arrival station was outside the Kyoto city zone, hence it was not valid to exit there, and a fare adjustment was necessary.
You should have bought a base fare ticket to your actual arrival station, not to the Kyoto city zone.
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