← Back to Next Subway

Next Subway (つぎチカ, Tsugi Chika) is an unofficial next-train tool for the Fukuoka City Subway.

How to Ride the Fukuoka City Subway: Tickets, Fares and Access to Sights

This page is for first-time riders and visitors to the Fukuoka City Subway (Airport, Hakozaki and Nanakuma lines). It covers how to ride, fares, and the nearest stations for some sights.

This is an unofficial guide. It is based on information published by the Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau (福岡市交通局), but fares and rules may change. If anything here differs from the Transportation Bureau's information (in Japanese), please follow theirs. Checked on October 23, 2026.

Station and line names follow the English on the Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau subway route map. The Japanese names are shown alongside. Source: Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau route map (English, PDF)

1. Find stations and next trains with Next Subway

Next Subway shows the next train, the one after, and the last train for each station and direction, using the timetable data for all subway stations published by the Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau. You can search by station name in kanji or hiragana, or choose from the stations near your current location (現在地から近い駅).

The app is available in English. Station names are shown in English with the Japanese name alongside, so the Japanese names in parentheses on this page match what you see in the app. The language can be changed with the button in the header.

When you choose a boarding station and an exit station, the app also shows your arrival time. For trips that need a change, it shows trains with up to one change (for trips that need two changes, such as between the Hakozaki Line and the Nanakuma Line, please split the trip at a station on the way). You can choose how many minutes to allow for a change: 3, 5, 7 or 10 (5 at first).

There are three timetables: weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays and holidays (休日). On national holidays, including those from Monday to Saturday, the app shows the Sunday and holiday timetable.

Some Airport Line trains run through from Meinohama (姪浜) onto the JR Chikuhi Line (for example, trains for Chikuzen-Maebaru, 筑前前原). Next Subway only shows times at subway stations. For times at stations beyond Meinohama, please check JR's information.

Times are as scheduled. Delays and suspensions are not shown. For the current service status, see the Transportation Bureau's service information (in Japanese).

Open Next Subway

2. Riding

Buying a ticket

• Tickets (regular tickets) are sold at the ticket machines in each station (fares: section 4). A regular ticket is valid only on the day you buy it, from the station where you buy it.
• The ticket machine screens can be switched from Japanese to English. Some ticket machines can be switched between 4 languages: Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. The machines do not accept 1-yen or 5-yen coins.
• Tickets to stations on the JR Chikuhi Line and the Nishitetsu Kaizuka Line can also be bought at subway ticket machines (press the button for other companies' lines, then the fare button).

Ticket gates

• Tickets and one-day passes: put them into the automatic ticket gate and take them back after you pass.
• IC card: touch it on the reader of the gate. Please do not touch with a card case that also holds other IC cards. Do not put the card into the ticket slot.
• One IC card cannot be used by several people at the same time. If several people ride together, please buy a ticket for each person at a ticket machine.
• Contactless credit cards: touch the card firmly on the dedicated reader of the automatic ticket gate until the green light comes on (section 4).

Platforms

• All subway stations have platform screen doors.
• Between Meinohama (姪浜) and Tenjin (天神), trains for Fukuoka Airport and trains for Kaizuka stop at the same platform. Please check the destination before you board.
• The times in the timetable are departure times. The doors may close before the time in the timetable.

If your fare is not enough

• Ticket: if the fare of your ticket is less than the fare for the section you rode, you pay the difference. If you paid more, it is not refunded.
• IC card: if your balance is not enough, top up (top up the shortfall) at a fare adjustment machine with the Hayakaken (はやかけん) mark before you leave. IC card fare adjustments are cash only.

Wheelchairs and luggage

All subway stations have elevators, and you can go from the street entrance to the platform by elevator (at some stations, you use the elevator of a building connected to the station). If you need assistance, tell the station staff at the ticket gate, and they will help you get on and off. If you call your boarding station in advance to arrange it, you will not have to wait. Every car has a priority space for wheelchairs and strollers.

You can bring luggage on board free of charge if the total of its length, width and height is within 250 cm (excluding items with one side over 200 cm) and it weighs up to 30 kg.

3. Changing lines

The stations where subway lines meet are Nakasu-Kawabata (中洲川端) (Airport Line, Hakozaki Line) and Hakata (博多) (Airport Line, Nanakuma Line).

• Nakasu-Kawabata (中洲川端): some Hakozaki Line trains run through to the Airport Line, so you can ride between Kaizuka (貝塚) and Meinohama (姪浜) or Nishijin (西新) without changing.
• Hakata (博多): you can change between the Airport Line and the Nanakuma Line inside the ticket gates.
• As a special rule, when riding between Kaizuka (貝塚)–Gofukumachi (呉服町) on the Hakozaki Line and Gion (祇園)–Fukuoka Airport (福岡空港) on the Airport Line or Kushida Shrine (櫛田神社前)–Hashimoto (橋本) on the Nanakuma Line, you can also stay on the train past Nakasu-Kawabata (中洲川端) to Tenjin (天神) and change trains on the same platform there (no extra fare is charged for Tenjin–Nakasu-Kawabata; the same applies in the other direction). The Hakozaki Line trains that go on to Tenjin (天神) are those running through toward Meinohama (姪浜) and Nishijin (西新) (about half of the Hakozaki Line trains). The Transportation Bureau says changing at Tenjin is convenient for people with wheelchairs, strollers or large suitcases.
• Apart from these special routes, riding back the way you came between stations (doubling back) counts as riding without a valid fare (except within the section of a commuter pass and with a one-day pass).

Tenjin (天神) (Airport Line) and Tenjin-minami (天神南) (Nanakuma Line) are separate stations; to change between them, you go out through the ticket gates once. Before the Nanakuma Line was extended to Hakata Station on March 27, 2023, there was a special rule that calculated the fare by the total distance when changing between Tenjin-minami and Tenjin. That rule has ended, and the station for changing lines is now Hakata. If you change between Tenjin and Tenjin-minami, you pay the fare from your boarding station to Tenjin or Tenjin-minami plus the fare from Tenjin-minami or Tenjin to your exit station (Transportation Bureau FAQ, in Japanese).

On the route screen of Next Subway, you can choose the time to allow for a change and see the station to change at, the connecting train and your arrival time.

4. Fares, IC cards and passes

Fares

• Fares depend on the distance. Adult fares are 210 yen (up to 3 km), 260 yen (up to 7 km), 300 yen (up to 11 km), 340 yen (up to 15 km), 360 yen (up to 19 km) and 380 yen (over 19 km). Child fares are 110, 130, 150, 170, 180 and 190 yen (regular tickets, in Japanese). You can look up the fare between stations with the Transportation Bureau's route and fare search (in Japanese).
• Adults are aged 12 and over (12-year-olds in elementary school are children), and children (child fare) are aged 6 to 11 (6-year-olds not yet in elementary school are young children). Young children (aged 1 to 5) and infants (under 1) ride free. However, a young child pays the child fare when riding alone, when the person with them is not a guardian, or when a guardian is not always watching them during the ride (a guardian is a person with parental authority or custody, or a person aged elementary school or older asked by them). According to the Transportation Bureau's page on contactless payment, since December 16, 2023, any number of young children with a guardian ride free.

IC cards

• Besides the Fukuoka City Subway's IC card Hayakaken (はやかけん), you can use SUGOCA, nimoca, Kitaca, Suica, PASMO, TOICA, manaca, ICOCA and PiTaPa (interoperable cards, in Japanese).
• You can buy a Hayakaken at station ticket machines and commuter pass offices: 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 or 10,000 yen, each including a 500-yen deposit. The unregistered Hayakaken is for adults only.
• Top-ups at subway station ticket machines, fare adjustment machines and commuter pass offices are 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 or 10,000 yen. The balance cannot exceed 20,000 yen. Other interoperable IC cards can also be topped up at subway stations.

Contactless credit card payment

• Since April 1, 2024, at all 36 stations on all 3 lines, you can ride by touching a contactless credit card or similar on the dedicated reader of the automatic ticket gate. No registration is needed. Debit cards, prepaid cards, smartphones and wearable devices also work.
• Accepted brands: Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover and UnionPay (銀聯). Some cards and smartphones of these brands cannot be used. Ask your card issuer whether yours works for touch payment on public transport.
• With the same card number on the same device, fares are capped at 640 yen a day (320 yen for children and disability discounts) and 12,570 yen a month (from the 1st to the last day of each month). A card and a smartphone count as different devices. Fares are charged together the next day, and the reader at the exit shows only the regular fare.
• To ride with a child or disability discount, speak to the station staff at the window each time before you enter.
• Several people cannot ride on one card. You leave with the same card or device you entered with.
• Contactless payment cannot be used on the JR Chikuhi Line. If you also ride the Chikuhi Line, please use a ticket or an IC card.

One-day pass

• Valid on all subway lines (Meinohama (姪浜)–Fukuoka Airport (福岡空港), Nakasu-Kawabata (中洲川端)–Kaizuka (貝塚), Hashimoto (橋本)–Hakata (博多)). Adult 640 yen / child or disability discount 320 yen. It can only be used within the subway, not on the JR Chikuhi Line.
• It is valid from the first to the last train on the day you first put it through a ticket gate. A pass bought from a ticket machine is valid only on the day of purchase.
• It is sold at ticket machines in every station, the customer service centers (commuter pass offices), Tenjin Tourist Information, Hakata Station Tourist Information and Fukuoka Airport International Tourist Information.
• On the day you use it, you can get discounts and other benefits at participating facilities.

For prices and where to buy, see the Transportation Bureau's page on the one-day pass (in Japanese).

5. Getting to sights

Examples of the nearest subway stations for some sights. You can check where to change and your arrival time from Hakata Station on the route screen of Next Subway.

• Directions and times from the station are shown only when the official website of the place, the City of Fukuoka's tourism website “yokanavi” or the Transportation Bureau's route map gives them.
• “See trains from Hakata Station” opens the route screen in the Next Subway app (Hakata → that station), where you can check upcoming trains and the return trip (逆向き, reverse). The station pages linked below are available in English.
• On the Transportation Bureau's route map, JR Hakata Station is a 1-minute walk and Hakata Bus Terminal a 2-minute walk from Hakata (博多).

• Fukuoka Airport
• Ohori Park
• Maizuru Park (Remains of Fukuoka Castle)
• Fukuoka Tower
• FUKUOKA PayPay DOME
• Kushida Shrine
• Hakozaki Shrine
• Dazaifu Tenmangu

6. Official information

The Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau's website also has pages in English, 简体中文, 繁體中文 and 한국어. Some of the foreign-language pages still describe changing lines as it was before the Nanakuma Line was extended to Hakata Station (March 27, 2023).

The Tenjin Customer Service Center can be reached at 092-734-7800 (8:00–20:00, every day of the year) (contacts, in Japanese).

• How to ride the subway (Transportation Bureau, in Japanese)
• Regular tickets and fares (in Japanese)
• Route and fare search (in Japanese)
• Interoperable IC cards (in Japanese)
• Contactless credit card payment (in Japanese)
• One-day pass (in Japanese)
• Frequently asked questions (changing lines, wheelchairs, luggage and more; in Japanese)
• Service information (in Japanese)
• yokanavi (City of Fukuoka tourism website, in Japanese)