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

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

This page is for first-time riders and visitors to the Kyoto Municipal Subway (Karasuma Line and Tozai Line). It covers how to ride, fares, and how to get to some sights from Kyoto Station.

This is an unofficial guide. It is based on information published by the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau (京都市交通局), but fares and rules may change. If anything here differs from the Transportation Bureau's information, please follow theirs. Checked on October 22, 2026.

Station and line names follow the English on the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau website. The Japanese names are shown alongside. Source: Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau (English page)

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 subway timetable data published by the City of Kyoto. 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.

For trips that use both lines (for example, from Kyoto (京都) to Nijojo-mae (二条城前)), the app works out the connecting train at Karasuma Oike Station and your arrival time. You can choose how many minutes to allow for the change at Karasuma Oike Station: 3, 5, 7 or 10 (5 at first).

Times are as scheduled. Delays and suspensions are not shown. On days with a special schedule, such as around the New Year, the app shows a notice instead of times.

Open Next Subway

2. Riding

Buying a ticket

1. Check the fare to your exit station on the fare chart (the upper figure is the adult fare, the lower figure is the child fare).
2. To buy tickets for two or more people or child tickets, press that button first.
3. Touch the button for the fare.
4. Put in cash. Only Japanese yen in cash is accepted; credit cards cannot be used.
5. Take your ticket and change.

According to the Transportation Bureau's “how to use the ticket machines”, ticket machines that can top up IC cards can show Japanese, English, Chinese (Simplified) and Korean, and machines that cannot top up show Japanese and English. A ticket is valid only on the day you buy it, from the station where you buy it.

Ticket gates

• Ticket: put it into the slot of the automatic gate, and be sure to take it from the outlet. It is collected when you leave.
• IC card: when you enter and when you leave, touch the reader for about one second while it is lit blue, until it beeps. Do not put the card into the ticket slot. When you leave, use the same IC card you entered with. You cannot use two or more IC cards together, or combine an IC card with other tickets.
• One-day pass: the first time you use it, the automatic gate prints the date on the back (except for same-day passes bought from a ticket machine). Put it into the gate, pass through and take the pass back.
• For all young children riding with their parent or guardian to ride free, tell the station staff at the gate that the child is a young child when you enter and when you leave, and go through together (fares: section 4).

Platforms

On the Karasuma Line, Platform 2 is for Kokusaikaikan (northbound) and Platform 1 is for Takeda, Shin-Tanabe and Nara (southbound). On the Tozai Line, Platform 2 is for Rokujizo and Hamaotsu (eastbound; Platform 3 at Misasagi) and Platform 1 is for Uzumasa Tenjingawa (westbound). This does not apply at Kokusaikaikan, Takeda, Rokujizo and Uzumasa Tenjingawa stations. Wait for the train in two lines behind the white line.

Trains from the Keihan Keishin Line also run on the Tozai Line between Misasagi and Uzumasa Tenjingawa. As the Transportation Bureau notes, if you are going to a station between Yamashina and Rokujizo, you cannot get there on a train for Hamaotsu. Please take a train for Rokujizo.

If your fare is not enough

• Ticket: pay the difference at the fare adjustment machine at your exit station, and use the adjustment ticket it gives you to pass the gate. The fare adjustment machines accept only Japanese yen in cash (not credit cards).
• IC card: if your balance is not enough, top it up at a fare adjustment machine marked “IC charge” before you pass the gate (except PiTaPa).

Wheelchairs and luggage

At subway stations, you can go from street level to the platform by elevator. If you need help, tell the station staff at the gate of your boarding station that you need help and where you are going. When you board a Karasuma Line train, the station staff will help you. Tozai Line trains can be boarded with a wheelchair without help, but the station staff will help if it is difficult.

The Transportation Bureau says that very large luggage or a large amount of luggage may be restricted at the station staff's discretion. There are coin lockers at subway stations (except some stations).

3. Changing between the Karasuma and Tozai lines (Karasuma Oike Station)

You can change between the Karasuma Line and the Tozai Line at Karasuma Oike (烏丸御池) (K08, T13) without passing through a ticket gate. The fare depends on the distance you ride (you can check it with the Transportation Bureau's fare search by choosing stations on both lines; in Japanese).

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

Some Karasuma Line trains run through from Takeda onto the Kintetsu Line (as far as Kintetsu-Nara). If you ride on into the Kintetsu Line, the Keihan Keishin Line or other lines with a subway one-day pass, you pay an extra fare.

4. Fares, IC cards and passes

Fares

• Fares depend on the distance. Adult fares are 220 yen (up to 3 km), 260 yen (up to 7 km), 290 yen (up to 11 km), 330 yen (up to 15 km) and 360 yen (over 15 km). Child fares are 110, 130, 150, 170 and 180 yen (subway fares).
• Children (child fare) are aged 6 to 11 (including 12-year-olds in elementary school). The child fare is half the adult fare, rounded up to the next 10 yen. Children under 1 ride free.
• Young children (aged 1 to 5, including 6-year-olds not yet in elementary school) ride free with an adult who is their parent or guardian (any number); with another adult or a child, up to 2 young children ride free (from the third, the child fare applies). Young children riding alone pay the child fare (fare categories).

IC cards

• Ten IC cards can be used: PiTaPa, ICOCA, Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, Hayakaken (はやかけん), nimoca and SUGOCA.
• PiTaPa uses postpay, so money topped up on a PiTaPa cannot be used to ride the subway.
• You can buy an ICOCA at the ticket machines of every subway station and at commuter pass offices (2,000 yen, including a 500-yen deposit).
• You can top up at ticket machines and fare adjustment machines marked “IC charge”. You cannot buy subway tickets with an IC card.

Contactless credit card payment

The Transportation Bureau's notice (November 7, 2024) says that credit card payment cannot be used on the subway. If you came on a Kintetsu train using contactless payment and want to ride the subway, get off once at Takeda Station and pay the Kintetsu fare at the contactless terminal at the ticket gate.

One-day passes and other passes

• Subway One-Day Pass (地下鉄1日券): one day on all subway lines (Karasuma and Tozai lines). Adult 800 yen / child 400 yen. Sold at the windows and ticket machines of every subway station, City Bus and Subway Information Centers and commuter pass offices. Passes bought from a ticket machine are valid only on the day of purchase.
• Subway and Bus One-Day Pass (地下鉄・バス1日券): one day on all subway lines and all city bus lines (including the Sightseeing Limited Express buses), and on Kyoto Bus, Keihan Bus and West JR Bus within set areas. Adult 1,100 yen / child 550 yen. Sold at City Bus and Subway Information Centers, commuter pass offices, the windows of subway stations and other places.
• With either pass, if you ride on into the Kintetsu Line, the Keihan Keishin Line or other lines, you pay an extra fare.
• There are also tickets combined with Randen and other lines (for example, the Kyoto Subway and Randen 1day Ticket, in Japanese).

For prices, areas and where to buy, see the Transportation Bureau's pages on the Subway One-Day Pass and the Subway and Bus One-Day Pass (in Japanese).

5. Getting to sights

Examples of sights you can reach by subway from Kyoto Station. The direction to take and where to change are based on the order of stations (station numbers).

• Directions from the station are shown only when official information, such as the website of the place or the Kyoto Travel website, gives them.
• “See trains from Kyoto Station” opens the route screen in the Next Subway app (Kyoto → that station), where you can check upcoming trains, arrival times and the return trip (逆向き, reverse). The station pages linked below are available in English.

• Nijo-jo Castle
• Kyoto Imperial Palace
• Nishiki Market
• Heian-jingu Shrine
• Nanzen-ji Temple
• Kyoto International Conference Center

6. Official information

The Transportation Bureau's “City Bus & Subway Guide” is available in Japanese, English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) and Korean. The Transportation Bureau's website also offers machine translation into other languages.

• How to ride the subway (City Bus & Subway Guide)
• Lines and platforms (City Bus & Subway Guide)
• Subway fares (City Bus & Subway Guide)
• IC cards you can use (City Bus & Subway Guide)
• Subway One-Day Pass (in Japanese)
• Subway and Bus One-Day Pass (in Japanese)
• Fare search (in Japanese)
• Frequently asked questions (wheelchairs and more; in Japanese)
• City Bus & Subway Guide (choose a language)