Summary of Pitfalls｜Understanding JR PASS, should you buy a JR pass or not

Traveling freely in Japan, the most headache is transportation, not only expensive but also very complicated, today let's talk about the difference in transportation in Hokkaido, should you buy a JR PASS for your own itinerary! 🌸Inter-city round trip (JR PASS) ·Various trains (such as: JR express/ordinary trains, airport express)→Domestic high-speed rail/EMU 🌼City round trip (Kitaca, Suica, etc.) ·Subway (such as: north-south line, east-west line)→Domestic subway ·Tram (such as: Sapporo tram, 9 Tengu Mountain cable car line)→Domestic bus 🚝Hokkaido JR PASS category: ①Sapporo-Noboribetsu area 4-day railway pass ②Sapporo-Furano area 4-day railway pass ③Hokkaido Railway 5/7/10-day pass ※The Sapporo-Noboribetsu 4-day railway pass does not include Toyako. ※Sapporo-Noboribetsu railway pass, Sapporo-Furano railway pass cannot take JR Hokkaido bus, Sapporo municipal tram, subway. ※Hokkaido Railway 5/7/10-day pass can take some JR Hokkaido bus routes, but cannot take Hokkaido Shinkansen, Donan ISARIBI railway line, tram, subway. 🚄The relationship between JR PASS and Shinkansen JR is not equivalent to Shinkansen, the former includes the latter, and only the fastest part of the express can be called "Shinkansen" (it will be noted on the ticket). ❓Should I buy a pass? 1) If you only go to Sapporo, Otaru, Noboribetsu, you don't need to buy it; 2) Go to Sapporo, Otaru, Furano to buy Sapporo-Furano 4-day JR, if you add Hakodate, Toyako and other places, it is recommended to buy 5/7/10-day JR. 💺Reserved seat VS Free seat —Reserved seat: Can be understood as a ticket with a designated seat number, JR PASS can take the reserved seat of the ordinary carriage, but need to make a reservation in advance. —Free seat: A ticket without a designated seat, if there are vacant seats in the free seat carriage, you can take a seat, if there is no position, it is a standing ticket, JR PASS can ride at will. ※From March 16, 2024, the Super Hokuto, Super Suzuran, Super Okhotsk, and Super Tokachi will be changed to "all reserved seats", and there will be no free seats on each train. 🚝Ordinary train VS Express train Ordinary trains are similar to domestic trains, slower and stop at more stations; airport express, express trains are similar to high-speed rail/EMU, faster, and stop at fewer stations. 🚝Express ticket and ride ticket If you don't buy a JR PASS, you will see these two terms when buying tickets on the self-service machine. If you buy a ride ticket, you can only take the free seat of the ordinary train. If you accidentally get on the express train, you will be asked by the staff to make up the ticket (express ticket). This ticket is only for the free seat ticket. If you want to go to the express designated seat, you need to make up the difference in the designated seat. ⚠️Precautions: 1) Reserved seats must be booked in advance, otherwise you can basically only stand. 2) The same order JR PASS exchange voucher, the passport of the personnel on the same order can be exchanged when they are all together. 3) Trams in the Sapporo, Otaru, and Noboribetsu areas can basically swipe Suica, and Apple phones can bind Suica in the wallet. 4) When transferring from the subway to the railway train, swipe the JR pass, not the exchanged reserved seat ticket.