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PiTaPa (Japanese:ピタパ,romanized: Pitapa) is a contactlesssmart card ticketing andelectronic money system used predominantly theKansai region ofJapan. The namePiTaPa from "PostpayIC for Touch and Pay".^[1] In the Osaka area, PiTaPa is usable on theOsaka Municipal Subway andNew Tram,Keihan Electric Railway, andHankyu Railway. It launched on August 1, 2004.

Part of theNationwide Mutual Usage Service, PiTaPa is usable onpublic transport across Japan.^[2] Unlike Japan's other major IC cards, PiTaPa operates as a post-pay system, rather than as a prepaid card.

PiTaPa is operated bySurutto KANSAI [jp], a private company composed of various transit companies and transportation bureaus.

Unlike most other electronic fare collection systems and IC cards in Japan, includingJR East'sSuica andJR West'sICOCA which operate on a "pre-pay" basis, PiTaPa is a "post-pay" card. Usage of the card is charged to the customer's account, and each month the balance owing is deducted from a designated bank account, as in acharge card. As such, acredit check is required to obtain a PiTaPa card, and the allowable balance is capped. This prevents short-time overseas visitors or short-term residents of Japan from obtaining or using PiTaPa.

Beginning in June 2006, people over 20 could obtain a PiTaPa secured by a deposit in lieu of the credit check, although these cards could only be used to pay transport fares or in limited stores, without the electronic money functions of a normalcredit card. This service was discontinued in March 2022.^[3]

The underlying technology behind PiTaPa is anRFID technology developed bySony calledFeliCa.^[4]

"PiTaPa Basic Card" is the name given to the PiTaPa cardsper se, and are issued by the Surutto KANSAI Conference.

Most traffic companies in the PiTaPa network issue PiTaPa-compatible cards of their brands, either on their own or jointly with other companies. The cards, called "PiTaPa Affiliate Cards" by the Surutto KANSAI Conference, typically are built withincredit cards and have special services or discounts offered by its issuers.

In 2006, because of heavy marketing of the Affiliate Cards by the individual companies, Basic Cards constituted only 10–20 percent of all issued PiTaPa cards.

The concept to introduce a smart card fare system in the Kansai region was first announced on July 7, 2001, by the Surutto KANSAI Conference. The Conference initially announced in April 2002 that they were planning to consign operation of the system toHitachi andJCB, but switched to theJapan Research Institute andSumitomo Mitsui Card Company [jp] in July 2003. The name "PiTaPa" was made public on February 25, 2003.

After four months of initial monitor testing, the service officially started on August 1, 2004, with three participating companies:Hankyu,Keihan andNose Railway.

In 2013, PiTaPa became usable in all major cities across Japan as part of theNationwide Mutual Usage Service.^[5] Prior to this, PiTaPa had been implemented and released as part of Affiliate Cards by a variety of companies and operators:

• † Eventually merged and renamed to "STACIA Card".

• † Eventually merged and renamed to "STACIA Card".

• ICOCA
• List of smart cards

• PiTaPa.com(in Japanese)
• Surutto KANSAI company profile(in Japanese)

• 2004 establishments in Japan
• Rail transport in Osaka Prefecture
• Fare collection systems in Japan
• Contactless smart cards

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles in need of updating from June 2019
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