Tokyo Silver Pass (2026) for Residents 70+: ¥12,000 or ¥1,000, How to Buy on a PASMO

The Tokyo Silver Pass (東京都シルバーパス) lets residents of Tokyo aged 70 and over ride Toei buses and trains and most route buses in Tokyo. Since October 2026 it is loaded on a registered PASMO card and can start in any month; it costs ¥12,000 a year, or ¥1,000 if you pay no resident tax or your total income (合計所得金額) is ¥1.35 million or less. You buy it on the spot at one of about 135 counters in Tokyo, not at a ward or city office.

In short

Fee: ¥12,000 if you pay resident tax; ¥1,000 if you pay none, or if your 2025 total income was ¥1.35 million or less.
Bring a PASMO in your own name. A new PASMO costs ¥1,000 more. Mobile PASMO and Suica do not work.
Buy it at a bus company office or a Toei Subway commuter pass office. Ward and city offices do not sell it.
Koto Ward pays back ¥10,000, and Minato and Edogawa wards ¥11,000, of the ¥12,000 pass. Minato and Edogawa take applications until March 31, 2027.

Checked with official pages on October 25, 2026.

Tokyo Silver Pass fee: ¥12,000 or ¥1,000

For fiscal 2026, the pass costs ¥12,000 if you pay resident tax, and ¥1,000 if you pay none, or if you pay it but your total income for 2025 was ¥1.35 million or less. Resident tax (住民税, juminzei) is the local income tax your city or ward sets each year. Total income here means the amount used for local tax (地方税法上の合計所得金額), after the deduction for salary or pension income, so it is lower than the pay or pension you receive. The ¥12,000 fee was cut from ¥20,510 in October 2025, until the program is reviewed. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Social Welfare: issuing the Silver Pass (Japanese)

Your tax	Fee	Show at the counter
Tax, income over ¥1.35M	¥12,000	1 ID document
No tax	¥1,000	ID and proof of no tax
Income ¥1.35M or less	¥1,000	ID and proof of income

To check the ¥1.35 million line, look at the long-term care insurance premium notice (介護保険料納入（決定）通知書) that your city or ward mails from June each year. If the income level (所得段階区分) on it is 1 to 6, you qualify for the ¥1,000 pass. It is 1 to 7 in Shinagawa Ward and the cities of Musashino, Akishima, Fussa and Akiruno, and 1 to 9 in Hachijo Town. A notice with a total income (合計所得金額) box showing ¥1.35 million or less also works. For fiscal 2026, people with salary income may get the ¥1,000 pass even if that total is over ¥1.35 million and up to ¥1.45 million. Tokyo Bus Association: getting the pass (Japanese)

You need a registered PASMO

The pass is stored on a registered PASMO (記名PASMO, kimei PASMO) in your own name, so if you bring one you already have, there is no extra cost. If you have no PASMO, you can get a new one at the counter. It costs ¥1,000 on top of the pass fee: a ¥500 deposit and ¥500 of stored value you can spend on fares. A few counters cannot issue a new PASMO.

These cards cannot be used: Mobile PASMO, a PASMO without a name, a PASMO combined with a credit card, a PASMO that holds a commuter pass, a PASMO in someone else’s name, and Suica or other IC cards. You can turn an unnamed PASMO into a registered one by entering your name at a station ticket machine. Tokyo Bus Association: the move from magnetic cards to PASMO (Japanese)

When the Silver Pass starts and how long it lasts

Counters issue the pass all year, and you choose when it starts: the day you apply (申請日当日), the 1st of next month (翌月1日) or the 1st of the month after (翌々月1日). It is valid for one year from the first day of the month it starts, counted in whole months. Applications open two months ahead. Tokyo Bus Association: Tokyo Silver Pass guide (Japanese)

Chart: if you apply on October 20, a pass that starts the same day counts its year from October 1; one that starts next month counts from November 1; the month after next from December 1. Fees ¥12,000 or ¥1,000, new PASMO ¥1,000 extra — Choosing when your Silver Pass starts (checked October 11, 2026). Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Social Welfare and Tokyo Bus Association.

If you are turning 70, you can use the pass from the 1st of the month of your 70th birthday. For example, if you turn 70 on October 15, you can ride from October 1, and you can apply two months before that. Tokyo Bus Association: FAQ (Japanese)

Renewal by mail or online for people who already had a pass has closed for October 2026. If you did not apply, or did not pay the payment slip, the association asks you to call the Silver Pass line. Tokyo Bus Association: renewal (Japanese)

Documents to bring to the counter

You need one original ID: a My Number Card or a driver’s license (a driving history certificate, 運転経歴証明書, issued on or after April 1, 2012 also works). Your long-term care insurance card (介護保険被保険者証) or certificate of eligibility (資格確認証) can also be used. Copies are not accepted. The application form is at the counter, and you fill it in there.

Foreign residents can get the pass: asked whether foreign nationals qualify, the Tokyo Bus Association FAQ says anyone aged 70 or over who is registered as a resident in Tokyo can. Foreign nationals living in Japan for more than three months with a status of residence (and Special Permanent Residents) are in the resident register; tourists and temporary visitors are not, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (English). A residence card (在留カード, zairyu kado) and a passport are not on the official ID list, so bring one of the IDs above, or call the Silver Pass line first if you have none of them.

For the ¥1,000 pass, you also need one paper that shows your resident tax status: the long-term care insurance premium notice, a resident tax certificate (課税証明書) or tax exemption certificate (非課税証明書), or a public assistance certificate (生活保護受給証明書) that lists living assistance (生活扶助) and was issued within three months. The provisional notice sent around April does not count. The care insurance notice is not reissued, so if you lost it, get a certificate from the city or ward where you lived on January 1.

The year of the papers depends on the day you apply: from September 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027, use the fiscal 2026 papers. A family member or friend can apply for you with all of your papers plus their own My Number Card or driver’s license. Tokyo Bus Association: getting the pass (Japanese)

Where to buy the Silver Pass in Tokyo

Ward and city offices do not sell the pass; you buy it at one of about 135 permanent counters (常設窓口) in Tokyo, such as bus company offices and information desks and Toei Subway commuter pass offices. Any counter in Tokyo can issue it, not only the ones in your ward or city. Hours differ by counter: some bus offices are open 9:00 to 17:00, and some station desks open only in the afternoon. Some counters close for a while, so check the Tokyo Bus Association counter list (Japanese) and call before you go.

Questions go to the Tokyo Bus Association’s Silver Pass line, 03-5308-6950, open on weekdays from 9:00 to 17:00 from October 1, 2026. The association asks people not to call ward or city offices about the pass. The official pages do not say whether the line or the counters can help in English; ask them before you go if you need it. Tokyo Bus Association: contact (Japanese)

What you can ride, and the buses it does not cover

The pass covers Toei Bus, Toei Subway, Toden (Tokyo Sakura Tram), the Nippori-Toneri Liner, private route buses in Tokyo, and the Hachijo Town and Miyake Village buses. The private bus companies include Tokyu Bus, Keio Bus, Kanto Bus, Seibu Bus, Kokusai Kogyo, Odakyu Bus, Keikyu Bus, Tachikawa Bus and Nishi Tokyo Bus, for rides between stops inside Tokyo.

It does not cover city and ward community buses (except some routes), highway buses, airport buses, late-night buses, sightseeing buses, or special and seasonal buses. Some counters issue the pass without its Toei Subway data, and so did renewals onto a PASMO people already had. In that case, before your first ride on the Toei Subway or the Nippori-Toneri Liner, use a Toei Subway or Nippori-Toneri Liner ticket machine marked “東京都シルバーパス” to write the subway data (シルバーパス地下鉄情報の書き込み); a few stations cannot do it, and the for-pass-holders page lists them with the steps. If you ride without it, the fare comes out of your stored value. Tokyo Bus Association: for pass holders (Japanese)

On trains, tap the card at the gate when you enter and leave. On buses where you pay first, tap when you board; on buses where you pay at the end, tap when you board and when you get off. Tokyo Bus Association: covered routes (Japanese)

Ward subsidies for the ¥12,000 pass, and checking your routes

Some wards pay back part of the fee to residents who bought the ¥12,000 pass. Koto Ward pays ¥10,000 to residents who pay resident tax and bought a ¥12,000 pass valid from October 2026 or later. It has taken applications by mail and online since October 1. Koto Ward newsletter, September 1, 2026 (Japanese)

Minato Ward pays ¥11,000 to residents on the same terms, and takes applications until March 31, 2027. Minato Ward: Silver Pass subsidy (Japanese)

Edogawa Ward also pays ¥11,000, so every resident aged 70 or over pays ¥1,000 whatever their income. Apply by March 31, 2027, through the online form or by mail. Edogawa Ward press release, September 29, 2026 (Japanese) Whether other wards and cities have a subsidy, and on what terms, differs by place, so check your own ward or city’s page.

The only trains covered are the Toei Subway, Toden and the Nippori-Toneri Liner. Before you pay ¥12,000, check on the covered routes list whether your stations are Toei lines and whether the bus companies near you are covered.

If you lose the pass or no longer need it

Only permanent counters can reissue a lost pass, and the fee is ¥1,020. You collect the new card from the next day and within 14 days, together with a temporary pass (代用証); on route buses, use the temporary pass for three days, including the day you collect the card. If your card has “東京都シルバーパス” printed on it (a pass with subway data), you collect the new card at a Toei Subway commuter pass office, including the Nippori-Toneri Liner office at Nippori Station. Not every counter handles reissues, so check the reissue and refund counter list (Japanese) first.

If you move out of Tokyo or no longer need the pass, return it to a permanent counter. A ¥12,000 pass is refunded ¥12,000 minus ¥1,000 for each month used, minus a ¥500 fee: bought in October and returned in December, you get ¥8,500. The ¥1,000 pass is not refunded. If you return the PASMO too, its stored value and deposit are refunded under PASMO’s rules. Tokyo Bus Association: FAQ (Japanese)

More Tokyo guides

If you have just moved, see moving into Tokyo’s 23 wards and changing the address on a Tokyo driver’s license.

Sources (checked October 2026)

5 pages we checked

All pages above are in Japanese.