More train woes

I recently had a little rant about the commuter train service in Tokyo. It seems that my example holds true. When I wrote the piece, I imagined the possibility of traveling the same distance, but paying different prices. Well, that is exactly what happened to us.

We left from our regular station, Tsuruse, and went to our first station in Tokyo, Ikebukuro. This is the route that we have taken several times. However, it so happens that a different train line also runs along the same track, going to most of the same stations, and taking us to our destination in Ikebukuro, and we happened to get on that train today. We went the same distance that we always do, but when we got out of the train and into the station, we ended up at an unfamiliar part of the station because we inadvertently took a different train. Because we took this different line, but bought a ticket for our regular line, we had to pay a 70 yen (70 cents) transfer fee for transferring train lines. I felt ripped off, and feel like my previous rant is thus justified. But we have to deal with it, so…. Now we must pay attention to the train we board at our station.