V Point rewards service to launch for railway touch payments in Japan

V Point Marketing, Sumitomo Mitsui Card, and Visa are launching a new service on October 7, 2026, that allows commuters to earn V Points by using touch payments for railway travel. The initiative will begin as a two-year pilot program involving four major railway operators in the Tokyo metropolitan area: Keio Corporation, Tsukuba Express, Yurikamome, and Enoshima Electric Railway.

Users can earn one point for every 200 yen spent on fares, representing a 0.5% return rate. These “ride points” are awarded in addition to the standard “payment points” earned through credit card usage, allowing users to accumulate points from both sources simultaneously. To participate, users must link their V Point membership number with a Q-move ID and use a Visa-branded touch-payment card or a smartphone.

The program utilizes the “stera transit” payment infrastructure. Beyond simple rewards, the companies aim to use the resulting data to analyze consumer behavior, promote off-peak travel, and revitalize local economies by linking transportation usage with spending at approximately 160,000 V Point partner merchants. A promotional campaign running from October 7 to December 30 will offer ten times the standard ride points, potentially bringing total rewards to as high as 13% when combined with high-yield credit cards.