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Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

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Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#61

Post by echohack5 »

speak_plainly wrote: post #15

Sad to see the mascot going in March. Apparently this entire brand reset is tied to something JR East is calling 'Suica Renaissance,' which is about a ten-year effort to turn Suica into a lifestyle brand. Whitepaper: https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/press/2024/pdf/20241210.pdf They're planning on moving beyond the ¥20,000 prepaid balance limit, they are adding QR code payments (think WeChat and Alipay), making Suica work a…

The weirdest payment method has got to be the Coke ON vending machines that do not support SUICA but instead require you to QR code-IR blaster you to a website where you bluetooth pair with the vending machine then buy it on your mobile browser.

Like....somehow they turned a sub 1ms operation into a 4 minute 32 second one. It boggles the mind

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#62

Post by numpad0 »

polishdude20 wrote: post #39
cptcobalt wrote: post #20

If you haven’t experienced suica, it’s like magically fast. Faster than NFC, faster than Apple Pay, faster than tap to pay, faster than Disney magic bands, faster than your work badge. It absolutely floored me every time I used it in Japan and it’s a full payment transaction.

The card might be fast but getting one as a tourist is kind of a hassle

It's completely anonymous and available on many ticket machines. There are some half-wrong info that you have to fill in a form, but that's only for commuter passes and registered cards.

You just tap Buy Suica and insert two 1000 yen bills. The system keeps 500 yen as a deposit, which is refunded when you return the card, but it's also $3.50 for a little memorabilia.

If you absolutely don't want the keepsake, you can create a virtual card from Wallet on iPhone(7 or later). I believe an app is not needed through that path. Those can be loaded from your credit card, or at pink ticket vendors with the cavity for devices(IIRC the latter didn't work initially).

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#63

Post by hdgvhicv »

rozenmd wrote: post #56
cptcobalt wrote: post #20

If you haven’t experienced suica, it’s like magically fast. Faster than NFC, faster than Apple Pay, faster than tap to pay, faster than Disney magic bands, faster than your work badge. It absolutely floored me every time I used it in Japan and it’s a full payment transaction.

Same deal with Opal in Sydney - the old school opal card processes a second or so faster than a card/apple pay/google pay that you can just keep walking. Smashed into the barrier the one time I forgot my card.

I’ve never noticed any delay on the London underground with Apple Pay or a normally debit card - certainly not a second. Havent used an oyster for years but I don’t remember it being faster.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#64

Post by vvilliamperez »

polishdude20 wrote: post #39
cptcobalt wrote: post #20

If you haven’t experienced suica, it’s like magically fast. Faster than NFC, faster than Apple Pay, faster than tap to pay, faster than Disney magic bands, faster than your work badge. It absolutely floored me every time I used it in Japan and it’s a full payment transaction.

The card might be fast but getting one as a tourist is kind of a hassle

I bought one from a machine easily at a train station. It spits the card out for you.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#65

Post by Tor3 »

pknomad wrote: post #57
cptcobalt wrote: post #20

If you haven’t experienced suica, it’s like magically fast. Faster than NFC, faster than Apple Pay, faster than tap to pay, faster than Disney magic bands, faster than your work badge. It absolutely floored me every time I used it in Japan and it’s a full payment transaction.

It's not only magically fast, but it's super useful. You can use it at vending machines + convenience stores anywhere (unless it's one of those old ones that only take cash/coins and print paper tickets) and at the shops as well. People not in Japan/Singapore/Korea/China should experience what a proper transit card done looks like.

I've used a Suica card for many years now. I agree it's both fast and reliable. One summer I was crisscrossing Tokyo by train over several days, using the Suica card, so I got to see a LOT of commuters. Lots of people were in a hurry and would run through the gates (the default state is open, it closes quickly if your card is out of funds or some other problem). Running through the gates while quickly touching the card to the reader. I've done that a couple of times myself.

It's also useful in that you can pre-order a Shinkansen ticket, for example, and link that purchase to your Suica card, which you then use for the Shinkansen gate. If there are other fees (which there may be) they're just deducted from the money the card holds, as usual. Makes everything very simple.

For me a physical card is easier than using a phone. A phone is so much larger so I would need to get it from a pocket somewhere, while the Suica card I can keep in my jeans pocket or some other easy place.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#66

Post by my-next-account »

qurren wrote: post #52
polishdude20 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The card might be fast but getting one as a tourist is kind of a hassle

Really? In 2009 I just bought one at a vending machine, but I haven't really explored Japan since then

We purchased it from a machine recently. By the way, can I just say: Japan cares about UI in a very different way to Europe. The screens had pleasant graphics and sound, and the buttons for pressing in numbers felt so good. It just felt like someone who cares designed that machine. I did not like the refill-your-IC-card machines though, they made very loud noises so you wouldn't forget to take your IC card with you.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#67

Post by qurren »

my-next-account wrote: post #66
qurren wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? In 2009 I just bought one at a vending machine, but I haven't really explored Japan since then

We purchased it from a machine recently. By the way, can I just say: Japan cares about UI in a very different way to Europe. The screens had pleasant graphics and sound, and the buttons for pressing in numbers felt so good. It just felt like someone who cares designed that machine. I did not like the refill-your-IC-card machines though, they made very loud noises so you wouldn't forget to take your IC card with you.

The best part is if you press the help button a real person pops out of the machine in a few seconds.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#68

Post by MisterTea »

Coming from NYC and being used to swiping once to pay a flat fair, my first Suica lesson was they vary the fair by the distance traveled. This means you have to tap in AND out of buses and subways. It was a bit embarrassing and frustrating when I almost could not board a bus in Sapporo with my friends after they all tapped in and my card was rejected. WTF? Thankfully the bus driver showed me a sign in English telling me I forgot to tap out of a station or bus. Oh. He let me board the bus with my friends. Found a train station and the woman at the counter began holding up a series of English signs so we could figure out where I forgot to tap out to ensure the correct charge is applied then sent me on my way. Turns out I goofed up transferring between the Tokyo subway and Shinkansen where I didn't tap out of the subway, got stuck, and a frustrated transit worker just opened the gate to let my dumb tourist ass through meaning I didn't tap out of the subway.

I was floored when I found out you could pay for stuff with my "Japanese MetroCard." It's quite a wonderful system.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#70

Post by Tor3 »

HaloZero wrote: post #53
polishdude20 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The card might be fast but getting one as a tourist is kind of a hassle

There was a brief period where it was difficult but that's gone now, you can set it up easily on Apple Wallet at least (apparently Google wallet is different?). It used to be easy to get one from a 7-11, then it was hard for a bit, then it was easy again with digital wallets.

Yes, that was during the period where there was a chip shortage for things like cars and other industrial products, this also affected production of Suica cards at the time. During that period you couldn't buy unregistered Suica cards, but you could still buy registered cards (registered to your name). This was simply used as a mechanism to limit the number of cards because of the shortage, and you could also buy those "visitor" Suica cards (those I don't like, for various reasons).

Anyway, that problem is long gone.

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