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Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

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Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#211

Post by nihonde »

MisterTea wrote: post #68

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…

99% sure you passed through a transfer gate in Tokyo station that requires you to produce two "tickets" (physical or virtual)—one for subway and one for Shinkansen. Always plenty confusing. I have to hold my phone (Suica app) and an EX card (Shinkansen card) together for a dual-NFC tap. I always forget one or the other.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#212

Post by ororoo »

Gud wrote: post #209

Ok, this might sound great but it's really not. I live in Switzerland, and they don't use a tap in/tap out system at all. There are no barriers to enter the station, anywhere. There are multiple ways to purchase a ticket, I usually use the app Fairtiq or the official SBB app, where I swipe right before boarding the train/tram/bus(it's a national system, so even works on the regional networks) and swipe left when I'm…

go try it out, it works great in japan.

it fundamentally works.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#213

Post by Gud »

ororoo wrote: post #212
Gud wrote: post #209

Ok, this might sound great but it's really not. I live in Switzerland, and they don't use a tap in/tap out system at all. There are no barriers to enter the station, anywhere. There are multiple ways to purchase a ticket, I usually use the app Fairtiq or the official SBB app, where I swipe right before boarding the train/tram/bus(it's a national system, so even works on the regional networks) and swipe left when I'm…

go try it out, it works great in japan. it fundamentally works.

I've used many similar systems. Netherlands has an identical system.

I prefer when there are no turnstiles or other forms of gates blocking my way. Just step onto the train.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#214

Post by phatfish »

imp0cat wrote: post #199
flaunf221 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People not in Japan/Singapore/Korea/China should experience what a proper transit card done looks like. In Prague city transit does not have limiting gates. If you bought unlimited ticket, you just walk in bus/tram/metro and that is it. No touching, scanning, showing, nothing. Maybe once a month (or even rarer) you might encounter a patrolling controller who would ask you to show your ticket, but that's it.

> If you bought unlimited ticket And that's the difference. IIRC, you have to periodically top up your Suica card with money which then gets deducted from the balance each time you use it. In Europe, there is no such thing - sure, you can buy a lot of single ride tickets and then use them when you need to, but you have to stamp the ticket when you start each ride, which does seem a little more inconvenient.

In London you can use a contactless (UK) bank card, and it works just like the "Osyter Card". I think that started around 2016. For journeys on the TFL network you should get billed the lowest fare, as long as you touch at the right points when changing.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#215

Post by PetitPrince »

imp0cat wrote: post #199
flaunf221 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People not in Japan/Singapore/Korea/China should experience what a proper transit card done looks like. In Prague city transit does not have limiting gates. If you bought unlimited ticket, you just walk in bus/tram/metro and that is it. No touching, scanning, showing, nothing. Maybe once a month (or even rarer) you might encounter a patrolling controller who would ask you to show your ticket, but that's it.

> If you bought unlimited ticket And that's the difference. IIRC, you have to periodically top up your Suica card with money which then gets deducted from the balance each time you use it. In Europe, there is no such thing - sure, you can buy a lot of single ride tickets and then use them when you need to, but you have to stamp the ticket when you start each ride, which does seem a little more inconvenient.

I don't think it's fair to conflagrate "Europe" as a single entity. From what I'm reading and my distant recollection:

- In London you top up your Oyster card and pay a fare according to the zone your travelling to. Metro is gated.

- In Paris your load up tickets in your Navigo pass and pay a flat rate every time you take the metro or RER. It's also gated.

- In most (all ?) Swiss cities you don't have any card to charge and have to get a ticket for every travel (like in London your fare amount depends is zone dependent); however there's an app that let you get your location at the start of your travel and end of your travel and automatically charges you the correct fare. There are no gates.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#216

Post by sandmn »

MisterTea wrote: post #68

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…

That tap in and out system causes unexpected issues sometimes. Many subway stations in Tokyo have different extrances for different directions that are not connected underground. Once I entered such station for a train that went in a wrong way and when I tried to exit gates didn't let me. It was unmanned station so it took me a while to find an intercom and explain my issue to a person so they can unblock me.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#217

Post by eloisant »

wst_ wrote: post #197
ks1723 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also did prefer my plastic Pasmo (essentially the same as suica) card until I learned during my last trip, that it can only be recharged with cash :-/

You can create digital Pasmo and charge it through mobile wallet.

It doesn't work with most Android phones not bought in Japan, because they don't support FeliCa.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#218

Post by eloisant »

rafram wrote: post #75
sagarun wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use a digital Suica in Google Wallet only if your Android phone has Japan-spec hardware . International Android phones bought outside Japan generally cannot support digital Suica cards in Google Wallet.

All iPhones can.

Yes but I'm not going to buy a phone with an OS that I dislike just for my occasional trips to Japan.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#219

Post by soco »

Gud wrote: post #209

Ok, this might sound great but it's really not. I live in Switzerland, and they don't use a tap in/tap out system at all. There are no barriers to enter the station, anywhere. There are multiple ways to purchase a ticket, I usually use the app Fairtiq or the official SBB app, where I swipe right before boarding the train/tram/bus(it's a national system, so even works on the regional networks) and swipe left when I'm…

True, the Swiss is the simplest way around - and in planning is to activate it even without swiping (I'm not sure I remember details): But let's face it the tap system is not that far behind, because in some implementations it can do that calculation by itself (I believe having seen it in London?) so at the end of the day you end up paying the optimal price.

Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card

#220

Post by awruko »

Gud wrote: post #209

Ok, this might sound great but it's really not. I live in Switzerland, and they don't use a tap in/tap out system at all. There are no barriers to enter the station, anywhere. There are multiple ways to purchase a ticket, I usually use the app Fairtiq or the official SBB app, where I swipe right before boarding the train/tram/bus(it's a national system, so even works on the regional networks) and swipe left when I'm…

from personal experience in swiss system, I always forget to swipe left. Less personal experience: there is also a bit of a stress with swiping right and hopping on the train. If for whatever reason there is a delay (location, network), and you get checked on the train you will pay a fine.
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