East Japan Railway Company (JR East) announced plans to gradually upgrade the functionality of Suica over the next 10 years.
The company aims to provide seamless and convenient services within 10 years by building a new platform that manages tickets and SF (charged electronic money), which have been managed by IC cards, on a central server.
Around the fall of 2026, the “Mobile Suica” application (Android/iOS version) will be extensively renewed, introducing a code payment function that will allow for purchases exceeding Suica’s limit of 20,000 yen.
Around spring 2027, Suica areas in the Tokyo metropolitan area (including Nagano), Sendai, Niigata, Morioka, Aomori, and Akita will be integrated. For example, the Joban Line, which used to straddle different usage areas, will be able to travel from Ueno to Sendai with Suica. In areas where Suica has not yet been introduced, “Smartphone commuter passes (tentative name),” which can be purchased with the Mobile Suica application, will be sold.
In FY2028, a “Suica application (tentative name)” will be released, offering subscriber-based railroad tickets, discounts and coupons based on the user. Through the centralized server system, for example, users will be able to pay 3,000 yen per month to use a subscriber product (with a discount limit) that offers a 50% discount on fares at any station, starting from Omiya Station, the station closest to their home.
In the future, by utilizing the central server system, Suica will be able to realize “walk-through ticket gates” that allow users to pass through ticket gates without touching them, “ticket gates using location information” at stations without ticket gates (thus enabling Suica to be used on all JR East lines), and “deferred payment” (i.e., no need to recharge tickets by linking them to credit cards or bank accounts in advance). (This will enable Suica to be used on all JR East lines.
In addition, on the lifestyle side, the DX model using MaaS and the regionally linked IC cards will be integrated to create a new “local Suica (tentative name)” that is rooted in each region. Based on the “Suica Application (tentative name),” the “Local Suica” will be linked to the My Number Card to enable the use of lifestyle contents and services (local discount products, demand buses, etc.), receipt of gift certificates and benefits, and administrative services within the community.
Suica will be reborn as a “lifestyle device” that can be used in a variety of scenarios in each region, not just as a conventional “transportation device” for transportation and payment.
© Source travel watch
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