7 ms·

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 on

by pknomad 20d ago

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.

Tor3 20d ago
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.
- ks1723 20d ago
  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 :-/
  - Marsymars 20d ago
    This doesn't especially bother me, but it is a kinda funny workflow to go to an ATM to withdraw cash (with your bank card) only to immediately put it back into the machine (to charge your IC card).
    - glitchbot 20d ago
      Word!
  - wst_ 20d ago
    You can create digital Pasmo and charge it through mobile wallet.
    - eloisant 20d ago
      It doesn't work with most Android phones not bought in Japan, because they don't support FeliCa.
      - japantravel2026 19d ago
        [flagged]
- m4rtink 20d ago
  It was funny during Expo in Osaka on the massive metro station - you could just zip in with the suica, while the less knowledgeable foreign tourists would form long queues in front of the special gates where they could pay by a payment card, which were glacialy slow in comparison.
- nihonde 20d ago
  For a long time in Japan, the physical cards were limited because of IC inventory shortage. There was a big push to get people to use their phones during this time. Also, travelers beware: some of the special "Suica" sold at Haneda (and maybe Narita, too?) expires and is completely dead after 30 days, even if it has a balance. I found this out the hard way. Buy a proper Suica at Shinagawa or another non-airport station.
  - Shank 20d ago
    That’s the red “Welcome Suica”. Green or any other IC card at any other location like ICOCA don’t expire functionally ever. The stated time on some cards is 10 years since last use, but they’re practically infinite in that they can be used even after this point.
dluan 20d ago
I much prefer convenient over fast, being able to just tap my phone's uploaded IC card/alipay without having to open it up or switch cards is maybe 200ms slower, but I don't have to think or change what I'm doing. Plus with alipay it will just autodeduct so I don't ever have to think about that as well, though Apple wallet Suica makes it easy to reload too.
- numpad0 20d ago
  JRE required Suica to be instantly accessible so there's a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card(forgot the exact name). If configured as such, just poking the gate antenna with earpiece end of an iPhone instantly completes the transaction just as fast as a real card does. (yes, the antenna is in the top FaceID/Dynamic Island area, Osaifu Keitai spec requires a □つ icon wherever antenna is located, which Apple managed to completely ignore)
  - Terr_ 20d ago
    FWIW on Android, Google Wallet tells me "Transit Cards: These cards never require verification", and indeed I can just wave my phone at the terminal without unlocking it.
  - mikestew 20d ago
    a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card Because it's not the easiest setting to find: Settings/Wallet & Apple Pay/Express Transit Card
    - disposedtrolley 20d ago
      The Wallet app prompts you to set this up when you initially add the transit card too, IIRC.
      - jtokoph 20d ago
        It’s also enabled by default now if I remember correctly.
kevin_thibedeau 20d ago
This is a consequence of the world being eaten by managed code. IBM made POS checkout terminals that were blazingly fast 40 years ago. Now every modern data processing technogy is glacial by comparison.
- otterley 20d ago
  The story makes clear that constraints matter. Product teams build against specified constraints. If latency isn’t one of them, they’re going to sacrifice it if it helps meet the defined requirements more quickly and cost-effectively. Every time I see a shoddy piece of work, I know which constraint was sacrificed.
flaunf221 20d ago
> 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.
- disposedtrolley 20d ago
  Same in Berlin. I think the reasoning is that it'd cost more money to fit ticket gates compared to loss of revenue from fare evaders. Makes for such a smooth journey as most people are doing the right thing.
  - spasmo 19d ago
    In Germany you now just get the Deutschlandticket and take every bus, tram, metro or regional trains anywhere.
- imp0cat 20d ago
  > 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.
  - rimaye 20d ago
    > In Europe, there is no such thing The European public transport system is not some centralised system that should be generalised like this. The system in the Netherlands has worked like Suica for years (but without the extremely fast card reading unfortunately). You simply tap on with your public transport card or bank/credit card and tap out when you get off. Subscriptions, automatic/manual top ups, it's all possible.
  - 20d ago
hbarka 20d ago
Alipay in China for transit and pay is also easy. No card, just a QR on your phone. It can even be a screenshot of the QR code.
- dyllon 20d ago
  QRs will always be so much more cumbersome than blindly tapping a card or your phone.
  - disposedtrolley 20d ago
    Agreed. It also requires that you unlock your phone.
mi_lk 20d ago
Just came back from Singapore and their transit card is the normal kind you’ll find in big cities in the west Only Japan is on another level

by pknomad 20d ago

Tor3 20d ago

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.

ks1723 20d ago
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 :-/
- Marsymars 20d ago
  This doesn't especially bother me, but it is a kinda funny workflow to go to an ATM to withdraw cash (with your bank card) only to immediately put it back into the machine (to charge your IC card).
  - glitchbot 20d ago
    Word!
- wst_ 20d ago
  You can create digital Pasmo and charge it through mobile wallet.
  - eloisant 20d ago
    It doesn't work with most Android phones not bought in Japan, because they don't support FeliCa.
    - japantravel2026 19d ago
      [flagged]
m4rtink 20d ago
It was funny during Expo in Osaka on the massive metro station - you could just zip in with the suica, while the less knowledgeable foreign tourists would form long queues in front of the special gates where they could pay by a payment card, which were glacialy slow in comparison.
nihonde 20d ago
For a long time in Japan, the physical cards were limited because of IC inventory shortage. There was a big push to get people to use their phones during this time. Also, travelers beware: some of the special "Suica" sold at Haneda (and maybe Narita, too?) expires and is completely dead after 30 days, even if it has a balance. I found this out the hard way. Buy a proper Suica at Shinagawa or another non-airport station.
- Shank 20d ago
  That’s the red “Welcome Suica”. Green or any other IC card at any other location like ICOCA don’t expire functionally ever. The stated time on some cards is 10 years since last use, but they’re practically infinite in that they can be used even after this point.

dluan 20d ago

I much prefer convenient over fast, being able to just tap my phone's uploaded IC card/alipay without having to open it up or switch cards is maybe 200ms slower, but I don't have to think or change what I'm doing. Plus with alipay it will just autodeduct so I don't ever have to think about that as well, though Apple wallet Suica makes it easy to reload too.

numpad0 20d ago
JRE required Suica to be instantly accessible so there's a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card(forgot the exact name). If configured as such, just poking the gate antenna with earpiece end of an iPhone instantly completes the transaction just as fast as a real card does. (yes, the antenna is in the top FaceID/Dynamic Island area, Osaifu Keitai spec requires a □つ icon wherever antenna is located, which Apple managed to completely ignore)
- Terr_ 20d ago
  FWIW on Android, Google Wallet tells me "Transit Cards: These cards never require verification", and indeed I can just wave my phone at the terminal without unlocking it.
- mikestew 20d ago
  a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card Because it's not the easiest setting to find: Settings/Wallet & Apple Pay/Express Transit Card
  - disposedtrolley 20d ago
    The Wallet app prompts you to set this up when you initially add the transit card too, IIRC.
    - jtokoph 20d ago
      It’s also enabled by default now if I remember correctly.

kevin_thibedeau 20d ago

This is a consequence of the world being eaten by managed code. IBM made POS checkout terminals that were blazingly fast 40 years ago. Now every modern data processing technogy is glacial by comparison.

otterley 20d ago
The story makes clear that constraints matter. Product teams build against specified constraints. If latency isn’t one of them, they’re going to sacrifice it if it helps meet the defined requirements more quickly and cost-effectively. Every time I see a shoddy piece of work, I know which constraint was sacrificed.

flaunf221 20d ago

> 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.

disposedtrolley 20d ago
Same in Berlin. I think the reasoning is that it'd cost more money to fit ticket gates compared to loss of revenue from fare evaders. Makes for such a smooth journey as most people are doing the right thing.
- spasmo 19d ago
  In Germany you now just get the Deutschlandticket and take every bus, tram, metro or regional trains anywhere.
imp0cat 20d ago
> 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.
- rimaye 20d ago
  > In Europe, there is no such thing The European public transport system is not some centralised system that should be generalised like this. The system in the Netherlands has worked like Suica for years (but without the extremely fast card reading unfortunately). You simply tap on with your public transport card or bank/credit card and tap out when you get off. Subscriptions, automatic/manual top ups, it's all possible.
- 20d ago

hbarka 20d ago

Alipay in China for transit and pay is also easy. No card, just a QR on your phone. It can even be a screenshot of the QR code.

dyllon 20d ago
QRs will always be so much more cumbersome than blindly tapping a card or your phone.
- disposedtrolley 20d ago
  Agreed. It also requires that you unlock your phone.

mi_lk 20d ago

Just came back from Singapore and their transit card is the normal kind you’ll find in big cities in the west Only Japan is on another level