Japanese railway operator East Japan Railway Co (JR East) will introduce a new
ticket payment system using mobile phones with inbuilt Integrated Circuit (IC)
Suica cards, called Mobile Suica.
Suica is an IC card system for automatic ticket gates. The Suica IC can be
used as a prepaid ticket card and a commuter pass as well. Cards can be charged
with up to 20,000 Japanese yen ($186/150 euro). JR East introduced the Suica
card in November 2001.
Owners of mobile phones with in-built Suica cards will be able to use their
phones for paying train travel by passing the phone near the checking machines
at the automatic ticket gates.
JR East plans the new system to come into effect in 2005 at the latest. The
new system has already been installed in two automatic ticket gates at the
Shibaura station in Tokyo.
The trial period for operating Mobile Suica will start in February 2004. The
company has still not decided on how the mobile phone inbuilt IC cards will be
recharged.
