2019 looks to be a year of change and going cashless. JR East is swapping out old reserve seat ticket machines with new ones that only take credit cards and transit cards (Suica, PASMO, etc.). This sign in Ikebukuro station says the last day for cash purchases is February 27, cashless operation starts March 1. From this date customers who want to buy reserve seat ticket purchases with cash have to line up at JR Ticket Offices (Midori-no-madoguchi) and at Travel Service Centers (View Plaza).
It will be interesting to see if the new machines will use the ‘smart bin’ design approach that accepts both plastic cards and smartphones for Apple Pay Suica, etc.
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