In the Tokyo region where Suica usage rates are well over 90% with Mobile Suica capable smartphones everywhere, generations of kids have grown up with it and are well versed using mobile payments of all kinds for all things. It seems that way for inbound visitors from Asia, but not for inbound visitors from western countries. Look no further than the same endless inbound tourist related questions on social media sites asking how to use Suica despite all the guides and YouTube tutorials out there. Nobody searches before posting questions, and most Americans don’t use public transit to commute to work and school.
The rule of using Suica and all compatible Transit IC cards for transit, is that the full fare must to be paid at the exit gate of your transit. Entrance gates let you enter as along as there is enough card balance to pay minimum fare. The great thing about Apple Pay Suica is that you can recharge on the go if your card balance isn’t enough to get you through the transit exit gate.
However I notice that westerns keep walking on past the exit transit gate without turning back when it sounds an alarm. This is a mistake because when using Apple Pay Suica (and other Transit IC cards), it’s very important to tap out at the final exit as the fare is calculated by distance. Not tapping out = unpaid fare, aka “In Progress” Transit. You won’t be able to use Suica again for transit payments until you have station staff settle up the transit fare and clear the ‘In Progress’ transit flag. Fare adjustment has to be done with the same transit company that you last successfully tapped in. PASMO for a PASMO line, JR East for a Suica line, JR West for a ICOCA line, and so on. For example if you are traveling in Osaka with a Suica card and failed to tap out of a JR West station, you have to do the fare adjustment at a JR West station, and so on.
The great thing about Apple Pay Suica (ditto PASMO and ICOCA) is that you have instant card status feedback not available with plastic cards. Check Suica transit status is in Wallet in Suica transaction history. If you see ‘In Progress’ and you are outside of the station gates, it means you did not tap out correctly at the exit station. If you are still in the same transit company area that you last successfully tapped in, show your iPhone to the nearest station agent who will make the fare adjustment that removes the In Progress flag.
Go to at any station where you can use Suica and show your device to the station staff. They will tell you if you need to pay fare and then reset Suica for transit use again. With the Suica reset the ‘In Progress’ status disappears. The Mobile Suica English language support page is vague but has the same advice. The Mobile Suica support Japanese explanation has more detail (the AI translation vocabulary is a bit off but you can get the gist).
Suica gate sounds
It’s helpful knowing basic transit gate alert and alarm sounds and what they mean. The basic Suica sound is what JR East calls ‘pi’ not beep because it designed to sound like a chirping bird.
Rapid double ‘pi-pi’ is the basic Suica sound. At the gate it means the card was read and you are good to go. You’ll hear the same Suica double ‘pi-pi’ sound when paying at stores or vending machines.
Single ‘pi’ at the gate: your Suica card was read properly and you are good to go. Commuter pass users will also hear a single ‘pi’ at entrance / exit gates within their pass route that indicate the pass is valid and no Suica balance was deducted.
When a problem happens pay attention to the alert or alarm sound and confirm problem details on the gate status screen. Alerts and alarms are the same all over Japan and come in 3 categories:
1. Misread alert: 5 rapid ‘pi-pi-pi-pi-pi’ with flashing red lights shown in the video below (2 rapid misreads in this case) means the gate could not read the Suica and you need to tap again.
2. Transit fare / payment error: a long ‘pi’ followed by the bing-bong sound is the most common general alarm and means something is wrong with the transit fare, either the Suica card balance is too low to pay and you need to add money, or some other adjustment needs to be made, such as trying to enter a station gate with the Suica card still ‘In Progress’ from a previous unpaid transit, or an expired commuter pass. All JR East gates announce the specific problem in Japanese, newer gates announce in Japanese followed by English (“Please top up”, “Please see staff for assistance”, “Please step back and touch your IC card or insert your ticket”, etc.).
3. Fare Evasion Alarm: when the gate detects a person going through without tapping Suica or inserting a ticket, it will sound the infamous ‘rainbow’ sound with multiple color flashing lights. Back up and tap Suica or insert a ticket. An interesting point is that the alarm doesn’t trigger with small children going through wth a parent. Children 6 and under are free, only two children can go through with one fare paying adult at a time.
Another interesting side point is the Japanese word for train fare evasion: “kiseru”, literally pipe, specially the Edo era traditional tobacco pipe seen in period dramas. But why kiseru? Blowing smoke right? As in you’re just blowing smoke, pretending to have something you don’t have. In this case acting like you have a train ticket when you do not.
One last thing. Your Suica has a sound notification option for special gate reader feedback. JR East calls this audio guidance as it was originally for blind users but is handy for everyone. When turned on you’ll hear a triple ‘pi-pi-pi’ at the exit gate or store reader when the Suica card balance drops below ¥1,000. I find this option very useful as the triple pi-pi-pi catches your attention but doesn’t trip you up. A gentle reminder that the balance is running low, time to add money. The plastic card guide is below. Mobile Suica users can ask station gate staff to enable audio guidance by placing your device on the reader. The Japanese name for the setting is 音声案内 “onsei annai”. You won’t regret turning it on.
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