QR ticketing that been in the works for years will finally start to replace mag-strip paper tickets for JR East and Tokyo area private rail operators starting in 2026. Remember that date, it will be coming up a lot. It’s also important to remember that only 8 railway companies made the joint announcement: Keisei, Keikyu, Shin-Keisei, Seibu, Tokyo Monorail, Tobu, JR East, Hokuso.
There are a number of missing key players: Tokyu, Keio, Tokyo Metro, Toei, Sotetsu. The announcement then, marks a beginning of a transition to eliminate mag-strip paper tickets and replace them with QR Code tickets. But it won’t fly until all players are on board, so expect more announcements and details in the coming months. To understand what’s happening and how it will play out, it’s important to know the context and the moving pieces.
Moving piece #1: JR East
The joint press release outlines the basics of a shared ticketing system that JR East is already rolling out: account based centralized fare processing, aka the Suica 2.0 platform. Don’t be fooled by the Suica 2.0 name (it’s just just a convenient invention) as the new system handles all fare processing from Suica to Eki-Net QR and now wide area transit transfer QR tickets.
In 2021 Suica and PASMO already represented 95% of Tokyo area ticket use, in 2024 it’s safe to assume paper ticket use is less than 5%. A very small volume. Even with the replacement of mag-strip paper with QR paper tickets, JR East and partners plan to improve Suica and PASMO services to the point that QR tickets are the irrelevant but necessary ticket of last resort. A usage footprint so tiny that kids of the current young generation who already do everything with smartphones will point at ticket vending machines and ask, ‘Mommy what’s that for?’ QR + IC + paper ticket equipped gates will replace paper ticket + IC gates in station entrance/exit lines. The IC only gate footprint will remain and likely grow. Many JR East Tokyo area stations already have QR equipped gates with reader covers that will come off in 2026.
Moving Piece #2: Shared Fare Processing
QR tickets will be available from ticket machines and smartphone apps with all partners sharing the same fare processing backend that I’m assuming is hosted by JR East. The graphic certainly suggests so, the graphic also suggests the shared backend will power ticket vending machines, gate readers and smartphone mobile ticketing apps for all partners.
Moving Piece #4: what about legacy mag-strip commuter passes?
The JR East announcement is completely devoid of any potential migration plan for mag-strip commuter passes. There are complex commuter pass transit routes that are currently unavailable on Suica/PASMO. There has been gradual improvement with cross region Suica/TOICA/ICOCA passes that include both regular and Shinkansen options. Rail operators would like to retire higher cost mag-strip gates eventually, but the reality is that complex commuter configurations are mag-strip exclusive without a clear replacement. I suspect Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway have yet to join the mag-strip to QR migration plans for this very reason. Commuter passes are a big profit maker for transit companies, they won’t migrate from mag-strip passes until all options are available and customers can switch without any problem.
Moving Piece #5: Wider QR ticket compatibility and paper ticket EOL
The real end of mag-strip paper ticketing really comes down to the JR Group MARS ticketing system, the center of the Japanese train ticket universe. If all JR Group companies (JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR Kyushu, JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku) transition to QR ticketing, so will everybody else who connects with JR lines. They’ll have to in order to keep their ticket systems compatible and passengers moving.
With the migration to QR however, there are some mag-strip paper benefits that hang in the balance, such as region to region ticketing (Osaka region local transit to Shinkansen to Tokyo region local transit for example). Suica and all Transit IC card linked Shinkansen eTickets are point to point. For me, the deeper Shinkansen eTicket discounts more than make up for the region to region vs point to point difference, but there are people who still use paper tickets for better discounts depending on their travel situation. JR Group companies have been gradually eliminating the old paper ticket perks. With the transition to QR they really need to make a clean break or migrate those last paper ticket goodies to Transit IC cards and mobile ticketing apps.
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