JR West, JR Central and JR Kyushu made the a joint announcement today (2025-03-07) that JR West Mobile ICOCA system would host Mobile TOICA in 2026, and Mobile SUGOCA in 2027. It was clear that JR Central was planning for Mobile TOICA when they announced that all lines would have 100% TOICA coverage in the near future in anticipation of the, much delayed, Linear Shinkansen launch, in addition to launching a reward points program.
The Mobile ICOCA branding arrangement makes a lot of sense as they all share Shinkansen lines and online ticketing backend. JR West launched Mobile ICOCA for Android Osaifu Keitai and Apple Pay in 2023 (Google Pay support still missing), a far newer and flexible system without the 20 year legacy baggage the Mobile Suica system has (though I suspect JR Hokkaido kitaca card will be hosted by Mobile Suica system at some point). JR Shikoku has been using ICOCA for years. To be fair, Mobile Suica has been around the longest and dwarfs all others in usage and mobile card issue numbers. It also offers a lot more services on mobile: commuter passes for high school students, off peak discounts, family notifications (Mamo-reru).
The JR West Mobile ICOCA strategy is an interesting one, focusing on expanding ICOCA coverage to non-JR regional bus lines and issuing ICOCA commuter passes for connecting non-JR transit companies, all of which help build connectivity and feeder traffic. It’s a smart but different strategy from JR East’s Suica 2 in 1 Region Affiliate program. Some reports that hit social media sites after the announcement suggest that Mobile TOICA / Mobile SUGOCA will use JR West WESTER POINT is some way but it’s not clear how it will work and exchange with existing reward point systems. In a way it makes sense as WESTER POINT is deeply integrated with Mobile ICOCA use rewards and recharge, just like JRE POINT. JR Central TOKAI STATION POINT only started reward points very recently but it’s targeted for EX Shinkansen use, not TOICA use. JR Kyushu JR KYUPO is the rebranded SUGOCA POINT and has been in place since 2010 without the energy and integration of WESTER or JRE POINT.
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