JR East quietly demonstrated Mobile Suica UWB (ultra wideband) walk-through gates opening weekend (March 28, 29) of their newest mega-station retail complex OIMACHI TRACKS. A few of short video posts appeared on X and the experience looked…boring. The free tryout was very simple, JR East staff handed the user a pre-configured device loaded with UWB compatible Mobile Suica, and they walked through a demo gate. The same kind of Suica 2.0 + QR Code + paper ticket gate JR East has been installing in stations since 2023, with an added UWB antenna module. The result looks and feels so very ‘we’ve been doing this for years’ mundane. One test user put it this way:
While the surface-level user experience doesn’t feel new at all, I believe it will become an amazing experience that you can’t live without once you try it, much like the auto-dispense feature on a washing machine.
Which makes sense. The Suica tap experience has been with us since 2001. The first level-up experience was Mobile Suica in 2006, but it wasn’t a surface-level mind blowing experience. The same tap experience, with a mobile device instead of a plastic card. The amazing part you couldn’t do without after trying it was anywhere, anytime on-device credit card top up. Familiar, but also new.
UWB Mobile Suica walk-through is like that, familiar but new: it does the same function it always has but you can keep it in your pocket or bag instead of taking it out to tap. Think of it as NFC with a highly precise, super charged antenna range, meters instead of millimeters. It’s practical and deeply convenient because it doesn’t ask the user to change the technology they already use, it only makes it simpler. Removing the tap routine takes already easy to use technology and makes it even easier. This is very convenient especially for wheel chairs users, baby stroller moms or anyone who is physically challenged. For that reason I think UWB walk-through will appear first in JR East easy access station lanes.
This is why UWB walk-through is the easiest way forward: it’s an extended version of the same mobile device NFC secure element infrastructure already in place. Users don’t need to register their bio-authentication data with a transit agency, they keep it secure and private on their device. iPhone and Apple Watch users have had UWB since 2019 iPhone 11 and Apple Watch Series 6. The Android side is fragmented as always, but UWB is standard on recent Pixel and Galaxy devices.
A few general points about UWB walk-through
- Mobile FeliCa / Mobile MIFARE devices only
- Transit IC partners on Mobile (Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, TOICA, SUGOCA and Kitaca) should all be good for adding UWB walk-through gates.
- No EMV contactless (and PBOC 2.0 EMV contactless clone) support in the foreseeable future, if ever, due to a number of technological challenges and potential licensing issues with NXP, Sony/Docomo.
This last point puts EMV open-loop centric systems in a bind. This is no way UWB walk-through can work ‘as is’ on TfL Oyster, MTA OMNY, Sydney OPAL, Chicago VENTRA because they have all relegated MIFARE to plastic only use in favor of using EMV exclusively for digital wallets. Transit IC partners not on mobile (manaca, PiTaPa, Hayaken, Nimoca) face a similar dilemma. Any transit operator not using Mobile FeliCa or Mobile MIFARE will have to implement some other non-UWB walk-through method such as face recognition.
JR East’s next scheduled demonstration of Mobile Suica UWB walk-through gates will take place at TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY station May 13, 14.
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