JR East catches a lot of criticism, some rightly so, for having outdated, old fashioned apps and web services with crusty, confusing UI. As for me, I’d rather have something plain that does the job; a lot of fancy looking stuff these days is flashy but trashy underneath. Part of the problem is that online service portals and apps are constantly evolving and new service additions don’t always mix well. JR East’s Eki-Net online ticket reservation website is the poster child for this problem.
Shinkansen eTickets for example. This was originally a Mobile Suica app exclusive that evolved into a smartEX-like ‘any Transit IC Card works’ service in 2022. But it felt like a new bolt installed on the decrepit Eki-Net Frankenstein. Eki-Net app attempts to streamline the UI clutter somewhat by focusing only on Shinkansen eTicket and Ticketless purchases but the reservation search engine UI is limited compared to the web version. What people want to do is search for the best ticket discounts, choose, change, cancel, etc., but the current Eki-Net makes them work, really work, to find what they’re looking for.
JRE GO
Earlier this year JR East announced a new streamlined mobile focused eTicketing service JRE GO starting in fall 2026, that one hopes, will eventually be the replacement for Eki-Net. The start point will be easy JR East Shinkansen eTicket reservation search and purchase without the Eki-Net account registration pain, and easy Mobile Suica linking. I signed up for the beta test but for some reason JRE GO refuses my Google ID login. No big deal because the JRE GO beta has limited service coverage and doesn’t offer discounts. YouTuber Kenzy has a quick preview of JRE GO on his smartphone. Even at this early stage it’s clear the backend is much faster than Eki-Net or EX, and the JRE GO UI is far more useful doing what most people want to do; rapid, multiple searches using the same basic parameters.
While JRE GO beta is an interesting development, JR East dropped another piece of the puzzle June 9 with, yet another, Suica Renaissance related press release: a JRE GO based Shinkansen eTicket kiosk service due to start testing in late 2026 at JR Omiya and Utsunomiya stations. The kiosk uses the same fast, streamlined JRE GO UI, the customer selects the Shinkansen time and seats, inserts a credit card to purchase the eTicket, taps Mobile Suica or other Transit IC card to link the eTicket, and go on their way. Note what is missing and what is required: no paper ticket, no account registration, only a credit card and Transit IC card (mobile or plastic).
JRE GO Kiosk aims to solve some long standing Shinkansen ticketing issues outlined by JR East: 80% of station kiosk Shinkansen tickets are same day travel with an average lead time of 20 minutes, in other words rushed purchases. The current Shinkansen ticket kiosk UI is not particularly friendly, and paper ticket only, but it is faster than using Eki-Net even though the latter has discounts that station ticket kiosks do not. A streamlined JRE GO kiosk has the potential to make purchasing linked eTickets much easier without the hassle of an Eki-Net account or paper tickets. None of this works without a new backend, what is powering JRE GO?
New MARS
The venerable JR Group MARS ticketing system has been around and constantly updated since 1960 and powers every aspect of JR Group ticketing from station ticket kiosks to travel agency / convenience store terminals to Eki-Net / EX, to Suica and more. Anything that connects to JR ticketing uses MARS. Back in spring 2023 JR East released an interesting graphic explaining the centralized Suica 2.0 system when it debuted in the Tohoku region. Note the coming soon ‘New MARS’ and the Suica 2.0 feature set. It’s exactly what JRE GO is offering. What we are seeing is the first preview of ‘New MARS’ account based ticketing system that will eventually power all JR Group ticketing once the rollout and migration is complete. In addition to easier Suica card eTicket linking, there are signs the linking is dynamic with live eTicket status updates. It makes sense as New MARS is handling Transit IC linking and eTicket processing. It is much more integrated than the current backends handling Eki-Net and EX and will help speed the transition away from all mag-strip paper ticketing.
Suica region barriers (Tokyo, Niigata, Sendai, Tohoku) are set to disappear in spring 2027 and JR East will be adding Kitaka commuter pass in Mobile Suica at the same time. From that point at least, JR East will be using the Suica 2.0 / New MARS backend. I don’t think JR West, JR Central and JR Kyushu will be far behind migrating their respective online ticketing systems and Transit IC cards (with Mobile ICOCA hosting Mobile TOICA and Mobile SUGOCA).
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