Suica Card
 

Hi,

Just thinking about the Suica Card for our upcoming trip, how does it work for the four us using it to pay for the train if you tap when going through the barriers? Do we need a card each?


Thanks


Louise

We are just back tonight. We bought the Suica card but rarely used it as we used the Yamanote line which was free with the JR Rail Pass. It probably depends where you stay though. You do just tap it at the barrier.

Edit: I was suffering jet lag last night - you don’t tap it at the barrier. :blush: you go to the ticket machine and pay with the card there. In Kyoto you scan the card when getting off the bus.

I had one and used it for buying things in the parks (every Disney shop / stall takes them - bar the very very mobile carts that sold bottles only), and I used it to buy food and drinks outside the parks too in Tokyo - as I did not want pockets of coins at the end of the holiday. Used them in Tokyo Hands store to buy things too!

But as said above, if you have JR Pass then the only things for travel you would use it for would be non-JR lines like the underground, and paying for Disney monorail.

Just tap at barrier. It flashes up remaining balance so you can see if you have plenty

Yes you will need one card each. It's a bit like an Oyster card in London - you charge it up and then tap as you go in/out of barriers on the trains/underground or bus. I also used it a lot just to buy things in shops - most convenience stores accept them and also vending machines so I actually got way more use out of it than I thought!

We obviously did it all wrong lol!

Thank you all for responses :)

Louise

We wont be activating our rail passes for several days into our holiday when we start travelling but will be in Tokyo before with a few day trips which will involve using the metro to get to. Thinking it might be worth getting a suica card for travel as it this seems an easy option rather than buying several tickets. How much should we put on the card for approx 3 days sightseeing?

Many thanks

Say about 1000 yen, about $10, I never really paid attention to how much each ride cost us but the app gives me a history, so here is a page of it.

As you tap on / out it lets you know your balance so if need be you can top card up at machines in stations or at combini stores etc. As you can see I used my card to buy things other than transport! :-)