TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 24, 2025--
JR East has released the Welcome Suica Mobile app for overseas visitors to Japan on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250310510899/en/
The app allows users to issue and top up their Suica in the app without going to a ticket office or vending machine at the station both before and after entering Japan; is accepted on trains, buses and other public transportation; and can even be used for shopping.
In fall 2025, the app will be connected to JR-EAST Train Reservation to enable the use of Shinkansen e-ticket and conventional line limited express ticketless service, with purchase of Green Car seats on local trains to be made available in spring 2026. Expanding services provide even more ways for our international visitors to enjoy seamless, ticketless transportation while in Japan.
1. App Release Date
Approx. 10:00 AM JST, Thursday, March 6, 2025 (tent.)
2. App Overview
Name: Welcome Suica Mobile
Language: English
Supported Devices: iPhone, Apple Watch
* Some iOS or watchOS versions may not be compatible.
Reference: Differences Between Welcome Suica Mobile and Welcome Suica (card)
3. Key Features
Based on the service concept, “Travel Japan with a single app!”, Welcome Suica Mobile can be used for riding trains, buses and other public transportation, making purchases in stores that accept e-money, and even provides information for tourist attractions and transfer directions to support travel in Japan.
Official service website: https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/wsmlp/
Key Features
Differences Between Welcome Suica Mobile and Welcome Suica
service banner
New Jersey Transit train engineers will go on strike early Friday, leaving an estimated 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home.
The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn’t produce an agreement. It will be the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.
NJ Transit — the nation’s third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout will halt all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
The agency had announced contingency plans in recent days, saying it planned to increase bus service, but warned riders that the buses would only add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and would not start running until Monday. The agency also will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods.
However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it urged people who could work from home to do so if there was a strike.
Even the threat of it had already caused travel disruptions. Amid the uncertainty, the transit agency canceled train and bus service for Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The parties had met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the matter, and a mediator was present during Thursday’s talks.
Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.
NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.
An electronic display advises commuters of NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An electronic display advises commuters of potential NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An electronic display advises commuters of NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An NJ Transit train pulls into the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An electronic display advises commuters of potential NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
