Comment by imp0cat
3 hours ago
> If you bought unlimited ticket
And that's the difference. IIRC, you have to periodically top up your Suica card with money which then gets deducted from the balance each time you use it.
In Europe, there is no such thing - sure, you can buy a lot of single ride tickets and then use them when you need to, but you have to stamp the ticket when you start each ride, which does seem a little more inconvenient.
I don't think it's fair to conflagrate "Europe" as a single entity. From what I'm reading and my distant recollection in London you top up your Oyster card and pay a fare according to the zone your travelling to. Metro is gated. In Paris your load up tickets in your Navigo pass and pay a flat rate every time you take the metro or RER. It's also gated. In most (all ?) Swiss cities you don't have any card to charge and have to get a ticket for every travel (the amount depending on how many zones you cross); however there's an app that let you get your location at the start of your travel and end of your travel and automatically charges you the correct fare. There's no gates.
In London you can use a contactless (UK) bank card, and it works just like the "Osyter Card". I think that started around 2016. For journeys on the TFL network you should get billed the lowest fare, as long as you touch at the right points when changing.
> In Europe, there is no such thing
The European public transport system is not some centralised system that should be generalised like this. The system in the Netherlands has worked like Suica for years (but without the extremely fast card reading unfortunately). You simply tap on with your public transport card or bank/credit card and tap out when you get off. Subscriptions, automatic/manual top ups, it's all possible.