JR East says Mobile Suica outage caused by traffic spike

2026-07-10

Mobile Suica glitch strained by heavy traffic

JR East said on the 10th that the cause of a glitch on the 1st in its smartphone app for transport IC services was a sudden surge in access. A day earlier, an outage caused by Apple in the US had occurred, and people who could not use the app tried again, swelling traffic.

Occurred around 8 a.m. on the 1st

The glitch in the Mobile Suica app began around 8 a.m. on the 1st and lasted until around 5:30 p.m. Users were unable to top up balances or buy commuter passes. According to JR East, access on the 1st reached several times normal levels, placing excessive strain on the entire system, including servers connected to external systems.

PASMO hit by similar outage

On June 30, a glitch caused by Apple occurred in the iPhone version of Mobile Suica. July is a period when many three-month commuter passes are renewed, and the usual increase in use also added to the burden. The glitches on the 30th and the 1st also occurred in the PASMO app, and Pasmo, based in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, said on the 10th that a similar cause was behind them. It said it does not know whether Apple was to blame for the outage on the 30th, adding that the more specific cause is still under review. JR East and Pasmo will raise processing capacity by expanding servers and other measures to prevent a recurrence. They will also refund passengers who were unable to buy commuter passes and paid fares with transport IC cards.

Enjoyed this article? Share it with your network!