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Travel Tips · Transportation

Transit Cards Across Asia: Suica, T-money, EZ-Link & More

One card per country makes trains, buses and even convenience stores effortless. Here's what to get where.

6 min readUpdated 1 September 2026

Guide in progress — this page uses placeholder content and will be updated with first-hand experience, photos and verified details.

Almost every major Asian city runs on a tap-in transit card, and getting one sorted in your first hour saves you queuing at a ticket machine every single day. Here is what to get, country by country.

Japan — Suica, PASMO, ICOCA

The most useful of the lot. One card covers almost all trains, subways and buses nationwide, plus convenience stores, vending machines and many restaurants.

  • Add it to your phone wallet if you can — Apple Wallet and Google Wallet both support it, you can top up with a card instead of feeding cash into a machine, and it does not expire the way the visitor cards do.
  • The regional brands are interoperable: a card bought in Tokyo works in Kyoto, Osaka and Fukuoka.
  • If you want a physical card, the visitor versions are Welcome Suica and Tourist PASMO, sold at airport and major-station counters on production of a passport. They carry no deposit, but they are valid for only 28 days and the balance is not refundable — another reason to use the phone version if you can.

South Korea — T-money

Buy at any convenience store, top up at the same counter or at station machines. Works on Seoul's subway and buses, on intercity buses and in taxis. Bus-to-subway transfers are discounted automatically if you tap out.

Singapore is the easiest: tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard directly on the MRT and bus gates. Use the same physical card for every tap of the journey so transfers are calculated correctly.

Malaysia — Touch 'n Go

A card and an eWallet used for transit, tolls, parking and everyday payments. The eWallet is broadly useful beyond transport.

Hong Kong — Octopus

The card that started the category. Still used for transit, convenience stores and vending machines across the city.

Vietnam and Thailand

Transit cards exist for Bangkok's BTS and MRT and for the newer metro lines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but visitor journeys are dominated by ride-hailing. Grab covers cars and motorbike taxis in both countries and removes any negotiation over the fare.

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