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Can you claim back your bus fares?

Why do they charge such high bus fares in rural Japan?

  • I found out that the JR bus fare from Nishi-Nasuno JR station to Shiobara Onsen is 900 yen one way. That is still a short distance, and nevermind the time because Japanese scenic roads have low speed limits anyway. 900 yen is about US$11. Now I haven't been to Shiobara Onsen, but I have been to Minakami. There is a bus that runs from Minakami Station to the Takaragawa Onsen. The distance is 12 km and the fare is 1100 yen (US$14) one way! You will never see bus fares that high in Korea and Taiwan. Not even in Canada! In the Canadian side of the Niagra River they have this tourist bus called the People Mover. I can ride on that for more than 12 km for US$20 for the whole day unlimited from Queenston Heights to the Niagra Falls. Even the local transit buses in Canada that connect to tourist attractions don't charge as much as they do in rural Japan! To pay 1100 yen for a one-way cash fare at a 12 km distance in Japan is a crime! Is the Yakuza behing this or what?

  • Answer:

    It has little to do with fuel prices. It has to do with lack of competition, the monopoly that JR has created. In other markets there is healthy competition which keeps high prices in check and raises value for passengers. In Japan you have a single company which manages to dictate bus fares when stops are made at their stations. Why? Because they can. Want to operate a bus service from a JR station? You will be in direct competition with JR. They would be glad to show you the fees they would charge to allow your buses to stop at their stations. If you can run the business with lower fares for passengers that means they need to raise the fees for allowing you to stop there. Either way - JR will make money and customers will pay more than is necessary or fair.

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It's not really that high. It's just that you are thinking of it in terms of your particular exchange rate. When I was living in Japan in the 80s, the exchange rate was around 265 JPY/USD (which was fairly equal in those days) making that a fare of less than $4 (if it was even that expensive then). Of course, the price of gas causes certain thing to become more expensive. I just checked the minimum fare for JR trains and Tokyo subways and they are nearly double the rate of when I was there. However, food and drink prices are still close to the same (or barely higher) today as they were then. It's just that the exchange rates make it appear to be outrageously expensive. As a foreigner who has to convert his money into yen, it may seem expensive to you and I, but to the Japanese who live there it may seem still rather fair. It's all artificial relative to your country's strength/weakness against the yen.

nnucklehedd

Have you factored in that the current cost of gasoline is over $6.50/gallon? That's just for gasoline. Don't know the mileage those buses get but it isn't a lot. The yakuza have nothing to do with it. Besides, it is what it is. And they charge it in part due to costs incurred and in part probably because they can. What is your other option for getting around? They gotcha' by the short hairs, huh?

TriisoDecylPhosphite

Gas is over $6.50 a gallon...

Vinegar Taster

It is simple fact people need that high price just to live. Mostly due high cost of housing. If they don't charge that much. They can't pay people enough wage to live. I still remember stay hotel in Japan, and have to put in coins for TV.

Seeker

I think it is as Sonny says. Remember, that bus is making that run day-in, day-out. If it wasn't regulated up the ying-yang.....maybe no one would bother except on weekends and holidays. However what the community there wants is that service running everyday even if some runs only get one or even no passengers. Therefore yeah...you are paying that 1100 so that it can at least break even on an annual basis, given that a lot of days just granny and grandpa are catching a ride.

michinoku2001

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