As more foreigner travelers visit the former Japanese capital of Kyoto, crowded and delayed city buses have become a headache for local citizens, prompting traffic authorities to take steps to ensure smoother passenger services and encourage the use of subway lines. In Kyoto, passengers have generally boarded buses through the…
As more foreigner travelers visit the former Japanese capital of Kyoto, crowded and delayed city buses have become a headache for local citizens, prompting traffic authorities to take steps to ensure smoother passenger services and encourage the use of subway lines.
In Kyoto, passengers have generally boarded buses through the rear door and paid the fare when getting off from the front door for over 40 years.
But with the city now attracting around 55 million tourists a year, Kyoto City Bus services, whose routes includes popular tourist attractions, have become constantly crowded, with some tourists carrying large baggage.
As some foreign travelers also often have difficulty in paying the fare promptly with coins at the bus stops, it has become difficult for the city buses to maintain punctuality.
According to the Nihon Bus Association, the bus industry body, the boarding system for route buses varies by regions, with passengers paying fares when they get on through the front door in flat fare zones in Tokyo and Yokohama and Nagoya.
In the face of complaints from local citizens about delayed bus services, the Kyoto city government’s traffic bureau conducted a practical experiment last October to switch doors for boarding and alighting, and making passengers pay the fare when they get on.
