You Can See When Your Bus Comes | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

You Can See When Your Bus Comes

By Guidable Writers Mar 21, 2017

Route bus is one of the easiest ways as public transportation. It is slightly more convenience than train because its stop’s interval is shorter, and you can access your destination easily. However, it also has the biggest and only fault; delayed due to a traffic jam. To develop a solution, the bus arrival system has been operating nationwide lately. Because you can check where your bus is on the internet, you don’t have to waste your time at the bus stop anymore.

To Find Your Bus at the Bus Stop

The major bus stop has LCD screen like below. It used to be set only in the downtown of big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, etc., but it spreads nationwide these days. Location information of each bus is sent to information center through an antenna which is set to bus and bus stop. It tells you bus company it operates, route number, destination, and waiting time. Therefore, it occasionally informs you where your bus is when it is approaching. It usually starts informing the 2 or 3 stop before the bus stop you are waiting.

BusIt: Find Your bus on the Internet

It is difficult to set the screen or information board to all bus stops in the country. However, you can know when your bus arrives on the internet. You can access the site named “BusIt” from your PC, smartphone, and tablet. At the bus stop, you enable NFC or QR code reader and hold your smartphone over the sticker for a couple of seconds if it is installed there (below). If you want to access the site from PC or before you go out, input its URL directly. When you access, its language is usually displayed in system default language. But if you want to change it, you can do it after you choose bus stop. It deals with Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese. When you access this site, you need to confirm the bus company you use is participating or not. More info; busit.jp.

 

More Tips: When Do You Pay a Fair

It is very primary but important thing; bus fare system varies by each company. There are 2 fare systems; flat fare or block rates with numbered ticket. If the entrance is set to the front door, the bus could be a flat-fare system, and you pay a fare when you get on a bus. However, if the entrance is set to middle door, the bus would be blocked rates, and you need to pick up numbered ticket if you pay a fare by cash. When you get off the bus, you pay a fare by cash or IC card in front of the driver and get off from the front door. If you know the company it operates, you should make sure on its website in advance.

 

Yuko

Japan