This is comparison of the transportation fare between Shinkansen and Highway Express Bus from Tokyo to Osaka. The following fares are the market prices of each transportation.
| Tokyo~Shin-Osaka | |
|---|---|
| Shinkansen | ¥14,4500 |
| Highway Express Bus | ¥6,500 |
The difference in prices are the difference of services naturally. If you ask transportation for comfortability and quickness in the service then you should choose a Shinkansen. If you ask transportation for cheapness of its fare then you should choose a highway express bus.
| Tokyo ~ Shin-Osaka | ||
|---|---|---|
| Shinkansen | Highway Express Bus | |
| Ride Time | 2 to 3 hours | 7 to 8 hours |
| Operating time | 6 a.m. to 22p.m. | 24 hours |
| Comfortability of seat | Wide, comfortable | Narrow, squashed |
| Other services | Sales in vehicle | Stop at a transport cafe for interval break |
The advantage you use highway express bus is only cheapness. Probably for foreigners who came to Japan for the first time, there are enjoyable moments in some points such as enjoying landscape go by from train’s window or foods sold in transportation cafe but watching monotonic landscape of highway turns out to be boring you even if the first one excites you the most and foods sold in transportation cafe is not very good. You don’t have to care about other factors than cheapness because you want to save your money.
Contents
Where you can buy Hghway Express Bust ticket
There primarily 4 ways you can buy buy a bus ticket.
- Convenience store
- JR Ticket Office
- Online
- Ticket broker
The most easiest way you can get a ticket is buying online. Buying a ticket by other three ways needs you to speak Japanese at some levels. In spite of developing transportation service for foreign visitors led by the Japanese government, transportation servicer focus their attention on domestc local’s demand so its development makes very slow progress.
Anyways. you should use this website (Kosokubus.com).
This is only the website that I could find which provides express bus information comprehensively in English. There are some websites better than this one but those are written in Japanese.
Kosokubus.com
This site is online reservation system of highway express bus with 80 brands. There are two types of bus handled by this website, which are “highway express bus” in charge of inter-city transportation and “touring bus” in charge of sightseeing.
Especially, “highway express bus” information is pretty rich. This website is smiply a hub of multiple bus companies’ reservation information and its system run by a third party company. Thus, you have to take care of service schedule, bus equipment and other benefits from the reservation page whenever you book a ticket.
Terms of cancellation of your book, where you get off are also different depending on the bus company you use. so for your smooth transportation, you must confirm the bus company you use, terms of service when you book.
What you need to get on a bus
What you need to prepare prior to getting on a bus is different between “Highway Express Bus” and “Highway bus tour”
If you book “Highway Express bus”
- A copy of a book confirmation mail
- If you book and pay online or at convenience store, confirmation mail will be reached to your mail box. You need to transfer this mail content to your mobile and show book confirmation mail to staff or print it out and submit to staff. Principally, you have to print the mail content out and submit to the staff And also you just check carefully the rendezvous point, departure time, bus number and contact number of the bus company at the URL sent with a book confirmation mail.
- Highway bus tour
- A book confirmation mail will be sent to your mail box when your booking is completed. You should print out this confirmation mail and submit it to the staff when you get on a bus.
Where you go to get on and off a bus
Highway Express Bus
Indicated bus stop or bus terminal
Highway Bus Tour
There is no specific bus stop in contrast to Highway Express Bus. You need to get on at a bus terminal or a parking lot indicated by a bus company you use. For its details, you should check bus information page. If a bus information page says its destination is around ○○ station, a bus will look for a place to get off safely depending on the condition (a number of people and parking condition) around the station. Its distance is about 5 minute-walk from the station.
Is it possible to change where you get off after making a book?
If your change of the destination is in the same fare area, it is possible but if your change of the destination makes bus fare fluctuate, you need to cancel and book a ticket again.
Departure and arrival schedule
Departure and arrival schedule may vary depending on the situation on the day.Each bus company build a schedule with time to spare and is really sensitive about arrival time. However, delay will be occurred unavoidably by the following situations
- Season and date which cause traffic jam like weekend and homecoming seasons
- Going through a general road with a detour by an accident, accident handling and road construction
- Natural disaster like typhoon, heavy snow and earthquake
You should book with consideration of a risk of delay by the above situations. If you get on a plane you should leave the house with time to spare.
If delay of departure and arrival is occurred by an unavoidable situation, even if you need to stay in an accommodation or use a taxi, these claims are not approved by a bus company and there is no guarantee of bus fare in terms of arrival delay.
Bus manners
Hand baggage
Storage space is limited. There is a case where your too big luggage is turned down(too big suit case, surf board, skis, bicycle and instruments). If your luggage corresponds to these things, you ship these things by delivery. Depending on the bus, there may be no storage space and regulations about the size of your luggage, you should check carefully the specification of bus you are going to get on.
No explosives and combustibles.
Going with your pet is stricktly prohibited no matter what types of creature you are going with. Even if you come with your pet putting in a cage, it is not also approved.
Bus driver will load your luggage into a trunk room but no responsibility towards luggage damange and other troubles in a trunk room will be tanken by a bus company.
A highway express bus is used by tens of people for long hours. If you book a night express bus, you will spend the night in a bus and some people will take a nap a while until the bus reach the destination. To keep the comfortability and safety in a bus during the journey, you should refrain from the following behaviors.
- Speaking out loud
- Drinking alchol
- Speaking with on a mobile (setting your mobile to a silent mode)
- Eating foods with strong smell
When interval break at a transport cafe, you check the departure time and you must not be late to get on a bus.