Post by Ella
How to ride a bus in Japan. We’ve successfully decoded the procedure for riding a bus now having taken about a dozen rides.
One enters from the rear door and grabs a numbered ticket from a little dispenser. The number on the ticket represents where you got on the bus. If the number is one (or sometimes zero), you got on at the start of the route, Number two would mean you got on at the first stop and so on. You look up at an electronic grid at the front of the bus to check the fare.
In the picture below, a person holding a ticket with the number one on it would pay 540 Yen if they were getting off at the current stop. The numbers change and get progressively more expensive the farther you go. Today, one of our rides, about a. 20 min ride was 630 Yen.(4.23 US$).
You pay when you get off. There is a strict rule which is continuously announced in English and Japanese. We are asked to remain in our seats (if you have a seat) until the bus comes to a complete stop. Everyone complies and then forms an orderly line awaiting their turn to pay. Some buses were cash only, others had a system where you could pay by credit card or QR code.
We used cash, carefully counting out the yen as we stood in line. If you don’t have correct change, no problem. The driver will give you change. We often had to use a 1,000 Yen bill. The driver inserted it into a change machine and voila. Since most people used cash, it took a few minutes to get off the bus.
I would have guessed that most people would use their phone to pay. Maybe I was thinking of China.
Pay by tapping card or phone is new for these buses. Maybe it’s different in the cities.
We have Suica cards in our Apple wallets. These are accepted on most trains and subways and some buses in the cities. Even convenience stores and some restaurants. So easy. On the iPhone, in your wallet tap the + to add a card, chose Transit then scroll down to Japan.