Overall Trends
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Buses Overall Trends passengers carried, who constitute the backbone of their 1 Introduction: Social Trends Affecting Buses business operations. It is also clear that the population Since marketability and social issues go hand in hand decline will continue. The contents of the legislation with technological trends in buses, this article first sur- thus cover a definition and discussion of what form pub- veys the conditions that affected buses over 2014. lic transportation should take that has been long awaited 1. 1. Buses and the Basic Act on Transport Policy by the industry. Buses, in essence, are vehicles that economically trans- As of 2014, concrete steps will be taken as part of the port people. They trade the freedom of individual move- Basic Plan on Transport Policy, which sets advanced ment afforded by passenger vehicles for cost efficiency, transport node functions such as ensuring public trans- and are subject to strict evaluation as production goods. portation punctuality and improving transit speed, guar- Their assigned role of conveying people is a fundamental anteeing comfort, and enabling smooth connections. difference with trucks, another type of production goods. Vehicles used in public transportation include trains, At the same time, as vehicles, they are expected to com- trams and buses. In the U.S. and Europe, these modes ply with the safety standards under the Road Trucking are typically chosen based on transport capacity and Vehicle Act, and the introduction of vehicles not pro- cost, leading to active initiatives on the part of industries vided for under that Act often faces significant hurdles. that treat public transportation institutions as a single Since they also carry many lives, the social impact of a entity. In Japan, by contrast, trains and automobiles, single accident is high, and buses are therefore subject or travelers and cargo, for example, have a history of to high-level safety requirements. clearly being handled separately by the legislation, and As production goods meant for the collective transport the establishment of a basic policy on transport itself is a of people, buses do not enjoy a particularly large mar- national first. Creating cross-functional policy proposals ket scale, putting them in a special position in today’s and system designs may take time. Even for the auto- automobile industry, where mass production is a given. mobile industry, nothing other than buses comes to mind Their primary function of public transportation has seen some renewal with the establishment of the Basic Act on Transport Policy in November 2013. This law places the onus for instituting policies that enable travel necessary for daily life or social activities on the national government, and can be said to represent the first official national recognition of the importance of public transportation. In Japan, public transportation has long been the purview of transport operators. Al- though this presented no problems while the number of users continued to rise, many regional transport opera- tors are currently bemoaning the drop in the number of Fig. 1 Will ultra-compact vehicles threaten buses some day? Copyright© 2015 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. All rights reserved in terms of a relationship with public transportation in- that followed the easing of regulations has driven profits stitutions. The need for efficient city building imposed down, leading to many cases of experienced charter bus on the transit of people itself as the declining birth rate operators closing their doors, and concerns over safety and aging of the population become more pronounced, have been raised as low-cost small-scale operators step- as well as coordination with the compact city and smart ping in to fill the vacuum have become prominent. The city urban development concepts that also address the new system to ensure appropriate fares and pricing protection of the environment represent some of the con- arose to address these circumstances. siderations that prompted the Basic Act on Transport As a result, it has become more common for charter Policy. Put another way, expanded public transportation bus fares paid by consumers to be equal to travel fares, will foster both the reduction of social costs and greater and bus operator sales figures are on the rise. Opera- public convenience. In that sense, ultra-compact vehicles tors have started to note that the new system makes it (Fig. 1), which are expected to ensure freedom of travel easier to plan vehicle purchases, a trend notable as the for the elderly, are very likely to play a role as a local vehicles used for inbound tourism by the new small-scale means of transit despite being at the opposite end of the operators are being gradually replaced. In terms of en- spectrum from buses in terms of both size and shape. vironmental protection and safety, the renewal of these Once the social cost efficiency axis of evaluation starts vehicles is a welcome step. being applied to vehicles that transport people, closer Although there are expectations that the reasonable attention will be given to the division of roles for those sales figures resulting from the new system will lead two types of transport. If, for example, ultra-compact ve- to greater safety and become reflected in labor costs hicles come to be used for short-distance travel, such as indirectly producing a similar effect, the approach of hospital visits by the elderly, the considerable threat this leaving such investments up to operator intent remains would pose to local transit bus operators is easy to envi- unchanged from the previous system. sion. 1. 3. Responding to the rising number of foreign 1. 2. New fare and pricing system for charter buses tourists A new system for charter bus fares and pricing was Figure 2 shows how the number of visitors to Japan established in 2014 has shifted since the launch of the Visit Japan Campaign There have been regulations on charter bus fares and in 2003. Despite decreases corresponding to the global pricing in the past. However, separate time-based fares financial crisis and the Great East Japan Earthquake, an for cruising time or waiting time at visited locations overall upward trend can be observed and, helped by a added as separate fees to distance-based fare systems lower exchange rate for the yen last year, the number covering actual driving with passengers on board led to of visitors in 2014 rose to 13.41 million (interim figure) confusing calculation methods, and business was often from 5.21 million in 2003. In 2003, the top regions of conducted using prices based on experience. This natu- origin were South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S., China, and rally led to large price differences based on factors such Hong Kong, with the order changing to Taiwan, South as the influence or track record of the travel agency Korea, China, Hong Kong and the U.S. in 2014. Assum- placing an order, creating a situation where the fares de- ing a 2003 baseline of 100, the increase in the number fined by the system were devoid of substance. of visitors from China to 537 for 2014 stands out. While At the same time, since the supply-demand adjust- there are certainly individual visitors, a large number of ment regulation was abolished in 2000 -‒ a form of de- tourists come in groups and make use of charter buses. regulation -‒ the number of small-scale operators with This is leading charter bus operators who focus primar- few fixed costs has surged, and price competition has in- ily on inbound tourists to augment their fleets. With the tensified. Given the nature of charter bus operation, the anticipated continued rise in the number of visitors as specifics of the work changing from one day to the next the 2020 Olympic Games approach, charter bus operators is par for the course, which means extensive experience throughout the country are making plans to replace and is required of bus attendants. This was also part of op- add vehicles, pushing up bus production volumes. erator know-how and strongly affected the trust relation- 1. 4. Electric bus commercialization is underway ship with travel agents. However, the price competition The transit buses that handle urban public transporta- Copyright© 2015 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. All rights reserved (million people) 16 14 12 All countries 10 8 6 4 China 2 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 （Source: Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)） Fig. 3 Heavy-duty electric bus made by South Korean HFG Fig. 2 Visitors to Japan tion are intrinsically tied to environmental issues, while technological issues and courses of action are linked to administrative policies. In terms of resources and envi- ronmental protection, the U.S. and Europe have adopted a systematic approach where organizations in the public transportation industry as well as bus and component makers, are coordinating with administrative authorities and research institutions to deploy new technologies, and a course of action is gradually becoming clear. In that context, some makers have started making plans Fig. 4 The charger for the South Korean HFG electric bus does not use CHAdeMO to eventually cease or drastically reduce the production of buses equipped with pure diesel engines. In Japan, current practice is limited to individual makers work- ing with local authorities and research institutions to advance research and development. With the exception of a few CNG models and light-duty buses with gaso- line engines, the overwhelming majority of vehicles are equipped with diesel engines, and in terms of number of units, diesel-electric vehicles cannot be regarded as main- stream. ©2015 Pokémon. ©1995-2015 Nintendo/ Nevertheless, from the standpoint of community build- Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc.