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Mitsubishi Fuso U-MP218P Aero Star K #G1199-M
29 december 2018 - Sado Island (Niigata Pref.), Sawata (Kubota), Honsha depot near Sawata bus station (新潟県佐渡市佐和田)... to be perfectly honest, I`m not exactly sure what`s up with the address around here.Public transport on Sado Island is in the hands of Niigata Kōtsū Sado Kabushiki-gaisha, a daughter company of the operator in charge of the prefecture capital`s bus network. Services are comparable with the Polish PKS services of the years gone past. Fourteen routes are in operation, numbered for the public more than anything else as 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, and 22. There are also openly-available school buses as part of some of the above routes as well as routes 15 and 17. The comparison to the Polish PKS is not amiss - the only decently running routes are 1, 2, and 10, and maybe 9 if you push the argument. The rest have no more than 5-6 departures per day each in a given direction. The timetable is split into workday and weekend timetables, and the latter only lacks a handful of departures and the school runs. The wide public can take copies home anyway - the entire network fits on two A3-size double-sided pages, one for weekdays, the other for weekends. The company has five depots on the island - the one seen above is the main one.
Don`t let appearances fool you though. Although yes, you can only pay in exact cash, and the prices are a bit steep (I still regret not having bought a day pass which would`ve paid itself back by the second trip) even for Japan, the passenger information is maintained perfectly. Stops can be in various states and of varying quality, but you`ll always find a timetable, and all buses have next stop announcements - even in English on rte 1. The network is clearly not built with the tourist in mind, but it`s difficult to blame the company given the island`s problems mentioned earlier.
Comments: 3
Isuzu KL-LV280L1 Erga Non-Step #H1068-I
29 december 2018 - Sado Island (Niigata Prefecture), Aikawa, Sado-shi Aikawa-shisho terminus (新潟県佐渡市相川).I had to dig through tender paperwork from when Yokohama-shi Kōtsūkyoku were selling this bus in order to fill in the data. Thankfully everything was there, if not more.
Sado Island. The sixth biggest island of Japan, counting the four main islands and Okinawa, and not counting territories disputed with the Russian Federation. The population stands at almost 55,000. In times gone past, the island had two purposes: it was the place of exile for the less politically comfortable (the only punishment worse than exile in Sado at the time was death itself), and then a gold mine was established here. The gold dug here pumped a large portion of the Tokugawa shogunate economy. At its best, the island was inhabited by approx. 122 thousand people. Now the island shares the nationwide problem of aging population. Coupled with the lack of third level education, many young people are left with little choice and simply enough just leave.
Comments: 6
Scania N280UB 4x2 EB / Volgren Optimus #P-D902
25 december 2018 - Tōkyō, Toshima, Minami-ōtsuka 3-chōme, near Yamanote line Ōtsuka station (東京都豊島区南大塚３丁目). First of all, I`d like to wish, albeit a bit late, all that`s good - above all I`d like to wish for fellow fans to not walk right into your frames ;) I hadn`t anticipated the number of fans here - these were the first revenue runs of the first fully low-floor city bus in Japan. It was deployed on duty 116 on route 都02 - here it`s just after departing out of service back to the garage for a break after two laps. Toei took deliveries of five of these already - D901 to Shibuya garage, D902 (above) and D903 to Sugamo garage, and D904 and D905 to Waseda garage. Photos on Twitter, however, suggest that up to, or maybe only as far as D921 have been manufactured already.
Comments: 1
Solaris Urbino 18 CNG #1053
26 august 2018 - Radom, Dzierzków, al. Wojska Polskiego, DK9.P1: Lotnisko / Lubelska → Dworzec PKP
Tym odcinkiem alei Wojska Polskiego z reguły wielkie tłumy w trakcie AirShow nie chodzą - zresztą, droga sama w sobie nie sprzyja pieszym wędrówkom zważywszy na brak chodnika, czy też nawet pobocza. Jest to najspokojniejszy odcinek alei w trakcie pokazów - pomijając pojedyncze samochody można tutaj tylko spotkać 21 i P1, opcjonalnie pojedyncze zjazdy koło południa.
Author: TranslatorPS 
Comments: 4
Hino PJ-KV234L1 Blue Ribbon II One-Step #9857
6 december 2018 - Niiza (Saitama Pref.), Tōhoku 2-chōme (埼玉県新座市東北２丁目), Prefectural Route 40. Here you can see a typical city bus layout when it comes to Japan - a dual-door standard bus, in recent years more likely than not on a low-entry chassis. The two doors are segregated: one is for entry, the other for exit. However, there is no strict rule defining which door will have which purpose. In the Tōkyō general area it depends on when the fare is paid: if it`s a flat fare paid when getting on, board at the front, if it`s a distance-based fare paid when getting off, board at the middle. Thus Kyōto surprised me as, despite a flat fare, one pays when getting off, so the boarding is through the middle door.
Comments: 7
Isuzu PKG-LV234L2 Erga Non-Step #6909
13 december 2018 - Shiki (Saitama Pref.), Honchō 5-chōme, Shiki-eki Higashi-guchi terminus (埼玉県志木市本町５丁目).志05 (shi-05): 志木駅東口 (Shiki Station East Exit) → 宗岡 (Muneoka) → 志木駅東口 (Shiki Station East Exit) (linia okólna)
This is the third photo within a kilometre of each other now, and a third bus company. When it comes to integration, Europe is like a heaven. It`s impossible to see ticket unions here (with minor exceptions regarding day tickets, like in Kyōto). On-stop passenger information usually leads to a forest of stops, as each operator places their own flags and schedules, although oddly enough termini are well integrated. As for the Internet, most companes refer over to nation-wide search engines, such as Navitime, but even then often to separate subpages that only cover their own services. Most trips are paid on a trip by trip basis, and because of long-term tickets - commuter passes as they`re referred to here - it`s impossible to find network-wide tickets spanning over multiple operators. There are, however, routes operated by two operators simultaneously, surprisingly enough, and in those cases one can actually buy a commuter pass covering both operators on that route. The cherry on top of the icing lays in the network maps on board the buses which show... only the routes operated by that particular garage.
Author: TranslatorPS
Comments: 1
Isuzu QDG-LV290N1 Erga Non-Step #A6-954
13 december 2018 - Niiza City (Saitama Pref.), Tōhoku 2-chōme (埼玉県新座市東北２丁目), Prefectural Route 40. With that said, I`d like to say hello :) I hope to add worthwhile content to this photogallery.志33-1 (shi-33-1): 志木駅南口 (Shiki Station South Exit) → 新座駅南口 (Niiza Station South Exit)
With this photo, I think I can summarise the essence of Japanese suburbs quite well: not the widest streets (sidewalk not compulsory), completely mixed high-rise and low buildings, mandatory kombini in a relatively accessible distance (here: 7-Eleven), wiring out in the open, at least a few bicycles within eye`s reach, and along the afore-mentioned street a local city buses passes quite regularly (or not), whose purpose is a feeder to the closest railway station or stop. Sleepertown, no more, no less.
Author: TranslatorPS
Comments: 5
Found: 127, RSS Channel
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