"Raising Tourist Fares Won't Thin the Buses": Is Kyoto's Dual Pricing Fair? Japanese Commenters Weigh In
Short answer
Fair or not, it won't empty the buses: a Kyoto local (12 likes) says visitors ride because there is no other option. Take the train instead.
39 likes on the most-liked comment326-comment thread · 2023 video
「観光客の料金上げて利用者が減ると思っている京都市はヤバい」——京都の二重価格（市民優先価格）は妥当か、コメント欄の本音
By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan
In a 2023 thread from when Kyoto first floated a higher bus fare for visitors, Japanese commenters mostly didn't object to charging visitors more; they doubted it would fix anything. There, a self-described local wrote under a rail-news video (12 likes) that people pile onto the buses not because the day pass is cheap but because the bus is the only option, and the most-liked comment (39 likes) describes buses packed solid on roads that barely move. Now the plan is real: Kyoto says non-residents will pay more than residents on city buses and at Nijo Castle from fiscal 2027. The thread's sharper question is who counts as a visitor, since Japanese people from outside the city, including those coming home for the holidays, pay the higher rate too. The fixes commenters keep proposing are about routes, not prices, and a few spell out how they would get around instead.
These comments are from a video published in 2023. Prices, rules and crowds may have moved since; anything we checked ourselves is marked with a source.
“Local here. Kyoto city must be out of its mind if it thinks raising tourist fares will cut ridership. What are they going to charge, 1,000 yen? A 100-yen bump won't do much. People don't crowd onto the buses because the day pass is cheap, they crowd on because there's nothing but the bus. So even if the day pass disappeared they'd still pile onto the buses. You get off the shinkansen and your next option is a bus, that's the whole problem. Unless they build a subway under the main roads where the streetcars used to run, nothing will stop the buses from being packed. In other words, it's impossible. The only quick fix I can think of is double-deckers, and even that isn't a real solution. All it shows is that they thought about nothing during COVID. Classic Kyoto city.”
地元民です。 観光客の料金上げて利用者が減ると思っている京都市はヤバいですね。いくらに設定するつもりなんですかね？1000円にするんですかね？100円プラスくらいなら大した効果ないでしょうね。 1日乗車券が安いからバスに集中するんじゃなくてバスしか無いからです。なので1日乗車券がなくなってもバスに集中すると思います。新幹線の駅降りて、次の選択肢がバスって言うのが終わってますね。昔、市電が走っていた主要道路下に地下鉄が出来ない限り何をやってもバスが混むのは改善されないでしょう。つまり無理なわけです。 即効性あるのは、ダブルデッカー案くらいしか思い浮かびませんね。それにしても根本的な解決になってませんし。 結局コロナ禍の間、なにも考えて無かったっての露呈して、さすが京都市だと思います。
What Japanese people do instead
I think they need to push tourists onto the trains. To get from Kyoto Station to Kiyomizu-dera, most people only know the bus, but there's also the option of the JR Nara Line and the Keihan Line with a transfer at Tofukuji Station, and they should make that better known. With zone fares or rail passes, they could make trips across several rail companies cost the same as the bus or less, so the city subway, JR, Hankyu and Keihan can work together as a replacement for the bus.
観光客を鉄道に誘導する取り組みが必要だと思う。京都駅から清水寺へ行くのに、多くの人にはバスしか知られていないが、東福寺駅乗換のJR奈良線・京阪線ルートの選択肢も存在することをもっと周知すべき。ゾーン制運賃やフリーきっぷの導入で、複数の鉄道会社をまたぐ移動でもバスと同等以下の運賃になるようにして、市営地下鉄・JR・阪急・京阪の乗継をバスを代替するものとして使えるようにして欲しい。
— @osaka-g2y7 likesI think the idea of running tourist-only buses is worth trying, but the traffic in Kyoto is already terrible. With the congestion in mind, I thought the better way might be to have people take the train (subway) to the station nearest the sight, and from there take a bus, walk or use a rental bike.
観光客専用のバスを走らせる案は有りだと思うけど、今でも京都市内は渋滞が激しい。 渋滞の事を考えると、鉄道（地下鉄）で観光地に近い駅まで行ってもらって、そこからバスないし徒歩かレンタサイクルで、移動してもらう方法が良いのかなって思いました。
— @武蔵野1033 likesThere are services where you leave your bags at Kyoto Station and they deliver them to your hotel, or you ask your hotel and they send them to Kyoto Station, but visitors don't know about them, so they bring big luggage onto the bus, and I think that's part of the problem. Getting the word out that there are services so you don't have to bring it on would help too.
京都駅などで荷物を預けて置けば宿まで運んでくれるとか、宿でお願いすれば京都駅まで運んでおいてくれるとかいうサービスがあるのに客が知らなくて、客がバスに一緒に大荷物を持ち込むのが問題かと。持ち込まないで済むサービスがある事をもっと周知するのも効果があるかと。
— @qzp014672 likes
Places named in this article
- Tofukuji StationHigashiyama ward, Kyoto
The transfer point one commenter wants visitors to know about: JR Nara Line from Kyoto Station, then the Keihan Line toward Kiyomizu-dera instead of the bus (7 likes). Another warns Kiyomizu-Gojo Station is still a fair walk from the temple (5 likes).
Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.
FAQ
- Will tourists pay more for Kyoto city buses?
- Yes, if the plan goes through. Kyoto's estimate puts the flat-zone fare at 360 yen for non-residents and 200 yen for residents (down from 230 yen), aiming for fiscal 2027. The resident fare requires an IC card linked to My Number, so anyone without one, including Japanese visitors from other cities, pays the higher fare.
Sources: nikkei.com · kyoto-np.co.jp — checked 2026-10-03
- How much will Nijo Castle cost under dual pricing?
- Kyoto plans 1,000 yen for city residents and 2,000 yen for everyone else, against 1,300 yen today for the castle and Ninomaru Palace. The city plans to submit the ordinance change to the November assembly and wants it in place within the next fiscal year.
Sources: tokyo-np.co.jp · nippon.com — checked 2026-10-03
- How do you avoid the crowded buses in Kyoto?
- Take a train to the station nearest the sight, then walk, bus or rent a bike for the last stretch (3 likes). For Kiyomizu-dera, one commenter suggests the JR Nara Line to Tofukuji and the Keihan Line instead of the bus from Kyoto Station (7 likes), though another notes the walk up from Kiyomizu-Gojo is long (5 likes).
- Is Kyoto's dual pricing aimed at foreigners?
- No. The line is drawn at city residence, not nationality, and Japanese commenters noticed: one who returns home for the holidays (16 likes) worries being charged as a tourist will push homecomers into cars and worsen traffic. Others doubt a higher fare reduces crowds at all, since the bus is the only option.
Japanese people also answered
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What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 326 comments
Kyoto buses are crammed solid inside and crawling in traffic on the roads, so I gave up and walk from the station to my university like it's a school hike. And it's not the bus, but I've lost count of the parents with strollers I've seen staring in despair at a packed Sagano Line. Getting around Kyoto is just rough across the board now.
京都のバスは中も激混み圧縮状態だし道路も団子のろのろ渋滞なので、僕は諦めて駅から大学まで遠足してます。 あとバスではないんですが、大混雑した嵯峨野線を見て絶望するベビーカー連れのお父さんお母さんを何回も見ました。 京都の交通はもう全体的につらいです。
Kyoto residents have given up and ride bicycles and scooters.
京都市民は諦めて自転車とバイクを愛用しております。
What Kyoto residents are unhappy about isn't that inbound tourists pay a cheap fare, it's that the buses are too packed to get on. Even if you raise the bus fare for tourists, it might shrink the transit bureau's deficit a bit, but it won't reduce the number of tourists, so the crowding won't change. Should they use the extra revenue to add buses and drivers? Look at Higashioji-dori in tourist season: the buses are lined up like beads on a string, and adding more just adds more beads, not more capacity. The root cause of the delays is road traffic. If the jams cleared and journey times were halved, the same number of buses would carry twice as many people. The only way is to ban private cars from the congested routes in tourist season and ask delivery vehicles to come outside daytime hours, to cut the traffic in the city.
京都市民が不満なのはインバウンド客の運賃が安いことではなく、混雑して市バスに乗れないことなんですね。仮に観光客のバス運賃を上げても、交通局の赤字を多少減らす効果はあってもそれで観光客が減るわけでもなく混雑は変わらないでしょう。 増収分でバスと運転手を増やせば良いかというと、観光シーズンの東大路通りなどを見るとバスが数珠繋ぎで、増発しても〝数珠〟が増えるだけで輸送力のアップにはなりません。時間がかかる根本的原因は道路の渋滞です。もし仮に渋滞が解消して所要時間が半分になれば、今のバスの台数で輸送力は倍になるはずです。 ここは観光シーズンの混雑路線へのマイカー乗り入れを禁止し、配達用車両も日中以外の時間にお願いするなどして、市内の交通量を削減するしかないと思います。
To fix the root problem of overtourism, the logical move is to raise the bar for coming in and limit the number of visitors. Considering they were courting the maglev while complaining about overtourism, I honestly can't tell whether Kyoto city and the prefecture want 'outsiders' to come or not. Their message is completely contradictory. If they want people to come, they need to build the capacity to take them. If they don't, they just raise the bar. Raising bus fares for visitors won't clear the 'pedestrian jams' all over the city unless the absolute number of visitors drops. The crowds on Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka remind me of the line of climbers waiting for sunrise on Mt. Fuji. The locals must be fed up with that too. If they think a tourist fare on city buses will shrink things down to whatever level suits them, that's just shallow.
根元的な問題であるオーバーツーリズムを解消するには、入域のハードルを高くして来訪者数を絞るのが道理かと。 オーバーツーリズム被害を訴えながらリニアを誘致していたことを考えると、京都市や京都府は、果たして『よそ者に』来て欲しいのか欲しくないのか、言ってることが非常に矛盾していると感じます。 来て欲しいのなら受け入れるだけの器を整備する必要があるし、来て欲しくないのなら敷居を高くすれば済む話。 来訪者向けのバス運賃を値上げしても、来訪する人間の絶対数が減らなければ、街の各所で発生している「歩行者渋滞」は解消しないでしょう。二年坂、三年坂の混み具合は、富士山でのご来光目当ての登山客の列を彷彿とさせるレベル、あれでは地元の人たちも困ると思います。 市バスの観光客運賃の設定程度で自分たちの都合のいい状況、程度に収まってくれると考えているのであれば、浅はかとしか言いようがありません。
If people like me coming home for the holidays get treated as tourists too, I think a lot of us will start driving around during the homecoming season. Then you get massive traffic jams on the city's roads, and that's a new problem. So I think they should restart the tourist routes that are all suspended right now, and make routes that inbound visitors can understand too.
僕のような帰省客も観光客扱いになると、帰省シーズンに車で移動しようとする人が多く発生すると感じます。そうなると、市内の道路の大渋滞が発生し、新たな問題が出来ると感じます。ですので、現在全路線運休している観光系統を直ぐに再開して、インバウンドにも分かりやすい路線を作るべきだと感じます。
They say they'll tell locals from tourists with 'an IC card linked to My Number,' but I think developing that IC card alone will add to Kyoto city's deficit.
「マイナンバーに紐づけされたICカード」で地元民と観光客を区別するという事ですが、そのICカードの開発だけで京都市の赤字が増えると思いますね。
Thanks for the interesting video. Before you start charging the guests who come here extra, the city has been way too slow to review its own services. I see no sign at all of 'look how hard we're trying.' This is the bill for sitting comfortably on being one of Japan's top tourist spots. If everyone could see the city making an effort, I'd happily chip in. As it is, it just looks like they think the tourists will come anyway even if they raise prices a bit.
興味深い動画をありがとうございます。 来ていただいたお客様から上乗せでお金をいただく以前に 行政の見直しが遅すぎます。 これだけ努力してます と言う姿勢が全く見えない。 日本有数の観光地にあぐらを書いて来たツケなのですから 市の努力が誰にでも見えれば、喜んで協力しますがね。 少々値上げしても観光客は来るだろう と言うふうにしか見えません。
Hello Tetsubozu. Actually, there's already a loop bus. A bus called K-Loop runs a circular route aimed at sightseeing spots and tourists, with an all-day pass for 1,500 yen. The English guidance is excellent too. But it seems to be struggling. The reason is that the city buses are too convenient. I think the reason the city has suddenly floated raising fares only for travelers is that it wants to steer tourists onto this bus. Please understand it's not a desperate idea; the city announced it with a clear purpose and somewhere to send people.
鐵坊主さん、こんにちは。 じつは、環状バスは以前からあります。Kループというバスが一日乗り放題1500円で観光地と観光客に特化した循環系統で走ってます。英語での案内も万全です。 しかし、かなり苦戦しているみたいですね。理由は京都は市バスが便利すぎるからです。 今回、市バスが旅行者だけ値上げしようと言い出したのは、観光客をこのバスに誘導したいからだと思います。苦し紛れに言い出したのではなく、ちゃんと目的も受け皿もあっての京都市の発表であることをご理解ください。
Kyoto already has a tourist-focused bus called K-LOOP, with loop buses from Kyoto Station to three directions popular with inbound visitors, Higashiyama, Kinkaku-ji and Fushimi Inari, at 1,500 yen for an all-day pass. But because the city buses are convenient and cheap, the inbound visitors don't use it either.
京都にもK-LOOPという観光特化型のバスが既にあり、京都駅からインバウンドに人気の東山、金閣寺、伏見稲荷の3方面のループバスが1日乗り放題1500円で走ってますが、市バスが便利で安いのでインバウンドの方も利用してないですね。
Kyoto resident here. There are loop routes like the 201 and 205, but they get delayed by tourist crowds at Kinkakujimichi, Kiyomizu-dera, Gion and so on. They're just slow. The 101 and 102 tourist routes are slow too, even though they're supposed to be express services. With the crowds and traffic, Kinkaku-ji to Kyoto Station can take over an hour. The buses just aren't convenient, and the trains are inconvenient and hard to figure out.
京都市民です。 201とか205とかの循環系統がありますけど、金閣寺道とか清水寺、祇園等での観光客の混雑で遅延、とにかく遅い。 101とか102とかの観光系統、しかも急行設定にもかかわらずとにかく遅い。混雑渋滞で金閣寺京都駅間で一時間以上かかることも。 とにかくバスが便利ではなく鉄道が不便で分かりづらい。
Once on a Kyoto city bus, when I tried to get off at Kinkakuji-mae, my Suica threw an error three times in a row. Probably because it was so crowded, the driver said, 'That's fine, go ahead,' so I got off without paying. Kyoto city buses always feel like they're in a hurry, so I suspect a certain share of people end up getting off without paying for the same reason. I feel guilty enough about it that next time I go to Kyoto I'm going to spend money like crazy and help Kyoto's economy.
前に京都市バスで金閣寺前で降りようとしたときに、suicaで3連続でエラーが出てしまい、おそらく人が大勢いて混んでいるからか、「行ってもらって結構です」と運転手さんに言われたので無賃で下車したことがありました。 意外と京都市バスって常に急いている感じなのでその影響で無賃下車の割合が一定数あるのではないかと思っています。それなりの罪悪感があるので今度京都に行くときは京都でお金を使いまくって京都の経済を回そうと思います。