TTokyo

Bus services cut in Tokyo due to driver shortage

  • October 2, 2025


Bus services cut in Tokyo due to driver shortage

by proanti

9 comments

  2. There is no labour shortage. Only a shortage of good jobs that pay well and treat employees well. Even in Japan.

  3. I saw an extended coverage of this on the news last night and was shaking my head.

    They said the driver shortage was caused because the average age was something like almost 60 and a lot of drivers were retiring. Other drivers were being “stolen” by other bus companies.

    This was followed by a whole lot of “shogai” (nothing we can do) by company workers, passengers interviewed waiting for busses, and the journalists themselves.

    So you can’t get drivers and any drivers you do have leave for other companies. There are plenty of passengers who are more than willing to pay for the service. But there is absolutely NOTHING you can do except reduce busses to one per hour???

  4. The closest bus ride from my in-laws house to Narita recently started running again after 6 years because they couldn’t find driver(s).

    There will be plenty of people driving if you give them decent pay.

  5. I can already drive large vehicles. Get me a visa, and I’ll gladly drive a bus!

  7. Japan: we’re suffering from a labor shortage!
    Also Japan:
    Let’s have multiple people standing at construction sites to guide traffic. Same for parking lots. Oh and let’s have people holding up signs for events instead of using – I don’t know – sign posts?

    The workforce has actually been expanding due to more women and more seniors in the workforce (will decline moving forward though).

    The problem is rather that Japan is not able to effectively deploy their resources.

  8. I drove a beer truck for a year in America, I would have to take the whole class over again but I’d happily go back to driving big cars for money. Problem is relative to what I was making in America I wouldn’t be making any money at all.

  9. Hope some of the commuters affected are the ones who voted for Sanseito. For the others, welcome to the new reality. It will get worse.

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