Public transport

Public Transport

Although we all would ideally love to drive all across Akita to take in all the beautiful scenery in our own private vehicle, this is not always possible for everyone. So for those stuck in this rather annoying predicament, here is what is available.

Local Bus

See: Buses For long distance travel.

This is one of the main ways of traipsing throught the city and most little towns will have a route or two that you can use. For most of the buses (especially in the small rural towns), you will need to pay by cash, however you can use Suica in Akita city.

Where to find route information:

• Google maps: It will tell you the best stops to go to and how much it costs, however it isn't always accurate with the departure times.
• Akita info website: You can find any route here, but the site is only available in Japanese and a little tricky to navigate with google translate. https://www.akitainfo.jp/sp/bus/findbusstop.php?proc=top&act=top
• Bus stops: Each bus stop will have the departure times listed. Look carefully at the bus number and days of departure. The white column will list the times available for the week and the grey column will be for the weekends.

Websites available: https://www.jrbustohoku.co.jp/route/

Local Trains

See: Trains For long distance travel.

Like the local buses, this is one of the main forms of travel for your daily commute to and from work. Most train stations will have a ticket booth available, except for a handful of small towns. Suica is also limited to a few train stations close to Akita station. It is advisable to buy a ticket at the station if you are unfamiliar with the designated station.

Suica approved stations:

• Oga line: Izumi-Sotaasahikawa station- Tsuchizaki, Kami-Iijima, Oiwake, Detohama, Kami-Futada, Futada, Tenno, Funakosi, Wakimoto, Hadachi, Oga

• Ou-line (Akita-Aomori): Izumi-Sotaasahikawa station- Tsuchizaki, Kami-Iijima, Oiwake

• Ou-line (Akita-Shinjo): Yotsugoya, Wada

• Uetsu-line (Niitsu-Akita): Ugo-Ushijima, Araya

If you accidently tapped your Suica card at "Akita Station" and on arrival there is no Suica, go to the station master and show your Suica. If you can communicate in Japanese then explain the situation as clearly as you can. The station master may have a suica card machine that will read your entry point, and you will then be required to pay the fare by cash.

Out of order ticket booth

Sometimes it may happen that the ticket booth is out of order for whatever reason. What to do!

Options:

1. Go to the station master and buy directly from them.
2. Pay at your designated station on arrival. (A good idea would be to take a photo of your departing station and ticket station to make communication easier)
3. Pay on the train itself. (This option is quite rare but on occasion one of the train conductors might walk through the train. You can pay by them as well and they will give you a receipt as proof of payment)

No available ticket booth/ station master

In a few of the very small towns, there is only a small station that can only be described as a train stop. Don't fret if you find yourself at one of these stations.

Arriving at one of these small stations, you will present your ticket to the train conductor as you disembark.

Boarding is simple, at the station there will be a red box that you can get a receipt for a ticket from. On arrival at a station, present it to the station master and pay for the trip.

Train schedule

• Depature board at the train station
• Google maps. This will tell you the time of departure, and if the train has been delayed, however, it isn't always accurate.
• Dokotore. This is a website that is directly connected to JR Rail and has all the departure times, and up to date delay schedules.It is available in both Japanese and English, this makes it easy to navigate. A small tip will be to prevent your phone from auto-translating the site, as the translation makes it difficult to navigate (Kanji characters are used as a key for the trains). Website: https://doko-train.jp/en/pc/index.html
• JR East App: It is the same as Dokotore, just in app form. Unfortunately it is only available in Japanese. Website: https://www.jreast-app.jp/

Akita Suica/ AkiCA

Should you want to get yourself a suica, you can get one at Akita station at the west exit bus station in front of Topico and OPQ at the information station. It will cost at least 500 yen and you can charge money to it at the same time.