Intermodal Connection of High-Speed Rail with Interregional Bus Services in Japan

An intermodal transportation service consisting of high-speed rail (HSR) and an interregional bus service is one policy option for rural areas where interregional travel demand is too low to justify the construction of HSR. This study reviews current interregional bus services connecting with interregional rail, particularly HSR, in Japan, and analyzes the market potential for improving intermodal transportation by integrating HSR with an interregional bus service. It reviews the current interregional transportation network and related travel demand, including for air, rail, and bus. It also analyzes the connectivity of rail+bus intermodal transportation. The analysis showed poor connectivity of HSR and interregional bus services in Japan. Next, an interregional travel mode choice model is estimated with a nested-logit model using data from the Interregional Travel Survey 2010. Then, origin-destination pairs constituting the potential travel demand of the rail+bus option are identified using simple market analysis. This revealed that origin-destination pairs connecting prefectural cities along the Tohoku Shinkansen (HSR) with Kofu City could gain modal shift from other travel modes to rail+bus through improvement in the connection or introduction of a new interregional bus service connected with HSR. Expected changes in modal shares for rail+bus are estimated through a case study where a connection at the HSR station is hypothetically improved by a newly introduced interregional bus service. This suggests that improvements in connectivity at the HSR station could encourage the intermodal transportation service of rail+bus, even for areas not connected with the HSR network.