A Study on the Beneficiary Burden of Community Buses Based on Overseas Cases

-Problematic Approach for Rural Areas in Japan-

Abstract

This paper discusses community buses’ beneficiary liabilities by comparing Japanese ride-sharing with foreign shared-ride transportation. In local areas, the maintenance of bus routes is difficult in terms of the management of income and expenditures. However, to ensure availability of transportation, the municipal operation of community buses is increasing in areas without public transportation or alternatives to community buses. At present, the operating costs of community buses are covered by the public in many cases. This paper argues that the financial burden should not only be on the government. We consider what beneficiary liabilities should be from the point of view of personal finance and examine the balance between beneficiary liabilities and public burden. Subsequently, we discuss beneficiary liabilities for public transportation as a public good and propose to operate it through the united efforts of industry, government, academia, finance, and the public.

We discuss the structuring of community buses’ potential operation from beneficiary liabilities through the following: ride-sharing “Sasaeai Kotsu” in Kyotango City, Kyoto Prefecture, operated via beneficiary liabilities; foreign cases including Thailand, which developed share-ride transportation, and France, where the financial resources for public transportation are covered by taxes from beneficiary companies are discussed. From the perspective that a certain amount of beneficiary liability is needed for public transportation, we propose to resolve issues in community bus route development and maintenance in cooperation with industry, government, academia, finance, and the public.