This paper attempts to examine community bus services in the Tama region of Tokyo in terms of the operational characteristics and the role of bus services that municipalities aimed for. In the process of adoption by municipalities, there was a certain degree of regional cohesiveness that surrounding municipalities of the precedents were likely to initiate their operations. In addition to analysis of fare systems, the percentages of bus routes independently operated by community bus operators were calculated based on GIS analysis to understand the role of community buses in the region. As a result, in the early 1990s, community bus services were provided in a manner similar to that of other bus services. On the other hand, municipalities began operating community buses in the late 1990s tended to fill the gap left by the declining services of private bus operators. In the 2000s, such examples led to their spread to neighboring municipalities and accelerated the adoption in the study region.
