Nishitetsu Bus and Kyushu Sanko Bus will introduce credit card touch payment on all express buses operated jointly by Nishitetsu Bus and Kyushu Sanko Bus on the Fukuoka/Fukuoka Airport – Kumamoto route (Hinokuni route) from March 1, 2012. The brands supported are Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover, and UnionPay.
To commemorate this event, a campaign will be held from March 1 to April 30, offering a 20% discount on one-way fares for each ride when using touch settlement (applicable only to payment of regular adult fares). During the same period, passengers who use the “nimoca” transportation system IC card will receive points equivalent to 20% of the fare per ride (applicable only to Nishitetsu operated services).
Adult fares for the main sections of the Hinokuni route are 2,500 yen from Fukuoka (Hakata Station/Tenjin)/Fukuoka Airport to Kumamoto Sakura-machi Bus Terminal, 2,500 yen from Fukuoka (Hakata Station/Tenjin)-Kumamoto Ekimae, and 2,400 yen from Fukuoka (Hakata Station/Tenjin)-Hikarimori Sanko, with child and physical and mental disability fares at half the adult one-way fare.
There are 82 round-trips on weekdays (41 round-trips for Nishitetsu and 41 round-trips for Kyushu Sanko) and 91 round-trips on weekends and holidays (46 round-trips for Nishitetsu and 45 round-trips for Kyushu Sanko). With the touch-settlement system, passengers can board the bus by holding their credit card or smart phone with a touch-settlement compatible card over the terminal installed at the bus entrance.
With the introduction of touch payment, sales of some bus coupon tickets will cease as of June 30 (tickets that are still valid after July 1 may be used). The tickets include Hinokuni No. coupon tickets (4-piece paper coupon tickets, 4-piece smartphone coupon tickets, and 2-piece smartphone coupon tickets), Chanokuni Yame coupon tickets, and Katsunokuni Hirokawa coupon tickets.
© Source travel watch