安くて便利な高速バス、でも「路線バス」と「ツアーバス」が混在していることを知らずに、価格の安さだけで選んでいる人の何と多いことか。
「路線バス」は、運行ダイヤや運行料金等の内容を監督省庁・・・つまり国土交通省（窓口は陸運局）に届け出て許認可を受けなければ営業できない。
これらダイヤや料金等の他にも、届けには当然車両や乗務員の配置、勤務シフト等の内容も含まれ、法令に沿ったものでなければならない。つまり
公的な厳しい監督の下に置かれての運行になる。ＪＲバスや鉄道会社系、それに地域路線バスも運行するバス会社などが運行する高速バスがこれに該当する。
「ツアーバス」は、簡単に言うと「パックツアー」「日帰りバスツアー」と同じ分類。旅行業法に基づき、旅行主催会社が募集、一定以上の人数の「申込」（催行人数）
が集まれば運行する。「募集型企画旅行」というカテゴリーになり、乗客ゼロでも運行する「路線バス」とは違って、運行したりしなかったり。なので、運行が決まると
（増便などの場合は）急遽バス会社を探して充てる という不規則な運行形態になる。貸切観光バスで運行されている高速バスは、ほとんどがこの「ツアーバス」で、
今回事故を起こしたハーベストや ウイラーなどの旅行会社がその大手である。
（ツアーバスなのに、法令で定められている添乗員が同乗していないのはどうしてか？）
「路線バス」を管理する陸運局は、バス運行会社の業務監督には係わるが、主催旅行会社のツアー内容は基本的に範疇外。運送法と旅行業法という適用法令の差が
この不可解な「高速バス」の二重存在を発生させている。「路線バス」ならば、運輸責任を一手に受けるので責任感も大きく強いはずだが、「ツアーバス」は
旅行会社とバス運行会社の共同であるため、その辺りはどうなのだろうか？今回の事故での両者の説明から 相手方に責任を投げているかのように聞こえてくるのだが。本来はツアー実施に法令上も責任を負っているツアー会社だが、おそらくバスドライバーの勤務シフトに問題は無いかまでチェックしていることは稀だろう。
一方、監督省庁も市場に不可解に混在している「同じ商品」を監督指導するための、法令等の見直しに着手すべきだろう。
それまでは、消費者は自分の責任で「安全商品」を選別していかねばならない。
私は 長距離や夜行の高速バスは 安くても決して「ツアーバス」は選んでいない。常にＪＲなどの「路線高速バス」に乗っている。
A tragic accident occurred on Kanetsu highway. A midnight highway express bus crashed into the fence and was heavily damaged. 7 died and many were injured. A driver was driving alone in a long distance and a long time, and at result dozed at the wheel. Different from an omnibus ,this bus was chartered by an travel
agency as the same style of " group tour " , in short , "tour bus".
A highway bus is cheap and convenient. But many people choose a highway bus only for a cheaper price
without knowing that " a bus on a regular route " ,in short "an omnibus" and "a tour bus " are
intermingled in category of a highway bus.
To serve a bus on a regular route , a bus company is subject to apply with the detail contents including
timetable , fare ,etc and to receive license( approved) from Ministry of Land , Infrastructure, transport
and Tourism(a window for process is the agency of transport). The contents of application must include
arragement and disposition of buses and drivers , rotation of drivers etc. justly . These must be legitimate
in accordance with ordinances and regulations. In a word , a service is strictly supervised under administration. A highway bus served by JR , private railway companies , bus companies which serve
regional route buses , come under.
"A tour highway bus" is classified into " a day bus tour( called a packed tour in Japan) " in a word.
A travel agency advertizes according to law of travel business and serves to charter buses with
more applications from "travelers(not passengers?)" than the number mentioned on terms and conditions.
It belongs to category of " a tour planned and arraged with an advertisement". Different from a bus on a
regular route that must serve even with no passenger necessarily , it depends upon the number of
"travelers" if a tour bus is served or not. Therefore , once they decide to serve , they look for a bus company in a hurry(especially in case of addition of buses). Properly a rotation of buses and drivers tends
to be irregular. Most of highway buses which are operated with "chartered sightseeing buses" are
"tour highway buses". "Harvest holdings" which caused an accident this time or " Willer express" is
a main(leading) travel agency that serves " a tour highway bus".
(Is it illegal that a tour bus is served without a tour conductor who must attend according to a law?)
The agency of transport that administers a bus on a regular route is responsible to control a bus company,
but the contents of tours which a travel agency plans and arranges do not belong to its category.
The difference between law of transport and law of travel business causes incomprehensible duplicate
exsistence of highway buses. As a bus company is charged with the service of a bus on a regular route
single-handedly , it must have a strong sense of responsibiliy.. On the other hand , how is it in case of
a tour bus which is jointly served by a bus company and a travel agency? Both of a bus company
and a travel agency seem to lay the blame each other for this accident at a press conference.
Travel agencies that are rightfully responsible to manage tours legally seldom check if rotation of drivers
is proper , or not.
On the other hand , Ministry of Land , Infrastructure ,Transport and Tourism has to begin to amend relative
laws to administer " the same services " that exist at a time inscrutably . Anyway now passengers
should select and choose " a safe service" by themselves. I never select "a tour highway bus" in case of
an overnight transfer or a long distance transfer. Then I take "a highway bus on a regular route" necessarily ,,, served by ... for example JR. ,,,, etc.
