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The Yomiuri Shimbun Buses to be used at and around the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo venue are seen in Konohana Ward, Osaka City.
By Kento Fukunaga / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
17:36 JST, November 23, 2024
OSAKA — Osaka Metro Co., which operates subway lines in Osaka, plans to have about 60 of its employees obtain bus driving licenses to cooperate with the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. The company is set to loan the employees to its bus operating subsidiary, which will run bus services at and around the Expo venue on Yumeshima Island, an artificial island in Osaka.
To drive buses carrying passengers, people have to go to driving school and get a Class 2 driver’s license. The cost for obtaining the license is covered by the company. The time employees spend learning at the driving school counts as working hours.
This is a measure to secure enough bus drivers amid a nationwide driver shortage.
The Yomiuri Shimbun The Expo venue is under construction on Yumeshima Island in Osaka on Nov. 13.
According to Osaka Metro, about 100 employees, including some who already hold Class 2 licenses, will be loaned to Osaka City Bus Co., which will operate shuttle buses running between parking lots set up on Maishima Island and the venue, as well as buses circling the Yumeshima venue.
About 300 drivers will be needed to operate the services. Osaka Metro plans to secure the number of drivers by combining existing subsidiary drivers and newly hired drivers for the Expo with transferred Osaka Metro employees.
In April, the company recruited for bus driver jobs from within the company, and received applications from station workers, railroad vehicle mechanics and administrative staff.
The cost of training required to obtain the license is about ¥500,000 per person. Osaka Metro also takes measures to ensure employees can work while attending driving school for one to four months. The employees will be loaned only during the Expo.
“With the nationwide shortage of large vehicle drivers, we decided to make companywide efforts to train drivers in-house in order to accommodate the Expo,” an Osaka Metro official said. “We hope our employees will also benefit from upskilling.”
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The central government and industrial organizations have also started working to address the shortage, such as by supporting bus company employees in obtaining Class 2 licenses.
In fiscal 2023, the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry introduced a subsidy system and provided money to 505 companies where employees had newly obtained licenses that year.
The Nihon Bus Association provides a subsidy of ¥50,000 per person to its member companies. Subsidies were provided for 786 people in fiscal 2023. There has been an annual increase in those eligible for the subsidy, with the number expected to exceed 900 in fiscal 2024, according to the association.
“Training drivers is costly and time-consuming. We hope the subsidy will help them secure human resources,” an official of the association said.
Setting up parking lots
Visitors will not be allowed to drive their own cars to the venue, according to plans by the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition.
Instead, a “park and ride” system will be adopted. Dedicated parking lots will be set up on Maishima Island and other nearby areas such as Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, and Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.
Visitors will be able to transfer via free shuttle buses to the Yumeshima venue.
