"Niigata Bus i" provides real-time information about the operation states of highway express buses on the Nishi Kobari Highway and Kan-etsu and Joetsu Expressways through the Internet Website, the mobile phone Internet, and four bus stops. The collected data were used to investigate the effects of the Ariake Bridge.
The central district of Niigata City is surrounded by rivers, and vehicles from the western Niigata districts converge on the Ariake Bridge on National Highway Route 116, which forms a bottleneck and is always congested in the morning and evening rush hours. The traffic congestion during the morning rush hour causes an estimated loss of 700 million yen annually for the 12 km inbound section from Niigata University to downtown Niigata, of which 150 million yen (approximately 20%) is attributable to the Ariake Bridge. Widening of the bridge reduced the time and monetary losses during the morning rush hour by 25,900 hours and 106 million yen annually, which was shown using the data collected by the "Bus i".
[Niigata National Highway Office, Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]
Bus operation states on the Nishi Kobari route according to Niigata Bus i
State of traffic flow at around 8 o'clock in the morning on the inbound line (before service)
Niigata Bus i
