Oku-Iya Bus Service Re-Starts... but with delays.
Road collapse creates delay with bus service
Update:
As of April 22, 2023 the road has been patched and is now re-open for regular driving (the detour is no longer needed), and the buses have once again resumed normal schedules without delays. More info >>
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On March 24th, 2023 the main road collapsed on the way into Oku-Iya (Higashi Iya), at a points about 10 minutes after the main Kazurabashi Vine Bridge in Nishi-Iya. For more info about driving around this collapse, see here:
For about 2 weeks the public bus service into the Oku-Iya area was suspended, but on April 6th bus service will re-start via the detour route through a mountains village road.
The regular schedule will still be followed for the buses into and out of the Oku-Iya area that go to/from Kubo bus stop, however due to the extra time needed for taking the detour, buses will be delayed by about 10 or 20 minutes.
This delay only affects the 4 buses per day that go on the route between Awa-Ikeda Bus Terminal and Kubo bus stop.
So for travel starting from places like Awa-Ikeda or Oboke Station, if just going to the Kazurabashi Vine Bridge area or other points in Nishi-Iya, then there would be no delay with going to here, but if continuing into Oku-Iya (for Kyojo, Ochiai Village, Kubo, and/or the bus link to Nagoro Scarecrow Village, Double Vine Bridges, etc) then the bus will arrive to these places 10-20 minutes later than the normal schedule time.
**However, if taking the bus in the opposite direction from points in Oku-Iya, the buses from Kubo will depart on time as scheduled, but due to the detour the buses will be 10-20 minutes late with reaching all points after the detour including the Kazurabashi Vine Bridge, points in Nishi-Iya, Oboke Station, and Awa-Ikeda. So if trying to catch a train out of Oboke Station, please take this into consideration or else you're gonna be SOL !!
