Starting point (kiten)

The stop at the end of a bus route where the route begins; its opposite is the terminus. The bureau's fare tables give each route a fixed starting point and terminus, and on a return trip the bus begins at the terminus end.

What a starting point is

A starting point, or kiten in Japanese, is the stop where a bus route or a particular trip begins. Its opposite is the terminus, and a single route is built as a path that runs from the starting point, through the places along the way, to the terminus. As of October 2026, the bureau's fare tables list each Toei Bus route with columns for the starting point, the main places along the way, and the terminus, which tells you where each bus runs from and to.

In the bureau's fare tables and revision lists, each route has a fixed starting point and terminus, and the pair of the two describes the section the route covers. On routes that run back and forth, though, a return trip begins at the route's terminus end, so for that trip the first stop is the route's terminus.

How it differs from the terminus and shihatsu

The starting point and the terminus are both words for a place, a stop. What appears on the destination sign as the trip's destination is the terminus end. Knowing which end the bus is coming from and which end it is heading to, as seen from the stop where you board, makes it easier to tell it apart from a bus going the opposite way.

The confusing one is shihatsu. The word is also used in the time sense, meaning the first trip to leave on a given day. Yet it is also used, as in "the shihatsu stop," to mean the place where a trip begins, just like the starting point. The starting point refers only to a place, while shihatsu can refer either to a trip or to a place.

Nor does every trip on a route necessarily begin at the route's starting point. Some trips leave the garage and begin carrying passengers from a stop partway along, known as in-service garage trips, and some short-working trips begin at an intermediate stop. For these trips, a stop other than the route's starting point is where the run begins.

Making good use of the starting stop

The starting stop is one option when you want to sit. At the starting point the bus begins taking on passengers while empty, so your chances of choosing a seat are better than at stops along the way. If you want to sit on a crowded route, one option is to walk a little farther and board at the starting stop.

When boarding at a stop along the way, checking where the bus is with live arrival information, in addition to the timetable, gives you an idea of how long you will wait. On Busdoko you can see the timetable for each boarding point and live arrival information at every stop. More ideas for daily travel are in our article of tips for everyday bus use.