First bus (shihatsu)

What shihatsu means

Shihatsu is the very first bus to depart on a given day. That is the sense at work when someone says "I'll make it if I catch the first bus". The word carries a second sense as well: the origin of a route, in other words the stop where the bus starts running. Say "this bus is shihatsu from [name] Station" and you mean a service that begins its journey at that station. Because the one word covers both "the earliest departure" and "the starting point", you have to tell them apart from the context. It is the same split as the railway pair shihatsu-eki, an originating station, and shihatsu-densha, the first train of the day, which should make it easy to remember.

An early start begins with checking the first bus time

Knowing about the first bus is what you fall back on when you have to go out early. On many routes the first bus runs later than the first train, so there tends to be a window where the trains are already moving but not a single bus toward the station has left yet. On a day when you are catching an early flight or an early Shinkansen, look up the first-bus time at the stop you intend to use the day before, and you will not be scrambling that morning. If it turns out the first bus will not get you there in time, you can arrange to walk, cycle or take a taxi ahead of time.

What deserves care is that the first-bus time changes with the timetable in force. On some routes the first bus on a holiday timetable is later than on weekdays, so arriving at the time you remember from a weekday can leave you at a stop where nothing has run yet. When you look it up, the sure way is to confirm not only what time it leaves but which day's timetable you are reading. First-bus times also differ from stop to stop along the route, so remember to check the column for the stop where you will board.

The option of boarding at the originating stop

Knowing shihatsu in the sense of a starting point comes in handy when you would like to sit down for the ride. At the originating stop, boarding begins with an empty bus, so your chances of getting a seat are far better than they are boarding partway along the route. Situations where it is worth walking a little to reach the originating stop are more common than you might think. On a long ride, on a day when you are carrying a lot, or on a day when you are not feeling your best, that small extra effort makes a real difference to how comfortable the journey is. Together with its counterpart, the last bus, our article on how to look up first and last buses explains the tricks of finding the times.