Destination sign

The display of route number and destination carried on the front, side and rear of a bus, also called a hōkōmaku. Know how to read it and you can judge in a few seconds whether the bus coming toward you is one you should board.

What a destination sign is

A destination sign is the display of route number and destination carried on the front, side and rear of a bus. Because the lettering was once printed on a blind that was wound on to change it, the sign is also called a 方向幕 (hōkōmaku), literally a "direction blind", and electric displays that form the characters with light-emitting diodes and the like later came into wide use. The front generally carries the route number and the destination, while the side adds the main places the bus runs by, which makes it the single best clue for telling from outside where this one bus is bound. The more a station forecourt has different routes pulling into the same boarding point one after another, the more reading this display counts.

What to look at is the pair of route number and destination

Knowing how to read a destination sign lets you decide whether to board during the few seconds a bus takes to draw up. The great knack is to check the place name not on its own but as a pair with the number of the route. Buses with similar-sounding destinations can pull into the same boarding point, and the place name alone will not tell you which roads they take on the way. Commit your own route number to memory and the sign settles the matter the moment you see it.

If the sign reads 回送 (kaiso), the bus is moving without passengers aboard and you cannot board it. Even under a familiar route number, a destination you do not usually see may mean a run that finishes at a stop partway along. In other words, the destination sign tells you both whether you can board and how far the bus will take you. When it is hard to make out at night or against the light, there is ample time to check again on the display beside the boarding door once the bus has stopped, instead of throwing up your hand in a hurry.

The side and rear displays are allies too

Missing the display on the front is no reason to give up. The side display usually includes the places the bus runs by, and it gives you a final check right at the boarding door. Get into the habit of confirming those places and the destination on the side display just before you step on, and boarding mistakes drop further still. The rear display earns its keep when a bus has just gone by and you want to work out from behind whether it was the one you wanted. How to read the front, side and rear displays is set out with diagrams in our article on how to read bus destination signs.