
๐ Size & capacity
The size that goes where a 45-seater cannot โ mountain onsen roads, temple lanes, hotel forecourts.
27 seats with a proper under-floor hold โ around 20 large cases, which is what a real group of 20-something travellers actually carries. Above that number the maths changes and a 45-seater is cheaper per head.
Length and turning circle are the real reason to pick this size. Iya Valley in Tokushima, the Kurokawa Onsen approach, most Kyoto temple lanes โ a 45-seater is physically refused, a 27 gets through.
Ask before booking if any stop on your route has a vehicle-length limit. We check the road, not the map โ a route that looks fine on a screen can end at a barrier with a posted maximum.
Not sure which size you need? Send us the head count and the luggage count โ we answer with a vehicle, not a catalogue.
๐ Get a quote โMore on this ยท Size & capacity
Other things groups ask before booking
Three things every group leader asks us โ answered plainly, before you send a single yen.
In Japan, any vehicle carrying paying passengers must wear a green number plate (็ทใใณใใผ). A white plate means the vehicle is not licensed to be paid for carrying people.
This is not paperwork pedantry. If a white-plate vehicle has an accident while carrying your group, the commercial passenger insurance behind a licensed operator is simply not there.
Every operator on OlaChill hands over their green plate and their charter passenger transport licence number (ไธ่ฌ่ฒธๅๆ ๅฎข่ชๅ่ป้้ไบๆฅญ) before they are allowed to quote. No licence, no work.
Japanese charter fares are built from two meters running together: one for time and one for distance. Two operators can quote differently on the same trip because their garages sit at different distances from your pick-up point.
The clock does not start when you board. It starts when the bus leaves its garage and stops when it gets back. A tour you think of as eight hours is often billed as nine.
Vehicle size and season move the number too. The same route in cherry-blossom week or the November foliage peak costs more than the same Tuesday in February โ there are only so many buses in Japan.
Included: the vehicle, the driver, fuel, and the operator's commercial passenger insurance. You do not pay these separately.
Billed on top: expressway tolls and parking. These depend on the exact roads taken on the day, so no honest operator can fix them in advance.
On trips running past midnight or across several days, the driver's meals and lodging are added โ and by law a second driver may be required. We tell you this at quote time, not on the invoice.