๐ง Access & special needs
Child seats, babies and family groups on a charter bus
The rules differ between a minivan and a coach โ and most families are told the wrong one.
1
In a passenger car or minivan, a child under six must use a child restraint. On a bus operated as a chartered service the requirement is applied differently โ but a small child on a two-hour mountain road is safer in a seat regardless of what the law strictly demands.
2
Bring your own seat if you have one you trust and know how to fit. Operators can supply seats, but the model, the age band and the fitting method vary, and a seat nobody can install is worse than none.
3
Prams fold into the hold; the awkward moment is the twenty times a day you take them out again. On family charters we usually load prams last so they come out first โ a small thing that saves an argument at every stop.
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 Access & special needs
Other things groups ask before booking
๐ 7-seat minivan๐ 27-seat medium coach๐ 45-seat large coach๐งณ How many suitcases fit on a Japanese charter bus๐ป Charter buses with an on-board toilet in Japan๐ถ Wi-Fi and power sockets on a chartered coach๐ค Karaoke, microphones and screens on a charter bus๐คข Motion sickness on mountain coach routes
โ All charter bus prices & vehicles๐ก๏ธ Before you book a bus in Japan
Three things every group leader asks us โ answered plainly, before you send a single yen.
๐ฉ Is this bus even legal?
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.
๐ด Why does every company quote a different price?โพ
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.
๐งพ What the price covers โ and what it does notโพ
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.