On January 2025, 1, students from the seminar of Associate Professor Arai Keita of Kinki University's Faculty of Economics will present the results of a demonstration project for carrying passengers and cargo on buses in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, in collaboration with Zentan Bus, headquartered in Yabu City, Hyogo Prefecture, and Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores in Osaka City, via the video conferencing tool Zoom.
According to Kinki University, Associate Professor Arai, 3 third-year students from Arai's seminar, and Zentan Bus' project team will participate on the day, and the seminar students will report their results.
Zentan Bus operates route buses in the Tajima region in northern Hyogo Prefecture, including Toyooka City and Yabu City, and has supported local residents' transportation for many years. However, the Tajima region is experiencing a serious population decline, and there is an increasing shortage of bus drivers, making it increasingly difficult to manage the bus business.
Therefore, in November 2024, the Arai seminar sold sweets from a mobile food truck of Hankyu Hanshin Department Store at roadside stations and public facilities in Toyooka City, and conducted a survey to find out the demand for mobile food and the optimal selling price from buyers. In addition, in December, they experimented by loading products for mobile food sales into the interior of a highway bus heading from Osaka City to Toyooka City and using it as a warehouse for the mobile food sales truck.
The report will also include advice on reducing fuel costs for mobile food trucks, increasing revenue as a public transport service, resolving driver shortages, and helping to continue operations. In the future, Arai's seminar will expand the target area for the demonstration experiment and further consider ways to make it easier for public transport operators to make a profit.