The late-night bus "Nocturne" of the Konan Bus (Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture) celebrated its 30th anniversary on December 26th.

The same route bus was opened in 1986 (Showa 61) as a midnight bus connecting the Hirosaki Bus Terminal (Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture) to Hotel Pacific Tokyo (Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo). At that time, it was the "longest bus route nationwide" that connected approximately 685 km in 9 hours and 15 minutes. It was the first route bus connecting a local city and a large city that operated for the first time in a long distance bus connecting large cities ..

"I was prepared to make a loss at the time of my first attempt," says Kiyoshi Fujita, a highway bus section of the company's boarding department. It was predicted to be profitable in 5 years, but it was used by 58,000 passengers, which was significantly higher than the expected passenger number of 13,000 passengers from the first year.

The introduction of the special seat “Super Seat” with two rows of independent seats and the women-only vehicle for late-night buses was a pioneering attempt nationwide. “It was an idea we got from a customer survey,” says Fujita. The idea of a direct bus to Tokyo itself was also obtained from a questionnaire collected from passengers on the long-distance bus "Yodel" that connects Hirosaki and Morioka.

On the day of the 30th anniversary, a commemorative ceremony was held before departure, and passengers were presented with an original playpaid card for the 30th anniversary. Mr. Fujita says, "The number of users is 2.6 million in 30 years." "The Nocturne is the very history of highway buses. I want to do my best to continue for the next 10 years," he said.

The current operation is to increase the number of getting on and off stations such as Goshogawara Station and Yokohama Station East Exit, and the time required is about 9 hours 45 minutes. Reservations are accepted from one month and one day before the operation day.