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I was thinking the Stourbridge Shuttle did exactly the same as this on the video, as in going on the road and the rails. So if anyone wants a job on the rails...
I just noticed the option for the "English Dubbed" audio track which dubs the translated parts. Definitely appreciated because I often am doing other stuff while watching the video and would otherwise have to read the translation. There's also an "English Descriptive" audio track option for those with impaired vision.
I'm so glad you pointed this out! I actually delayed watching this video because I couldn't give the screen my full attention for the subtitles. The dub is so helpful!
I was today years old when I learned this is even a thing on RUclips. I had no idea some videos can have different audio tracks. Thanks for the education! 😁 👍 Edit: Looks like this is a new feature. Guess I'm not clueless after all. 😋
Thx for pointing it out more people need to learn about it being a part of his videos since you don't usually look for that feature, especially since I didn't even know it existed
The effort that Tom Scott does for a 5 minute video is amazing. He went to Japan and interviewed the Chief of General Affairs of the Asa Coast Railway and added a bunch of extra camera shots and drone shots plus added subtitles and 2 extra audio tracks (dubbed and audio description). Other people would have just turned on their camera and filmed some of this in a less interesting way without drone shots or an interview and somehow still end up dragging it out for over 15 minutes, let alone doing effort to add subtitles (instead using automatically generated subtitles), let alone adding audio tracks, which I've never seen on ANY other video.
He does do a great job with the visuals and research, doesn’t he? And the methods his team uses for subtitling are great - different colors for different people, and now enabling the new audio features. Always a thumbs-up from me
I mean considering how famous he and his videos has become over the 10+ years he's been doing this I don't think it's that difficult anymore for him to set up interviews with company and governmental officials anymore
Tom's probably one of the peaks on RUclips for professionalism, dedication, transparency and integrity, I never expect anything less than this level of effort from him
2:20 The "train mode activate" soundtrack is my favorite part of the whole thing. Totally unnecessary, but the designers thought "might as well make this 15 second process more fun for the passengers!"
It is very Japanese. Kawai or the quantifiable level of 'cuteness' is part of judging things in the Japanese culture. Hello Kitty is an example of Kawai colliding with capitalism.
@@Case16710 I might add that in the question just because the incongruency of that would be fun. If you don't know the answer these two things seem like they should not be referring to the same thing.
Can I just say, the representative you interviewed from Asa Coast Railway, major thumbs up for knowing how to do his job! He spoke clearly and slowly, and added in appropriate hand gestures, making it easy for non-native Japanese speakers/learners to understand. That's how you do PR & Marketing! Something for me to aspire to when the roles are reversed and I'm speaking English to Japanese colleagues etc etc.
I have been learning Japanese for over two years now, and explanations like this are the perfect listening comprehensions, formal, clearly spoken, subtitles for checking again, perfect. Thanks Tom, good video as always
Yea, as a fairly new learner of Japanese, I could still pick out the verb and subject of each sentence easily even when I didn't know the vocab for the words themselves. Usually native speakers go too fast for me, and I get lost because I missed a particle somewhere. I really like the interviewee and his way of speaking slowly and clearly. Not many people of any nationality do that.
I love how Tom always manages to show something that I would never hear and probably not care about, yet presents it in a way that makes it interesting
@@blu0065 arguably, simply by opperating on existing standard rails, a significant percentage of the things that make a gadgetbahn what it is are eliminated. (of course, that doesn't automatically make it NOT a gadgetbahn, but it does put it lower down the scale by quite a bit. Usually.)
So cool - plus (as someone learning Japanese) I appreciate that Ootani-San spoke slowly and clearly so I could understand him - or least get the meaning of what he was saying. I'm only up to two years of studying, but covered up the subtitles as a challenge to myself.
I'm curious what Not Just Bikes thinks of such gimmicky infrastructure! Maybe fine in a declining coast town but this seems like a very specific case in justifying keeping aging rails 😂
There's a whole cool Japanese transportation rabitthole you can go down, they have things like sleeper busses with private booths, trains with an entire vending machine car, high speed trains, trains with an office room you can rent to have a business meeting on the train etc etc. So much cool stuff.
Fun fact about the DMV: The vehicle was originally prototyped and tested by JR Hokkaido, the privatized national rail corporation that operates in Japan's northern most prefecture. The project was eventually scrapped as it was too impractical to use for regular service, and many thought it would end up as a failed invention that went nowhere. It was then quite the suprise when the Asa Kagan Railway said that they will be replacing their fleet with DMVs, the failed invention now had a practical use
It failed more so because of the large amount of snow that the specific area of Hokkaido gets. The cost was greater than the practicality. I remember a news segment about them closing the rail station since the final high school student graduated from that village. There were talks of running a similar system in Gifu and Toyama prefectures, but ran into a similar problem where the weather would hinder it more.
FYI JR Hokkaido is a privatized entity like the rest of japan’s ex national rail, however because it is highly unprofitable all its shares are still owned by the government. Unlike JR East, JR Central, JR West, and JR Kyushu, which are all privatized and make lots of profit from rail, real estate and other ventures. Those companies the government sold all their shares and you can freely buy them on the stock market.
@@jickhertz4124 they're not as nice but crew bus road rail vehicle for railworkers have existed for a while. This looks like they did the conversation on a nice bus instead of the normal povo spec vinyl floor and canvas seats version.
@@hannahranga It looks like a Toyota Coaster with an addition for the rail-wheels. The resulting massive front overhang must take some getting used to when driving on the roads.
I love that Mr Naoyoshi makes his hand gestures so that his opposite can understand them (1:29). That's something I picked up when tutoring math students. It requires both a high degree of freedom of movement and a high level of conceptual abstraction - all inspired by a deep feeling of "the goal of my communication is your understanding and nothing else".
Finally a DMV I look forward to seeing! I love the little tune the DMV makes when it becomes a train. They didn't need to do the drumming, but it's the little things that truly count, and I'm glad they did. And the fact that it has a gift shop with plushes and rock candy too is just absolutely delightful. One thing not mentioned is that, it was also designed to help senior citizens move around. When in bus mode, it can do a lot of other stops around town to pick up passengers before heading to the tracks. This can make it a lot more convenient and more profitable, as it dramatically reduces peoples' need for cars. Once a person is in a car, they tend to just drive to their destination. But if a bus is right there and is easier and less stress, they'll often take it. So by making it convenient it to people to use, they dramatically increase the incentive and thus profitability. Nancy and Caen in France once had a concept which used Bombardier Guided Light Transit. They're buses that could not only operate independently as a bus, but were also capable of turning into trams. Meaning when they're a tram, they're powered by an overhead wire. But instead of riding on rails, they run on rubber tires. Because of the fact they don't need a guidance rail, calling them a tram is quite debatable (especially compared to the Translohr). Caen got rid of theirs in 2017 in favor of a legit tramway, while Nancy ended theirs this March in favor of bringing back their trolleybuses. Adelaide has something similar too called the O-Bahn which are legitimate buses that run on their own concrete tracks that opened back in 1986
If your train service is dying a slow death... you've already got existing track and stations, it might be cheaper to convert a couple of buses into DMVs like this rather than rip up the otherwise unused tracks but tracks are expensive to maintain, and in this case completely unnecessary, I do wonder how long this cool thing will exist
@@benja_mint since the cost to maintain track is generally proportional to the tonnage that travels over it, this still had much lower track maintenance than a train track
As one of the people who submitted this idea to the video ideas form, it made me so happy to see this video appear on my feed! I love how happy Tom is riding the bus-train!
To think picking street view locations in Japan in Google maps (which was how I found out about this train) would play a very small part in a Tom Scott video is rather mind boggling.
That's a neat design. As you said, the main goal is novelty tourists, and that's a good way to view it. But I like that they also have plans for disaster response. And it's there to keep the railways afloat in the area so they don't lose a long-term investment due to (hopefully) shorter-term demographic shifts.
This is quite similar to the Adelaide O-Bahn in Australia which started operating in 1989, however this one uses existing tracks and the O-Bahn had new ones built exclusively for it. Also the O-Bahn drives directly onto the tracks and guide wheels pop out of the side to direct it as opposed to having train wheels.
The two systems address the same problem but are VERY different. The O-Bahn uses concrete guides rather than steel rails, and its use is limited to buses. Also it needed new, bespoke construction. Hybrids are designed to run on existing steel rails without special accommodations or new construction.
I like their transparency about this absolutely being a gadgetbahn tbh, not many city governments are willing to admit that they’re A. Dumping money into a low key silly rail solution and B. Actually makes something fun and actually marketable out of it
The music that plays while the vehicle is 'transforming' is delightful, and exactly the kind of thing that would draw massive nerd tourists to this kind of thing. I love it so much (and also I want to explore that gift shop!)
I thought this was going to be like the one in France that goes between what is essentially a trolleybus and a regular bus, but no, this is proper! I am impressed.
2:50 - subtly demonstrating the "point and call" - a very common safety technique for Japanese train conductors and others working on the railway. You may have heard about it from other videos and articles.
@@kenbrown2808 in fact, it is used in the us. You can see conductors point and call before opening the doors after they pull into the station in every NYC subway station. They point at zebra striped boards that indicate that the train has stopped at the correct location so that all cars will open onto the platform, not onto the track.
Dam, I have never imagined the days Mr. Scott travels through Japan. These videos are a dream ride for me. I hope you're having a great time there. And also it's a season of cherry blossom you MUST see it before you leave.
this is SO COOL! we need more of things like this! sure it's not going to be a specialist at either mode of travel but it just makes everything so much more simple
I have seen this in a few videos but yours is the best explanation of why it is there. A practical solution but also a tourist attraction. And I really want a plush! Thanks Tom.
Wow, I'm amazed by the buses that transform into trains in Japan! As a frequent traveler, I appreciate how innovative and convenient this transportation system is.
What about this system is innovative or convenient? Innovative: Road-rail vehicles have been in use for a long long time. And not even the public bus part is anything new. Germany did that already in the 1950s. Convenient: Nothing about this is convenient. As stated in the video the route could be done by a normal bus.
It cracks me up the Tom travels like 72 hours around the world and then puts out a 6 minute video. Especially because Ytubes algorithm is based on watch time. I could watch an hour of every one of his videos but I really appreciate what he is doing too.
I found this thing through a Wikipedia rabbit hole 2 days ago and had a bunch of questions that Wikipedia couldn’t answer…it feels like this video was made just for me
I feel like this could actually become very reasonable for an electric vehicle, since it'd be able to hook into an electrified rail and use that for power while possibly recharging batteries for road use. And if you managed to get it able to transition while still moving... this idea is really cool.
I have been on something similar to this in Adelaide in Australia. I do remember it passing through some kind of very small tunnel to proceed to the track. The transfer took less than a few seconds. It progressed along a river almost like a series of bridges or the like. I understand it is still running.
I forgot that Tom's last video about the world's "oldest business" was in Japan and I almost expected him to also have rushed out to film some of the last runs of the Nancy TVR when I read the title, because I'd watched said video by The Tim Traveller ("Why Nancy Is Scrapping Its Magically Bonkers Monorail-Bus-Trams", for the curious)
Warning to anyone who wants to move there, if you don't like paperwork, just don't also I hope you love waiting months for a bank statement, which you will need more often than anywhere else, it's a great place, but it's also the most bureaucratic nation in the world
Thank you for including the original spoken audio in addition to the dub and descriptive forms. Also I should say that Naoyoshi is very well-spoken and easy to understand.
Well, they have very large population, living on few small islands. The rest of the world should take an example from them and start building cities vertically. Just don´t copy their work habits...
We have one of these in Adelaide. It’s called the obahn. It’s a great speedy way to get to the northern suburbs. Sometimes cars end up on the tracks by accident despite the giant flashing signs saying not to enter. Hilarious
I think that's a guided busway, not a dual mode vehicle. There are at least a couple of those in the UK too as well as throughout Europe, etc. The buses still fully run on their tyres (here the front axle is lifted off the ground) and don't have additional sets of steel wheels for adapting them to steel rails. Those buses will have small horizontal caster-like wheels connected to the steering linkage under the bus which run against the high kerbs the busways have to guide the bus without the driver steering. It means those bus lanes (what they're more in line with than a railway) can be made with much less material as they don't have to be wide enough for a human driver to weave safely. This is natural weaving as the vehicle moves on it's suspension, driver in seat, etc, nothing extreme but something that means the tyres won't perfectly follow the exact same path every time they go down a certain piece of road. The lanes can also then only have 'road surface' under the tyres and no need for anything in between as the guide wheels on the sides mean the bus will follow the exact same path every time it goes down that lane. Technically any vehicle with a wide enough track (side-to-side distance between the wheels on each axle) can still use those busways if the driver pays enough attention to keep the wheels on the strips of concrete the buses run on. Cars will only get stuck because they have a significantly narrower track than the busses they were built for, and the type of driver who doesn't pay enough attention to the signage that highlights they're not suitable for anything other than those buses won't be paying enough attention to the surface to keep their wheels on those 2 strips of concrete, so they'll run off them into the gap and get stuck, much like someone driving off the edge of a narrow single track road with a soft verge or a ditch close to the road. It isn't the same as turning onto railway tracks after driving onto a level crossing, although people have done that too. I think Tom mentioned that they could have replaced this railway with a guided busway, instead of modifying buses to run on the rails then training dual licence drivers to drive them, but it was more cost effective to not tear up the railway or preferable to keep the railway intact for historic reasons or similar, alongside the tourism appeal of such a setup of course.
I don't know a lick of Japanese, but I've played all of the Yakuza games (at least those available in the US) and i've always felt like their spoken Japanese is very easy to follow. Everything is really well emoted and its all enunciated so well. There are so many individual words and phrases from the games that are just burned into my memory at this point, and I could instantly recognize them if I hear it elsewhere - even if I don't actually know the language or what those words mean.
In the 50s and 60s West-Germany had something similar, the "Schienen-Straßen-Omnibus" (literally "rail-road-bus"). It was mainly used in southern Germany, but relied on special dollies at the stations where it changed modes.
I remember Chris and Pete talking about this in the abroad in Japan podcast, if I recall correctly Chris specifically said this was something Tom Scott would make a video about a couple years ago!
Interesting, not because (as you rightly point out) for those of us who have worked on railways, hy-rail vehicles are commonplace. But typically those require a fair bit of inspection and a much longer process before being able to start traveling on the rail after driving on paved road. This is seamless and really neat. From a sustainability standpoint, it would make even more sense than ripping up an old railway and replacing with light rail or similar, and it's far more flexible from a scheduling standpoint. Would love to see this catch on elsewhere, even if only as a novelty, as I think in many places it could actually be much more practical than a replacement bus system.
it's even more logical than self-driving car tunnel or that freight robot train thingy. i think rail maintenance is easier than highway maintenance but idk the real numbers
I was thinking I’d probably be a good solution for a lot of American cities that want rail transit,it can give you the potential speed from rail being separated like it is but also can give you flexibility like with buses, maybe when a train is holding up the railway you just use it as a bus instead. Shifting the route around it. Needs more R&D but smarter people can make it work
In the Netherlands there is a "waterbus" a normal bus that can drive into the water and then sail like a boat. I think he already made a video on them.
There was a similar bus / train hybird in Germany in the 1950s called the "Schi-Stra-Bus", but it wasn't very successful because switching between modes was impractical
Just a heads up, Tom: for viewers who use RUclips subtitles, the subtitle [In Japanese] shows up over and blocking most of the subtitles built into the video that actually translate what people are saying. I generally advise channels to put their in-video subtitles a bit higher - give it enough space to fit the 2 lines of RUclips subtitles below it - but for situations like this, I suspect it might be viable to do whatever is needed to blank out the RUclips subtitles entirely when the in video ones appear - that would make it virtually seamless going from one to the other.
There were bus-tram hybrids in Nancy, France used as regular public transit, but they got replaced maybe a week or two ago. They were active for around 30 years and were definitely a sight to see when i was there!
Thinking about it, japan with all of its infrastructure and trains must be so exciting for Tom, kind of surprised he didn't keep this for the finale of the series
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Father
This might just be what I need to bus
I was thinking the Stourbridge Shuttle did exactly the same as this on the video, as in going on the road and the rails. So if anyone wants a job on the rails...
Can confirm that is goes out the same time. I got pinged for the email, and saw this mere minutes later.
One of the few Emails in my inbox that actually gets opened and read......
📧 👀 🥳
Gives ‘rail replacment bus service’ a new meaning
And the bus replacement rail service that Tom featured some years ago
Especially since it doesn't even replace the rails :D
@@JohnR31415 A bus replacement rail replacement bus, then? 😂
@@matthewwatt2295 Actually, it's a bus replacement rail replacement bus-train.
Truss bain...tuss brain 😊
That song it plays when it transforms is adorable and I bet as the driver you'd get sick of it real quick.
If you knew you were getting paid it'd be OK.
I bet it plays in your head each time you get in your car.
Having it's own theme song like it's a transformer going into battle.
Japanese are used to annoying jingle lmao
*flashback of me going to buy fish in japanese supermarket*
@@Banom7a so true. All the supermarkets too, just the same half dozen jingles over and over and over
“To attract the kind of tourists who want to ride on a road/rail vehicle.” Then we see Tom’s huge smile. “It’s me. I’m that tourist.”
Now we need to send The Tim Traveller, Geoff Marshall, Jago Hazzard, and Reese M. there.
And, seemingly, the only one there.
Also Sheldon
Just look how happy he was at the moment the vehicle switched modes. He's the target audience.
It's always nice to see him being genuinely interested and excited about what he does.
I just noticed the option for the "English Dubbed" audio track which dubs the translated parts. Definitely appreciated because I often am doing other stuff while watching the video and would otherwise have to read the translation. There's also an "English Descriptive" audio track option for those with impaired vision.
I'm so glad you pointed this out! I actually delayed watching this video because I couldn't give the screen my full attention for the subtitles. The dub is so helpful!
I was today years old when I learned this is even a thing on RUclips. I had no idea some videos can have different audio tracks. Thanks for the education! 😁 👍
Edit: Looks like this is a new feature. Guess I'm not clueless after all. 😋
I also just noticed that and read the video description. Interesting stuff
Thx for pointing it out more people need to learn about it being a part of his videos since you don't usually look for that feature, especially since I didn't even know it existed
Wait what?
Since when does RUclips has that function? I love it 👍
The effort that Tom Scott does for a 5 minute video is amazing. He went to Japan and interviewed the Chief of General Affairs of the Asa Coast Railway and added a bunch of extra camera shots and drone shots plus added subtitles and 2 extra audio tracks (dubbed and audio description). Other people would have just turned on their camera and filmed some of this in a less interesting way without drone shots or an interview and somehow still end up dragging it out for over 15 minutes, let alone doing effort to add subtitles (instead using automatically generated subtitles), let alone adding audio tracks, which I've never seen on ANY other video.
@@JakeGutteridge Finally they added some good features instead of just taking them away.
He does do a great job with the visuals and research, doesn’t he?
And the methods his team uses for subtitling are great - different colors for different people, and now enabling the new audio features. Always a thumbs-up from me
I mean considering how famous he and his videos has become over the 10+ years he's been doing this I don't think it's that difficult anymore for him to set up interviews with company and governmental officials anymore
Tom's probably one of the peaks on RUclips for professionalism, dedication, transparency and integrity, I never expect anything less than this level of effort from him
i think every Mr Beast video has them
2:20 The "train mode activate" soundtrack is my favorite part of the whole thing. Totally unnecessary, but the designers thought "might as well make this 15 second process more fun for the passengers!"
"Metamorphisis completed sir! Bus train has now become... *drums* train bus!"
I mean, if this is your daily commute, it'll get really old really fast.
It is very Japanese. Kawai or the quantifiable level of 'cuteness' is part of judging things in the Japanese culture. Hello Kitty is an example of Kawai colliding with capitalism.
Having it's own theme song makes it feel like it's a transformer going into battle.
Modo chengi - STARTO!
This would make a good question for Tom’s Lateral podcast. “Which Japanese train line has hundreds of derailments per year?”
Yet it is kept in operation unchanged?
🤣 Yah, this _would_ be a good one! (Especially if his guests haven't watched the video, or have had enough time to largely forget it.)
@@Leo0718 another clue could be, “it has a perfect safety record”.
@@Case16710 I might add that in the question just because the incongruency of that would be fun. If you don't know the answer these two things seem like they should not be referring to the same thing.
@@seraphina985 good point!
The guy you're interviewing is incredibly good. He speaks Japanese slowly in a way that is easily understandable.
Agreed. I’m studying, still N5, and he’s great to listen to.
yes!! though he lost me when he started talking about pulse sensors and whatchamacallits
I was literally thinking the same, he's super clear has great oral cadence and clearly makes every sound for each and every word
maybe he is or was an announcer for stops and stations
And his hand gestures are on point!
Can I just say, the representative you interviewed from Asa Coast Railway, major thumbs up for knowing how to do his job! He spoke clearly and slowly, and added in appropriate hand gestures, making it easy for non-native Japanese speakers/learners to understand. That's how you do PR & Marketing!
Something for me to aspire to when the roles are reversed and I'm speaking English to Japanese colleagues etc etc.
He was fantastic. I'm someone who's no means fluent in Japanese but I can get by. The way he made himself understandable was outstanding.
I have been learning Japanese for over two years now, and explanations like this are the perfect listening comprehensions, formal, clearly spoken, subtitles for checking again, perfect. Thanks Tom, good video as always
Yea, as a fairly new learner of Japanese, I could still pick out the verb and subject of each sentence easily even when I didn't know the vocab for the words themselves. Usually native speakers go too fast for me, and I get lost because I missed a particle somewhere. I really like the interviewee and his way of speaking slowly and clearly. Not many people of any nationality do that.
@@animeartist888 keep it up! before you know it you won't even notice verbs and subjects and particles, it will just sound like meaning!
Tom's never going to stop finding more Gadgetbahns, is he?
Given how many tim and reece have gone through, he's got quite the backlog.
Is it a gadgetbahn? I thought that was a train that was on tracks, but runs on rubber tires.
He might if people don’t keep giving new concepts a chance.
This isn't really a Gadgetbahn (to me, at least). It's meant to preserve the rail line, not revolutionize transit.
@@RHTeebs a gadgetbahn can be any silly and needlessly overcomplicated transport method, rubber tyred trains are just one example
I love how Tom always manages to show something that I would never hear and probably not care about, yet presents it in a way that makes it interesting
Well done on Liking The Thing
Tbh, I'm kind of for gadgetbahns that save rails so that the rails can be used if the population ever increases or if demand ever increases
@@blu0065 arguably, simply by opperating on existing standard rails, a significant percentage of the things that make a gadgetbahn what it is are eliminated. (of course, that doesn't automatically make it NOT a gadgetbahn, but it does put it lower down the scale by quite a bit. Usually.)
Funny how the English-speaking Japanese RUclipsrs never got to this thing before Tom.
I've never seen anyone so happy to be in the DMV before.
I confess my sins at the DMV.
He happened to get there when there weren't any lines.
@@TesserId not scientifically possible
Respite was brief, and then there were lines again like with all DMVs
If you had to take this DMV to get to the DMV it might be more fun.
I love how absolutely everything has a jingle in Japan
Japan allowed jingles on everything but doesn't allow any phones and digital cameras have a shutter sound when taking a photo.
Because the country is a whole circus after getting bombed
@@automation7295lmao u know why 😆
So cool - plus (as someone learning Japanese) I appreciate that Ootani-San spoke slowly and clearly so I could understand him - or least get the meaning of what he was saying. I'm only up to two years of studying, but covered up the subtitles as a challenge to myself.
king
I've never been more jealous of a Tom Scott video. BRB, checking flights to Japan.
I'm curious what Not Just Bikes thinks of such gimmicky infrastructure! Maybe fine in a declining coast town but this seems like a very specific case in justifying keeping aging rails 😂
There's a whole cool Japanese transportation rabitthole you can go down, they have things like sleeper busses with private booths, trains with an entire vending machine car, high speed trains, trains with an office room you can rent to have a business meeting on the train etc etc. So much cool stuff.
I’ll love to see a Japan series of your videos.
Haha, I'd love to help you with that! Been living in Kanto area for 20 years! Wish I could have helped Tom out with his visit!
Hello not just bikes
Fun fact about the DMV: The vehicle was originally prototyped and tested by JR Hokkaido, the privatized national rail corporation that operates in Japan's northern most prefecture. The project was eventually scrapped as it was too impractical to use for regular service, and many thought it would end up as a failed invention that went nowhere. It was then quite the suprise when the Asa Kagan Railway said that they will be replacing their fleet with DMVs, the failed invention now had a practical use
Oh that explains how they got the design and budget to build the thing!
It failed more so because of the large amount of snow that the specific area of Hokkaido gets. The cost was greater than the practicality. I remember a news segment about them closing the rail station since the final high school student graduated from that village. There were talks of running a similar system in Gifu and Toyama prefectures, but ran into a similar problem where the weather would hinder it more.
FYI JR Hokkaido is a privatized entity like the rest of japan’s ex national rail, however because it is highly unprofitable all its shares are still owned by the government. Unlike JR East, JR Central, JR West, and JR Kyushu, which are all privatized and make lots of profit from rail, real estate and other ventures. Those companies the government sold all their shares and you can freely buy them on the stock market.
@@jickhertz4124 they're not as nice but crew bus road rail vehicle for railworkers have existed for a while. This looks like they did the conversation on a nice bus instead of the normal povo spec vinyl floor and canvas seats version.
@@hannahranga It looks like a Toyota Coaster with an addition for the rail-wheels. The resulting massive front overhang must take some getting used to when driving on the roads.
I love that Mr Naoyoshi makes his hand gestures so that his opposite can understand them (1:29). That's something I picked up when tutoring math students. It requires both a high degree of freedom of movement and a high level of conceptual abstraction - all inspired by a deep feeling of "the goal of my communication is your understanding and nothing else".
The japanese rep had a really great energy, I'm sure he does these presentations all the time, just loved his use of gestures and the way he talked
Finally a DMV I look forward to seeing! I love the little tune the DMV makes when it becomes a train. They didn't need to do the drumming, but it's the little things that truly count, and I'm glad they did. And the fact that it has a gift shop with plushes and rock candy too is just absolutely delightful. One thing not mentioned is that, it was also designed to help senior citizens move around. When in bus mode, it can do a lot of other stops around town to pick up passengers before heading to the tracks. This can make it a lot more convenient and more profitable, as it dramatically reduces peoples' need for cars. Once a person is in a car, they tend to just drive to their destination. But if a bus is right there and is easier and less stress, they'll often take it. So by making it convenient it to people to use, they dramatically increase the incentive and thus profitability.
Nancy and Caen in France once had a concept which used Bombardier Guided Light Transit. They're buses that could not only operate independently as a bus, but were also capable of turning into trams. Meaning when they're a tram, they're powered by an overhead wire. But instead of riding on rails, they run on rubber tires. Because of the fact they don't need a guidance rail, calling them a tram is quite debatable (especially compared to the Translohr). Caen got rid of theirs in 2017 in favor of a legit tramway, while Nancy ended theirs this March in favor of bringing back their trolleybuses. Adelaide has something similar too called the O-Bahn which are legitimate buses that run on their own concrete tracks that opened back in 1986
I recognise you
I love that Tom Scott and The Tim Traveler both came out with bus/train hybrid videos within a week of each other!
And one is ending while the other is just getting started (although with 1 year already)
+
Tim is the new (next) Tom!
maybe we can get a Tim Tom collab one day
Revenge for Tim making a reaction ferry video 😈
The delight on Tom's face at "Mode change, start!" is a whole mood.
Transformers…. More than meets the eye…
So, basically, its reason for existing is that it's cool. As reasons go, that's a pretty good one.
Its reason for existing, as explained in the video, is to keep the railway operational
@@Kyrelel by being cool :P
If your train service is dying a slow death... you've already got existing track and stations, it might be cheaper to convert a couple of buses into DMVs like this rather than rip up the otherwise unused tracks
but tracks are expensive to maintain, and in this case completely unnecessary, I do wonder how long this cool thing will exist
@@benja_mint since the cost to maintain track is generally proportional to the tonnage that travels over it, this still had much lower track maintenance than a train track
Replace cool with mildly amusing.
2:07 - I love that they seemingly allocated a viewing area for all of the rail nerds! 😂
Tom buying a plushie of the freaking bus is the cutest thing I've seen in a long time 😄
Using RUclips money, so in a way, you bough a little bit of that plushie.
@@bertilhatt the real treasure are the plushies we met along the way
i love plushies i want one,,
As one of the people who submitted this idea to the video ideas form, it made me so happy to see this video appear on my feed! I love how happy Tom is riding the bus-train!
To think picking street view locations in Japan in Google maps (which was how I found out about this train) would play a very small part in a Tom Scott video is rather mind boggling.
Oh i suggestet it, too! Really cool bua/Trainer that fits to his Videos really well.
That's a neat design. As you said, the main goal is novelty tourists, and that's a good way to view it. But I like that they also have plans for disaster response. And it's there to keep the railways afloat in the area so they don't lose a long-term investment due to (hopefully) shorter-term demographic shifts.
if this was the USA, they just rip off all the rail, and not think about long-term at all.
This is quite similar to the Adelaide O-Bahn in Australia which started operating in 1989, however this one uses existing tracks and the O-Bahn had new ones built exclusively for it. Also the O-Bahn drives directly onto the tracks and guide wheels pop out of the side to direct it as opposed to having train wheels.
I see more differences than similarities between this and the Adelaided O-Bahn. What you're referring to is a guided busway.
There's an "o-bahn" in Japan too- Yutorito
The two systems address the same problem but are VERY different. The O-Bahn uses concrete guides rather than steel rails, and its use is limited to buses. Also it needed new, bespoke construction. Hybrids are designed to run on existing steel rails without special accommodations or new construction.
The way he explains everything and the hand motions, I love it
I like their transparency about this absolutely being a gadgetbahn tbh, not many city governments are willing to admit that they’re A. Dumping money into a low key silly rail solution and B. Actually makes something fun and actually marketable out of it
Japan has a lot of gimmicky attractions and other stuff. The obvious one is many unique foods like Kit Kat chocolates and fast food stuffs.
i think it is quite smart way to save rail, otherwise the busses would just take road and the rail would be gone
Um... really fun, I guess
The music that plays while the vehicle is 'transforming' is delightful, and exactly the kind of thing that would draw massive nerd tourists to this kind of thing. I love it so much (and also I want to explore that gift shop!)
I kind of hope that they have plushies that play the jingle.
Really loving the DMV conversion tune--it's like the Transformers theme song with a decidedly more marching band feel.
It’s Awa Odori. Tokushima’s traditional dance. You can google it. It’s spectacular
I think it’s traditional dance festival music (awa odori).
can we just appreciate the smooth precision driving at 4:36
The way the ASA Chief speaks, it's very relaxing listening to him describing the operation and backstory to the idea
"I've just revolutionised public transport! :D "
"Is it just a bus or a train?"
"Yes... :("
Yes, but also yes!
It won't revolutionize public transit, but it's cool nonetheless.
Defenition of Railbus has been found.
No, it's a bus AND a train!!
I thought this was going to be like the one in France that goes between what is essentially a trolleybus and a regular bus, but no, this is proper! I am impressed.
same
The one Tim Traveler just covered?
I thought it would be like the Leigh guided busway, I am also impressed
2:50 - subtly demonstrating the "point and call" - a very common safety technique for Japanese train conductors and others working on the railway. You may have heard about it from other videos and articles.
It has had some adoption outside of Japan, GO Transit in Toronto, Canada also has used “Point and Call” since 2021.
Not sure your timestamp is correct
I have heard of it. it makes sense, so it will never be adopted in the US.
I just seen the video demonstration of it now, it is very fascinating
@@kenbrown2808 in fact, it is used in the us. You can see conductors point and call before opening the doors after they pull into the station in every NYC subway station.
They point at zebra striped boards that indicate that the train has stopped at the correct location so that all cars will open onto the platform, not onto the track.
Dam, I have never imagined the days Mr. Scott travels through Japan. These videos are a dream ride for me.
I hope you're having a great time there. And also it's a season of cherry blossom you MUST see it before you leave.
i love how everything in japan comes with a theme song / tune. it is amazing, so charming
The genuine delight on Tom’s face made my day :)
I love the translation. It keeps what he's saying concise, and making it sound a lot more natural for an English speaking audience.
Wow, the English dubbed audio track is incredible, definitely keep making those in these kinds of videos
Oh wow, I didn't even notice there were different audio tracks, what the heck
this is SO COOL! we need more of things like this!
sure it's not going to be a specialist at either mode of travel but it just makes everything so much more simple
This is the coolest thing I’ve seen all month!
This is the most "Why not both?" moment I've ever seen, but I will never get over a train with a standard Toyota steering wheel on it.
The amount of effort to translate for English speakers so that guests can speak in their most comfortable and/or only language is always appreciated.
A trasforming bus-train that plays a happy tune?! Genius. I want one!
I have seen this in a few videos but yours is the best explanation of why it is there. A practical solution but also a tourist attraction. And I really want a plush! Thanks Tom.
That jingle is the most Japanese thing ever. Love it.
That end parking is very satisfying and I think Scott or his editor knows it
from someone who works in theme park transportation, this hits on two VERY niche special interests of mine. great video, Tom!
I love the little jingle that plays as it transforms, that's so japan.
You've been on Japan tour! It's good to see you in our country!
I see you and appreciate your effort, translator! 1:37 -- 同じ結果若しくは結果は下がっていく → "stagnate and decline" -- nice!
I love how the bus goes:
"MODE CHANGE, START!!"
(mode change music blasting)
I was half-expecting a Sailor Moon style transformation sequence.
Wow, I'm amazed by the buses that transform into trains in Japan! As a frequent traveler, I appreciate how innovative and convenient this transportation system is.
it also eliminates one transfer as well.
What about this system is innovative or convenient?
Innovative: Road-rail vehicles have been in use for a long long time.
And not even the public bus part is anything new. Germany did that already in the 1950s.
Convenient: Nothing about this is convenient. As stated in the video the route could be done by a normal bus.
It cracks me up the Tom travels like 72 hours around the world and then puts out a 6 minute video. Especially because Ytubes algorithm is based on watch time. I could watch an hour of every one of his videos but I really appreciate what he is doing too.
The little announcement or change, music and transition death me smile.
I needed that.
I used to drive a bus. I have no clue what driving a train feels like but I can imagine. This fascinates me beyond mere curiosity.
I found this thing through a Wikipedia rabbit hole 2 days ago and had a bunch of questions that Wikipedia couldn’t answer…it feels like this video was made just for me
Next time you're back in Australia you should check out a similar thing in Adelaide with the O-Bahn Busway
My thoughts exactly.
That'd be the "guided busways" he spoke about
Gotta love human creativity when brains cooperate 😁
Let us engage in Jolly Co-operation! 🌞
quick, we need innovation, our business is dying.
*Let's put a minibus on train tracks*
Vehicles like these have been around for decades, they’ve just used a bus body on this example.
These types of vehicles already existed before your narrow view of the world came upon them.
As per usual, another amazing little gem
Japan is the most technologically advanced country in the world. I love Japan 🇯🇵❤️😊
I feel like this could actually become very reasonable for an electric vehicle, since it'd be able to hook into an electrified rail and use that for power while possibly recharging batteries for road use. And if you managed to get it able to transition while still moving... this idea is really cool.
the bus serving one of the tram lines while recharging.
I have been on something similar to this in Adelaide in Australia. I do remember it passing through some kind of very small tunnel to proceed to the track. The transfer took less than a few seconds. It progressed along a river almost like a series of bridges or the like. I understand it is still running.
This could have been a collab with TheTimTraveller whose last video was on a very similar vehicle concept. =)
Although this seems like the smarter way around than a bus with a rail in the midde, this doesn't have the same road wear problems.
I forgot that Tom's last video about the world's "oldest business" was in Japan and I almost expected him to also have rushed out to film some of the last runs of the Nancy TVR when I read the title, because I'd watched said video by The Tim Traveller ("Why Nancy Is Scrapping Its Magically Bonkers Monorail-Bus-Trams", for the curious)
The descriptive audio is FANTASTIC.
This is fantastic - loved it! Japan is such an innovative country.
The guy explaining about the train - his hand gestures are on point! Excellent use of his hands to explain different concepts!
Japan is something special, ain't it? Can't wait to visit, everything looks amazing
I'd love to move there permanently. Their "art style" of buildings, road markings, people, flags etc etc. is just so nice & not seen anywhere else
you'll realise how far in the stone age you are
Warning to anyone who wants to move there, if you don't like paperwork, just don't also I hope you love waiting months for a bank statement, which you will need more often than anywhere else, it's a great place, but it's also the most bureaucratic nation in the world
@@deadboyo2773 As someone who had to submit my identity 7 times before PayPay finally accepted it, yes.
@@Sithhy I'd advise against it. Japan is rather xenophobic and there are a lot of issues besides.
My hometown used to have something like this back in the 1940s I think. Fairfax, VA
Your videos are a delight
I rode it and it's such an amazing experience. The transition is so seamless
2:14 I think the vehicles would be much more popular on rails and roads
If people knew of the sound effects that play when switching modes. 😄
Thank you for including the original spoken audio in addition to the dub and descriptive forms. Also I should say that Naoyoshi is very well-spoken and easy to understand.
Japan is a place of wonder it amazes me how they strive to do things differently and always innovative while keeping traditions.
Well, they have very large population, living on few small islands. The rest of the world should take an example from them and start building cities vertically. Just don´t copy their work habits...
What an eloquent speaker. His hand motions were on point
Great video, Tom...👍
We have one of these in Adelaide. It’s called the obahn. It’s a great speedy way to get to the northern suburbs. Sometimes cars end up on the tracks by accident despite the giant flashing signs saying not to enter. Hilarious
In Japan, there is only one line of the same kind, called Yutorito Line, which runs from _Ozone_ to _Obata Ryokuchi_ in Nagoya city.
I think that's a guided busway, not a dual mode vehicle. There are at least a couple of those in the UK too as well as throughout Europe, etc. The buses still fully run on their tyres (here the front axle is lifted off the ground) and don't have additional sets of steel wheels for adapting them to steel rails. Those buses will have small horizontal caster-like wheels connected to the steering linkage under the bus which run against the high kerbs the busways have to guide the bus without the driver steering. It means those bus lanes (what they're more in line with than a railway) can be made with much less material as they don't have to be wide enough for a human driver to weave safely. This is natural weaving as the vehicle moves on it's suspension, driver in seat, etc, nothing extreme but something that means the tyres won't perfectly follow the exact same path every time they go down a certain piece of road. The lanes can also then only have 'road surface' under the tyres and no need for anything in between as the guide wheels on the sides mean the bus will follow the exact same path every time it goes down that lane.
Technically any vehicle with a wide enough track (side-to-side distance between the wheels on each axle) can still use those busways if the driver pays enough attention to keep the wheels on the strips of concrete the buses run on. Cars will only get stuck because they have a significantly narrower track than the busses they were built for, and the type of driver who doesn't pay enough attention to the signage that highlights they're not suitable for anything other than those buses won't be paying enough attention to the surface to keep their wheels on those 2 strips of concrete, so they'll run off them into the gap and get stuck, much like someone driving off the edge of a narrow single track road with a soft verge or a ditch close to the road. It isn't the same as turning onto railway tracks after driving onto a level crossing, although people have done that too.
I think Tom mentioned that they could have replaced this railway with a guided busway, instead of modifying buses to run on the rails then training dual licence drivers to drive them, but it was more cost effective to not tear up the railway or preferable to keep the railway intact for historic reasons or similar, alongside the tourism appeal of such a setup of course.
3:54 its been turned into a marketable plush
Exceptional!
DMV and cool in the same sentence, never thought I'd see the day.
Tom's Production Quality has peaked!!❤
Dude speaks beautifully understandable Japanese, even I understood some phrases even though I haven't spoken it in over 15 years
I don't know a lick of Japanese, but I've played all of the Yakuza games (at least those available in the US) and i've always felt like their spoken Japanese is very easy to follow. Everything is really well emoted and its all enunciated so well. There are so many individual words and phrases from the games that are just burned into my memory at this point, and I could instantly recognize them if I hear it elsewhere - even if I don't actually know the language or what those words mean.
@@griffhawkins8909 Yakuza inspired me to learn Japanese.
Granted, I couldn't pick up on much from this video, but it's such a neat language
More public transport needs a theme tune 😂
In the 50s and 60s West-Germany had something similar, the "Schienen-Straßen-Omnibus" (literally "rail-road-bus"). It was mainly used in southern Germany, but relied on special dollies at the stations where it changed modes.
Exported to Adelaide and a great success
I remember Chris and Pete talking about this in the abroad in Japan podcast, if I recall correctly Chris specifically said this was something Tom Scott would make a video about a couple years ago!
2:20 haha, love the taiko drumming fanfare played through the PA on the bus as the train wheels are lowered.
Interesting, not because (as you rightly point out) for those of us who have worked on railways, hy-rail vehicles are commonplace. But typically those require a fair bit of inspection and a much longer process before being able to start traveling on the rail after driving on paved road. This is seamless and really neat. From a sustainability standpoint, it would make even more sense than ripping up an old railway and replacing with light rail or similar, and it's far more flexible from a scheduling standpoint. Would love to see this catch on elsewhere, even if only as a novelty, as I think in many places it could actually be much more practical than a replacement bus system.
it's even more logical than self-driving car tunnel or that freight robot train thingy. i think rail maintenance is easier than highway maintenance but idk the real numbers
I was thinking I’d probably be a good solution for a lot of American cities that want rail transit,it can give you the potential speed from rail being separated like it is but also can give you flexibility like with buses, maybe when a train is holding up the railway you just use it as a bus instead. Shifting the route around it. Needs more R&D but smarter people can make it work
In the Netherlands there is a "waterbus" a normal bus that can drive into the water and then sail like a boat.
I think he already made a video on them.
I think we have these in Washington DC too! I haven't seen them in a few years though, maybe they stopped running
There was a similar bus / train hybird in Germany in the 1950s called the "Schi-Stra-Bus", but it wasn't very successful because switching between modes was impractical
Tom Scott and Veritasium uploads make me happy.
I Just Look the absolute Look of joy on Toms face as the music starts to play.
Just a heads up, Tom: for viewers who use RUclips subtitles, the subtitle [In Japanese] shows up over and blocking most of the subtitles built into the video that actually translate what people are saying. I generally advise channels to put their in-video subtitles a bit higher - give it enough space to fit the 2 lines of RUclips subtitles below it - but for situations like this, I suspect it might be viable to do whatever is needed to blank out the RUclips subtitles entirely when the in video ones appear - that would make it virtually seamless going from one to the other.
There were bus-tram hybrids in Nancy, France used as regular public transit, but they got replaced maybe a week or two ago. They were active for around 30 years and were definitely a sight to see when i was there!
Shout out to The Tim Traveler for covering the last use of Nancy's tram-bus
But they didn't run on normal rails
Thinking about it, japan with all of its infrastructure and trains must be so exciting for Tom, kind of surprised he didn't keep this for the finale of the series
I love Tom's "Fair enough!" nod at 2:44
I happened to be visiting in Japan this week too. Left, now. Maybe one day I’ll get to cross paths with Mr. Tom Scott.