Paying Too Much for the Bus

While the train is very convenient in Japan, it doesn't reach everywhere. For places somewhat far from the train station, there are often buses running to serve those areas. In Nara, buses are operated by Nara Kotsu.

As opposed to some other bus I've taken in Japan where the payment system is either before paying before getting on the bus (flat-rate) or paying before getting off (distance-based), the payment system here is distance-based, but you either pay before getting on or before getting off based on the direction you're taking. The rule is that for buses from train stations, you pay when getting off and for buses to train stations, you pay when getting on. I suppose that this is done to avoid bottleneck at the train station where a lot of people get on or off.

Now, let's move to the main topic. I was taking the bus from my university to the train station, which meant that I had to tell the driver where I was getting off and he would tell the machine to deduct the correct fare from my IC card. However, I touched the IC card without telling him (rather, I thought the machine would deduct the same fare as my friend who already told him the destination), and so the full fare was deducted.

On the bright side, I now know what happens when the incorrect fare is deducted. The driver basically issued a note saying that the company over-collected the fare and I can either use that note to board another bus or go to the office to get my money back.