From their [website](http://www.hyperdia.com/en/):
>”**Timetable Search service Termination notice**
As of March 31, 2022, we will no longer offer timetable search.
From now on, we will only offer average time search.
We apologize for any inconvenience, but we will appreciate your continued patronage.”
In other words, they’ll still show you the train itineraries you can use to arrive somewhere, but they refuse to show you the *times* you have to depart and board those trains – making the whole itinerary rather useless as well.
I don’t expect anyone actually knows why this happened, though if you do, that’d be awesome – but does anyone know of any good alternative services to use? The Japanese version of the site is also nonfunctional in this regard, and the most popular Japanese site that did the same thing, “EKIKARA”, was shut down in February.
21 comments
Look into the JapanTravel by NaviTime app, it lets you choose what special rail passes you have, and organize the options that way. It was very concerning for me too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.navitime.inbound.walk
For those on Android.
ahh that’s too bad. I actually used this often. Maybe Hitachi shut this down due to the popularity of the evil empire Google?
Nooooooooo
There is a [similar thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/ttgr7z/alternative_to_hyperdia/) with suggestions in r/japanlife (careful about posting, see their rule #3).
Well this is just very inconvenient, especially when traveling to rural areas. Hyperdia was pretty essential for me to make sure I could catch connecting trains and busses.
I stopped using Hyperdia about 5 years ago when I realized Google maps have me all the information I need. You can click on the routes that open and will show all the options for each line with departure and arrival times.
Doesn’t that basically void the whole point of HyperDia? Dang, gonna have to use Google for everything, now.
That sucks. Hyperdia was great. Google maps left me waiting for an hour for buses that didn’t come in Kyoto.
If you can read Japanese, Yahoo Transit is very reliable and has real-time information about delays etc.
*How to kill a good product in one single step!*
[Jorudan](https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/?sub_lang=nosub). Japanese-language version has even more options.
Wow. So the app is basically useless now then.
Good job HYPERDIA!
Oh what a shame. Back when I lived in Japan I used this all the time.
Oh no, I use it here in the countryside.
Well that is an absolute shame. What would be the point in using it then?
Given the timing are we sure this is not an April fools joke? There would be no point in even operating their service if these changes were real.
I don’t remember the last time I used hyperdia… maybe 2014? Google has been decent enough.
Check out this article from JapanGuide for other options.
– [Hyperdia Discontinues Timetable Search](https://www.japan-guide.com/news/0057.html)
I just use Google Maps. It works well for my needs. Doesn’t have an option to limit results to JR Pass routes but the article above gives some other options for this.
I thought it was a ‘bad’ April Fools day joke not showing it, now after a few days and seeing all this online, why.
Must be 改善…
Why even make this change, why not shut down? They must really hate their users to even bother doing this rather than shutting down.
JR 株式会社交通新聞社 started to demand licensing fees from Hyperdia for licensing in April 2022.Up until then, Hitachi had gotten away without paying through some weird loophole arrangement.
But when JR demanded they pay for licensing like everyone else, Hitachi didn’t wanna play ball (or fork out １００万円 per month), so they had to remove all times and train names
And there’s no way Hitachi could even begin to monetize their site, anyway. Hyperdia ain’t coming back.Use Jorudan instead.
And Google, Navitime??? They all pay Jorudan licensing for Jorudan’s norikae techonology.