Hi, I’m in Chiba and go to Tokyo most weekends. Currently need to take a few different trains, adds up to about a thousand yen each way.
I’m sure it’s possible, but is it advisable to ride a scooter into Tokyo itself? Are there any caveats about this? It would pay itself off in well under a year, from savings on train fares (not just to Tokyo but mostly).
Would appreciate any insights!!
6 comments
Sounds like a deathwish to me not to mention parking will be hard too. I doubt you’d get there faster either since traffic will be stop and go and you can’t use the highway.
That really depends on the distance. Both Chiba and Tokyo are very very large. What stations are you going between? Once you know what stations, you can plug them into your favorite navigation website and see what the projected commute time is at the time of day when you would ordinarily go.
If you want to legally park a motorcycle, it’s not as easy as you might think. Take a look at spaces around where you live, and also where you would ordinarily want to go. You might be able to get away with parking a scooter in a bicycle parking area, but they might impound the thing if they see it.
I do it pretty regularly on a normal bicycle, so scooter would be easier. Depending on where to/from of course.
Scooter parking is not so easy in Tokyo, though
They get you with the parking.
It’s doable, 50-60km-ish from Chiba station to Shibuya depending ont he route you take, for example.
Probably looking at 2 hours each way in city traffic + 30kph limit if you’re on 50cc, 90 minutes on a 125. You’re not really going to save any time, but you will save on fare – a lot of the major stations have scooter parking that’s pretty cheap.
Big advantages – you’ll discover a lot of things you weren’t expecting to find once you’re free of the transit system, you will save money, and on a nice day it’s pretty fun, even on a gentsuki.
Big disadvantages – Rain, traffic police (they love scooters), lots of big trucks on weekends, and no alcohol if that’s your thing.
I would check the cost of parking in the areas you typically travel to. Assuming your trips into Tokyo are for a few hours or at least equal to your travel time. Parking for 3-4 hours will probably come close or quickly exceed the cost of your round trip train ticket.