Useful Information

Public Transportation in KOBE

2023.02.10

Public Transportation in KOBE

There are three main types of public transportation in Kobe: trains, buses, and bullet trains. Let’s check them out one by one.

Train

Kobe has many kinds of train; subway, JR, Sanyo railway, Hankyu railway, Hanshin railway, and monorail. Let’s learn about them in detail.

  • Subway

There are three main types of subway in Kobe; Seishin-Yamate line (西神・山手線), Hokushin line (北神線) Kaigan line (海岸線). Seishin-Yamate line connects from Seishin-chuo (西神中央) station to Shinkobe (新神戸)station. Hokushin line connects from Shinkobe (新神戸)station to Tanigami (谷上) station. Kaigan line connects from Shinnagata (新長田) station to Sannomiya-Hanadokei-mae (三宮・花時計前) station. Subway train stops every statin. They does not have differences such as local service and rapid-express.

  • JR

Kobe has JR Kobe line. JR Kobe line is from Himeji station to Osaka station. JR has three types of trains; Local (普通 ふつう), Rapid Service (快速 かいそく), and Special Rapid Service (新快速 しんかいそく). Local train stops at every station. Rapid Service train stops at some stations. Special Rapid Service train stops at fewer stations than Rapid Service train. In Kobe, Special Rapid Service train stops at Kobe(神戸) station and Sannomiya (三ノ宮)station. JR trains have Female-only passenger car. If you are a man, please be careful not to ride on the car.

  • Sanyo, Hankyu, Hanshin line

These trains connect from Himeji (姫路) station to Osaka-Umeda (大阪梅田) station. Sanyo railway runs from Himeji (姫路) station to Shinkaichi (新開地) station. Hankyu and Hanshin railway runs from Shinkaichi (新開地) station to Osaka-Umeda (大阪梅田) station. Kousoku-Kobe (高速神戸) station and Kobe-Sannomiya（神戸三宮）station have both Hankyu and Hanshin line.

Sanyo railway has local（普通 ふつう）, Semi- Limited express (S特急 えすとっきゅう), Commuter express (通勤特急 つうきんとっきゅう), and Limited express (特急 とっきゅう).

Hankyu railway has many kinds of trains; Local(普通 ふつう), Semi-express (通勤急行 つうきんきゅうこう、急行 きゅうこう、快速急行 かいそくきゅうこう), Sub-express(準急 じゅんきゅう), Commuter express(通勤特急 つうきんとっきゅう), Limited express(特急 とっきゅう).　Hanshin railway has Local (普通 ふつう), Semi-express (区間急行 くかんきゅうこう、区間特急　くかんとっきゅう), Sub-express (急行　きゅうこう), Hanshin limited express (阪神特急　はんしんとっきゅう)and Limited express (直通特急 ちょくつうとっきゅう). Semi-express, Sub-express, Commuter express and Hanshin limited express are often written just as “Limited Express” on electric notice board. Except for local trains, trains do not stop at all station. Please check in advance which train stops at the station you will use. It is easy to understand if you use the Transit guidance app.

  • Monorail

There are two kinds of Monorail in Kobe; Port Liner(ポートライナー) and Rokko Liner(六甲ライナー). The former one connects with Sannomiya, Port Island, and Kobe airport. The latter one connects with Sumiyoshi station and Rokko Island. Monorail does not have local or rapid train. Each train stops at every station.

Bus

Many kinds of buses are available in Kobe. For example, there are Kobe-city bus and Sanyo bus. The fare is usually 210 yen. The children fare is the half price of the adult’s one. In Kobe, the back door of the bus is for riding and the front door is for getting off. You will pay the fare when you get off the bus. To grasp your boarding section, some buses need you to take the bus ticket or scan your IC card when you get on the bus. Also, there are some long-distance bus stops for going to airports, or other prefectures or tourism destination in Sannomiya station. In Maiko (舞子) station, there is a bus stop bound for Awaji(淡路) Island.

Shinkansen (bullet train)

When you go to far away, such as Tokyo, you can get there faster by taking Shinkansen. There is Shin-Kobe (新神戸) station. You can go to the station by subway from Sannomiya.

 

Like this, Kobe has many kinds of public transportation. When you travel, please enjoy using transportation which you do not usually use!

 

  • Please also refer to the following page

Transfer to another train https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/replacement-train20230204en/

How to ride on a bus https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/bus1123en/

How to buy and use ICOCA https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/icoca20221123en/