Photo/Illutration An electric cart from Yamaha Motor Co. starts from and returns to the rooftop parking lot of a regional supermarket on June 11 in Kawachi-Nagano, Osaka Prefecture, as part of a project to provide local residents with a means of transport. (Kaname Ohira)

They may move at a crawl, but electric golf buggies could prove to be the answer to transportation issues that increasingly plague depopulated areas with elderly residents and elsewhere.

Aside from the obvious benefit of making life easier, Yamaha Motor Co., which is pitching the idea, says tourists also would be able to make use of the low-speed vehicles, which are eco-friendly and provide an easy-to-access transit system.

Working with the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), which operates roadside assistance hubs nationwide, Yamaha Motor anticipates a sharp increase in sales if its proposal is accepted.

One Saturday in June, an electric-powered cart for seven passengers was seen chugging along at a 16-kph clip in the Nankadai residential district of Kawachi-Nagano in Osaka Prefecture.

The vehicle starts its 4-kilometer round trip from the rooftop parking lot of a local outlet of the Konomiya supermarket chain during Saturday shopping hours.

An electromagnetic guide line is embedded in the course, enabling the cart to trace the predetermined route, which takes 15 minutes to cover.

A volunteer who lives nearby sat in the driver’s seat, to stop and start the vehicle if passengers wanted to get on or off. He was also responsible for avoiding collisions with parked cars.

“While it will be difficult to fully automate the vehicle’s operations, people can quickly master how to handle it,” said the driver, Eiichi Fujii, 74.

Users can take rides exclusively on manually operated carts on weekdays from anywhere in the residential area, just like catching a taxi, for 100 yen (74 cents) per trip. However, self-driving operations are offered for free as part of a verification test.

Manual and automatic rides first became available in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

“The vehicle has been embraced by residents as their transit means, although fewer people now rely on the system due to the pandemic,” said Tsukasa Yokoyama, a sectional chief at Kawachi-Nagano’s policy planning division.

Yokoyama said the buggy network was effective in fostering interactions among volunteers and other residents, given that elderly people are increasing. 

Electric carts made by Yamaha Motor are available for four to seven passengers, primarily for use on the links and resort facilities. Although they run slowly, they are allowed on public roads as long as they are fitted with license plates.

Taking advantage of this feature, Yamaha Motor is introducing its carts in relatively old “new towns” with declining populations as well as hilly regions near mountains and tourist destinations.

Yamaha Motor has teamed with municipalities and other entities to experiment with golf buggies on public streets at 70 locations, including Kawachi-Nagano.

The company signed a cooperative agreement with the JAF in June to open the path for its electric carts to be used on public roads throughout the nation.

Given that the JAF has formed partnerships with more than 600 local governments for tourism promotion and other objectives, Yamaha Motor expects the JAF to refer the company to its partner municipalities for sales of buggies.

The JAF will be responsible for maintenance of the vehicles and ensuring that drivers are properly equipped to take them out on the open road.

Yamaha Motor projected in its midterm management plan for the three-year period from this year that it will raise sales by 30 billion yen ($214 million) via new ventures. The cart program represents one of the policy’s pillars.

Shinichiro Taguchi, a team head within Yamaha Motor’s new business promotion department, explained the corporation’s future strategy.

“Tests that have been done so far revealed that the carts are particularly helpful in old residential zones,” he said. “In light of that, we will be making aggressive pitches to those areas.”

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