In addition, management stabilization funds of Y682 billion and Y388 billion were setup for the JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku, JR Kyushu companies, respecfively, in order to compensate for the losses they would incur in operation.
5 The Effects of the Reform
1) Performance of Traffic (annual average rate of growth)
2) Fare revision
JR East, JR Central and JR West makes profit without fare revision, but JR Llokkaido, JR Shikoku and JR Kyushu raised fare of about 7% in January 1996. (The last stage of JNR era, JNR raised fare 11 times every 13 years.)
3) Opinions of passengers
a) Service frequencies have increased.
b) The attitude of employees towards passengers has been considerably improved.
c) Stations and trains themselves are kept cleaner.
4) Related Businesses
Each of the JR companies has actively promoted moving into sectors outside of railway operations to gain the maximum possible benefit from its management resources.
Specifically, they have moved into real estate rentals and advertising by themselves, as well as investing in firms in the hotel, advertising and real estate sectors.
