Kumamoto Station (Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau)

Weekday departures: 223/day · Sat & holiday departures: 240/day

First / last train (weekday): 6:13 / 23:01

Busiest hour: 8:00–9:00 (21)

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0:00 ─ 23:00

Counts are departures in the timetable data shown on our live map.

• Trunk Line: 祇園橋
• Tasaki Line: Nihongiguchi

Kumamoto-Ekimae tram stop opened on 1 August 1924 as the southwestern end of the Kumamoto City line, when the Kumamoto-ekimae – Jōgyōji/Suizenji section was inaugurated. The Tasaki Line was added on 24 December 1959. On 26 April 2010 the stop was rebuilt as a "side-reservation" layout to separate the trams from the busy roadway, with platforms physically removed from the carriageway. From 2019 to 2021 the trademark wave-shaped white canopy (nicknamed "Big Shamoji") covering the JR exit and both tram platforms was rebuilt over earthquake-resilience concerns. A plan from 2006 to extend the line into the new JR station building in a switchback configuration was formally abandoned by Mayor Kazufumi Ōnishi in 2015 after the city judged that pedestrian/cyclist safety on the proposed transit mall could not be assured. Tram-stop number 3 today carries trams on Route A, operating across the unified Tasaki and Main lines.

Kumamoto-Ekimae is the highest-ridership tram stop on the entire Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau network, with FY2019 averaging 3,896 boarding passengers and 7,526 boarding + alighting passengers a day.