July 23, 2008 Chairman Yano Regular Press Conference

(Moderator)

Then we will start a regular conference.

(Chairman)

Hello everyone.
There are some topics today, so I will explain them in order.

First, an overview of the business for June.
In June, toll revenue was down 7.4% year-on-year. Breaking down, high speed is minus 8.4%, and general pay is plus 3.0%. We believe that high speed may be affected by the increase in discounts and the rise in crude oil prices due to the spread of ETC. General paid Ken-O Road opening effect, the Shin-Meishin Expressway involved in-service Isewangan Expressway is due to an increase in the traffic volume of the road.
Traffic volume was down 2.4% year-on-year. High speed is minus 3.3% and general pay is plus 1.4%.
The ETC discount was 14.6 billion yen, an increase of 8.9% over the same month last year. Without the ETC discount, the fee revenue was 58.5 billion, and the ETC discount rate this month was 25.0%.

Regarding the construction situation, thank you for your participation in the opening of the whole Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway on July 5. Traffic conditions after opening will be reported later.
Then, it is construction of four lanes of Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway, but the operation between Hyogatake PA and Gujo-Hachiman IC started operation on four lanes on July 18. We will also introduce the traffic situation later.
It is expected that traffic congestion during the congestion period will improve, so I hope that you can use the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway during the summer vacation and autumn holiday season.

The contract rate for construction contracts for the main construction types was two. In June, the number of contracts was only two, and the average contract rate was 74.06%. The cumulative total for the year is 84.98%. Among these, painting work is low at 48.27%, but the reduction in construction costs at the company that received the order, the utilization of materials owned by the company, and the reduction of general administrative costs, etc. are factored in. Has become.

Next is the usage status of ETC. When comparing the period from July 11 to 17 with the period from June 6 to 12, the daily average number of vehicles used increased by 4.9%, but the daily average utilization rate was considered to be almost flat at minus 0.4%. I think it's good. Weekdays and holidays are slightly lower than the previous month, but the usage rate on Saturdays and Sundays is maintained at over 70%. The number of OBEs installed is 20.10 million.

In the SA situation, sales were 103.7% year-on-year. The food and beverage section accounts for 101.0%, the merchandise section accounts for 105.4%, the service section accounts for 93.3%, the gasoline section accounts for 103.7%, and the advertising section accounts for a small but 150%.
The above is the current business situation.

Next, the topics are explained. There are seven today, of which the last two are the first to be described today. Most of the announcements have already been made, but we will report.
First, it is the traffic situation of Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway based on the latest situation up to yesterday. In addition, since the Shin-Meishin Expressway has been opened for 5 months, Mr. Minemura will explain the situation later, but in general, it is about 3 compared to what we originally expected. The situation is that traffic volume is doubled. The average is about 9,000 units per day, the average on weekdays is about 7,000, and the average on holidays is about 15,000. Although it is still less than three weeks, Minemura will report on the analysis results.

 

(Manager)

Now, let me report on the traffic situation of Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway.
As described in the documents at hand, the average traffic volume between the Hida Kiyomi IC and the Shirakawago IC, which opened this time, was about 9,000 vehicles per day. Compared to the initially assumed number of 3,000 units, it is triple. Breakdown of weekdays and holidays is 7,000 and 15,000. In particular, during the three consecutive holidays, the maximum traffic was counted on the 20th. The traffic volume is about 20,000 units.
Then, the section before and after. On the northern section, on the Gokayama side, the number was about 2,000 before opening, increased to 8,000, and increased by 6,000. On the south side, Shokawa IC-Hida Kiyomi IC is 5,000, 12,000, an increase of 7,000, and going a bit further south, Gujo-Hachiman-Gifu Yamato, where 10,000 are 15,000 and 15,000 are 5,000 The number of units has increased.
What is worrisome in this situation is the parallel traffic of Hokuriku Expressway. I was worried that it would decrease, but as you can see at the moment, it is almost unchanged from the previous year. This is the total of 18 days of data that was opened on July 5th.
Next, it is the traffic situation after completion of 4 lanes of Gujo-Hachiman IC from Hyogatake PA. This is also open, and we will explain the traffic and traffic conditions during the three consecutive holidays, which are still a little worrisome. According to the table at hand, the traffic volume during this period will be 30,456 vehicles on Saturday, 34,000 vehicles on Sunday, 29,300 vehicles on Mondays and holidays, with a very large traffic volume from Minami to Gujo-Hachiman. The average is 31,000 units for three days. This is the peak of last year, which was 27,500 cars in the middle of last year's tray, before 4 lanes, but I compared this stage with the traffic jam situation.
In the bottom column, the maximum congestion length for last year's 27,500 units was 13.5 km for In-bound, 13.8 km for Out-bound, and the congestion time was as described. This is the amount of time required to extend the traffic congestion, which was 106.4 km / hour. This turned into four lanes, and the traffic congestion section shifted to the north, but the congestion length was also 8.1 km, 11 km, the congestion time was about half, the congestion amount was 50.9 km / hour, and there is no congestion No, but the traffic has been reduced by half.
Next is the situation five months after the opening of Shin-Meishin Expressway. The traffic volume that we announced three months later is also shown, but the conclusion is that after five months we continue to use it. The sharing of traffic between Meishin and Shin-Meishin Expressway has not changed significantly.
I would like to look at the box at the lower left of the traffic volume of Shin-Meishin Expressway. The average traffic volume in the three months after opening was 30,000 vehicles. Currently, the average traffic volume in 28 months is 28,400 vehicles. Every year around June, there is a time when the traffic volume slightly drops, so I think that it is not a big change considering such things. This is because there is no big difference between the traffic before and after the opening of the traffic near Meijin's Maibara JCT. From such a point, we think that you can continue to patronize it now.
In addition, the story returns from Hida Kiyomi IC to Shirakawago IC. One traffic accident occurred on the first day during the last 17 days, but no accident has occurred since then. We are asking you to drive safely and we will report it to you because you can drive with care.

 

(Chairman)

The above is the traffic situation. Thanks to you, the situation has been steady after opening.
The next topic is the prediction of Expressway traffic congestion during the Bon Festival season. This was already announced on July 11th, and the materials are on hand. However, as the time for the Bon Festival is approaching, I will take this opportunity to explain.
The forecast for traffic congestion from August 7th to 20th, but I would like you to make a travel plan with a margin by shifting the departure time before and after the expected peak time zone.
In our jurisdiction, it is predicted that traffic will occur on both the In-bound and Out-bound from August 14th to 16th. Especially, Tomei, Chuo and Tomeisaka.
In connection with this, I will report the Obon TDM as the next topic.
Although it is an In-bound line of Tomei, it will be implemented from Saturday, August 9 to 17th. The detailed contents will be announced on July 2 from the Yokohama Regional Head Office. Although traffic congestion is concentrated near the Yamato tunnel, this time TDM will change the toll fee of customers who have passed through the designated entrance toll gate and exit toll gate by ETC from 9 am to 12 pm The discount is up to half price.
Next is the intensive construction of Tomei. This was also announced on July 2. The attached materials are attached, but this year we will do it in mid-October, so we will do it until October 24, excluding some weekend hours from October 14. This will cause inconvenience to the drivers, but we will do various PR activities so that we can cooperate and work hard to improve the effectiveness.
The following is the Koshu Tourism Yamanashi Tour ETC Pass, which was also announced on July 4 by the Hachioji Regional Head Office. We have started a tour plan under the brand name "Quick Journey", but we plan to use it from October 1 to March 22 of the next year for the Koshu Tourism Yamanashi Tour ETC Pass. I did the same from January 10 to March 22 of this year, but it was very popular, and this time we planned to extend the period from October to March. Gradually, these tour discounts and planning discounts are becoming known to many people, and I am grateful that the number of users is increasing.
Next is the new news announced today that a new udon / bowl shop “Naka-U” will be opened at ChuoExpwy, Folding Mountain PA (In-bound). Nakau is a Japanese fast food chain that is being rolled out nationwide with Kyoto-style udon and bowls, but we have received your cooperation. The hamburger specialty store “Wendy's” was opened on July 16 at this folding screen PA, but with the opening of “Nakau”, we expect that the range of services will expand as both Japanese and Western.
And last but not least, it is a new announcement that we will make the call center free of charge. Free from October 1 of this fall. In April, the “Highway Guide” was renamed the “Customer Center”. Currently, we receive about 25,000 calls a month on average, but this number is about three times that of the highway guide era. With the intent of making it easier to use this time, we will replace the existing navigator dial with free call charges. As the phone number is here, "0120-922-229", we will respond 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. After all, our company puts the customer first, so we are all working hard, but since we start with inquiries, there are various complaints, so we respond to them in good faith and promptly We thought we had to start by doing this, and as a part of that, we decided to make this plan a reality. Although it is a long way from October 1, we will announce it as soon as possible at a certain stage, and we will promote it in the future so that as many people as possible can use it easily.

This is the end of the matter that I will explain, so I would like to receive any questions.

 

(Moderator)

Then, thank you if you have any questions.

(Reporter)

At Tokai-Hokuriku Expwy, the traffic between Hida Kiyomi IC and Shirakawago IC is currently 9,000 per day on average, which is 3 times the expected 3,000 vehicles. What are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on how to maintain this high standard or how to increase it in the future?

(Chairman)

After all, I think that the original charm of the region such as Shirakawa-go and Gokayama was more in line with your expectations than we thought. In just less than three weeks, we want this trend to continue, and we want to do as much as we can with local municipalities and tourism associations. We also want to report the situation regularly. The summer vacation season is about to begin, and I think that the peak of the tourism season is the end of October until the snow falls. There are various places such as ski slopes even after the next snowfall, so we have been dealing with tourists in winter in Shirakawa-go and Takayama quite a lot, so I expect what kind of response will occur in such a period . Then, as I mentioned earlier, it's not always a stopover. There are cars traveling between Nagoya and Toyama all the time, so I think there is a positive effect in terms of industry and economy. Therefore, it is a business vehicle such as a truck, and I would like to take time to analyze such a place, how to distinguish it from general sightseeing, but I will do a little more content analysis and endurance I want to make sure that it is something. The locals and the Tokai and Hokuriku prefectures are working very hard, so I don't think it will change so much. We don't expect this trend to go down unless there's a good deal going on, but we'll continue to look at it.

(Reporter)

The contract rate has been quite high at 99.86%, one for construction and one for civil engineering work in June. I don't mean to mention this because it's too high.

(Chairman)

As you know, we have introduced a bidding system called the comprehensive evaluation method, and we have adopted a method of comprehensive evaluation based on technology plus price, so we believe that the contents have been thoroughly examined. There are seven companies that actually bid, but among them, the highest bidder finally got the highest evaluation, and we would like to see how it will tend in the future However, as I said last month, there were soaring prices of various materials, so we could not do much too much, so we adopted a bidding method that includes consideration of costs, but the effect of such a system There is also how it comes out, I want to see a little bit.

(Reporter)

Is there any kind of expectation, such as the percentage of Tomei Obon TDM that is used at a 50% discount?

(Chairman)

To be honest, there are times when you can't understand unless you try it out, but based on your experience so far, we analyze that there is a 10% to 30% movement in traffic volume. So I expect that the effect will come out.

(Reporter)

Regarding fuel prices, the number of traffic seems to have dropped slightly even in the general situation in June. What kind of impact do you see as the Obon demand season begins in the future?

(Chairman)

I think it will take a little more time to make a clear decision, but it is the first time that traffic has become negative compared to the previous year, except during heavy snowfall since privatization. So even if it's just one month, I feel the weight, and I'd like to follow up on a monthly basis. There is also the aspect that the traffic volume is increasing due to the opening of new roads such as Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway and Shin-Meishin Expressway, so it is not until after the summer season that you can make a firm decision I think. I would like many people to enjoy the drive, but for now, the trend can be said to be ordinary cars and medium-sized cars, the area around it has been reduced a little, and the other places are still affected I don't see it. The number of mini cars is rather increasing. What do you mean, changes in the way you travel and move? The traffic volume of oversized vehicles such as large vehicles and trailers does not seem to be affected even if it fluctuates monthly. So, after all, holiday drivers and ordinary cars are visibly reduced, so I think that will have the greatest impact. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to focus on the results of the summer vacation season.

(Reporter)

Could you tell us about the breakdown of regular, medium and mini vehicles that you talked about?

(Chairman)

Okay, let me tell you by model. Compared to the same month of the previous year, the number of mini vehicles is 103.3%, which is increasing. Regular cars are reduced by 95.0% and 5%. Medium-sized vehicles account for 96.5%, large vehicles account for 103.0%, and extra-large vehicles account for 103.6%, for a total of 96.7%. This is a figure only for high speed, so it does not match the number I mentioned earlier, but it is about 97%. As for the Tokyo tollgate, 94.4% of ordinary cars and 97.3% of medium-sized cars on weekdays, but 89.2% of ordinary cars and 91.8% of medium-sized cars only on holidays, ordinary cars and medium-sized cars. We see that is starting to impact. I'd like to check each month more.

(Reporter)

As for the overview of Expressway that you just mentioned, is there a nationwide trend in both toll revenue and traffic volume, or is there a noticeable drop for Central Japan Expressway? If there are numbers etc.

(Chairman)

I don't know the situation of other companies, so I don't have the numbers at hand, but I don't think the trends will change.

(Reporter)

Also, as I mentioned earlier, it was the first time since privatization, but it's okay to say that toll revenue has been lower than before, and that the number of traffic has dropped for the first time.

(Chairman)

It is the number of traffic. The fare revenue is much lower here because of the ETC discount. There was one exception, however, in February of last year, which was negative compared to the previous year due to heavy snow. This was a special condition, so I would like to say that this is the first time in June.

(Moderator)

If there are no other questions, we will end the 33rd regular press conference.
Thank you for your busy today.

(Chairman)

Thank you very much.