Shimanami Kaido Bridge Tolls in 2026: Bicycles Free Until March 2028, Walking Always Free, Mopeds Pay per Bridge
2026/08/05
Do you have to pay to cross the bridges of the Shimanami Kaido? It depends entirely on what you are riding.
Bicycles cross for free, walking is free, and only mopeds pay.
The catch is that the free ride for cyclists has an end date, and moped riders pay bridge by bridge rather than once at the start.
Here is the full picture as of August 2026, written from the Imabari end of the route.
The short answer
Bicycles: free until 31 March 2028.
This comes from a scheme called Shimanami Cycling Free, run by the expressway operator together with Ehime and Hiroshima prefectures.
No paperwork, no registration, no stopping at a toll booth.
You simply ride across.
Pedestrians: free, always.
Walking across the bridges has no charge and no expiry date attached to it.
Mopeds (50cc–125cc): you pay.
The free scheme covers bicycles only, and mopeds are explicitly excluded.
The actual toll table
Tolls are set per bridge, not per journey.
The bicycle column below is what you would pay if the free scheme were not running — useful to know, because it is also the amount charged to electric kick scooters (more on that below).
| Bridge | Moped | Bicycle | On foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innoshima Bridge | ¥50 | ¥50 (free now) | Free |
| Ikuchi Bridge | ¥50 | ¥50 (free now) | Free |
| Tatara Bridge | ¥100 | ¥100 (free now) | Free |
| Omishima Bridge | ¥50 | ¥50 (free now) | Free |
| Hakata–Oshima Bridge | ¥50 | ¥50 (free now) | Free |
| Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge | ¥200 | ¥200 (free now) | Free |
Ride the whole route from Onomichi to Imabari and the total is ¥500.
The Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge on the Imabari side is the most expensive single crossing at ¥200, which makes sense once you see it — it is roughly 4 km of suspension bridge in one continuous span of three.
It is also the bridge most day-trippers from Imabari cross and re-cross, so the free scheme is worth the most right here.
One gap to know about: the Shin-Onomichi Bridge has no moped lane and no cycling and pedestrian path at all.
At the Onomichi end, the short hop to Mukaishima island is normally done by ferry rather than by bridge.
How mopeds actually pay
There is no single ticket for the whole route.
You pay at each bridge as you reach it, which means six separate payments if you ride the full length.
Carry ¥50 and ¥100 coins and the whole thing becomes painless.
If you would rather not fumble for change six times, there is a moped ticket book: ten ¥50 vouchers for ¥500.
It is sold at the toll offices along the route and at several tourist counters on the Onomichi side, including the Onomichi Station tourist information office, the Senkoji-yama ropeway station, and the Setoda tourist information office.
The book costs exactly the same as the full Onomichi-to-Imabari total, so one book covers one crossing of the whole route.
Electric kick scooters sit in their own category
Japan now has a separate legal class for small electric vehicles such as kick scooters.
On the Shimanami Kaido they are told to use the cycling and pedestrian path, not the moped lane.
However, they are not covered by the free scheme, so riders do have to pay the toll.
If you are renting one, budget for the same amounts shown in the bicycle column above.
Ignore anything that says “free until March 2024”
The free scheme started back in 2014 and has been extended several times since.
As a result, plenty of pages online still show an old expiry date, most commonly 31 March 2024.
Some of them are official-looking regional pages that simply have not been updated.
If you run into one of those while planning, no need to worry: the current end date is 31 March 2028.
The flip side is that anyone planning a trip close to spring 2028 should check again, because at that point the scheme will either be extended once more or end.
Questions visitors ask
Do I need to apply or show anything to cross free? No.
There is no paperwork and nothing to present — you simply ride across.
Are electric-assist bicycles free too? Yes.
A pedal-assist bicycle counts as a bicycle, so it is covered.
That includes the electric-assist bikes offered by the rental cycle terminals.
On a moped, what happens if I cross the same bridge both ways? You pay each time.
Crossing the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge out and back is ¥200 twice, so ¥400.
Are car tolls covered here? No.
Cars use the main expressway and a completely different pricing system.
Everything above applies to the moped lane and the cycling and pedestrian path.
What this means starting from JR Imabari Station
From JR Imabari Station it is about 6 km to Itoyama, the cycling base at the foot of the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge — roughly a 20-minute ride on what is very nearly a single straight road, with route signs along the way and a coloured line painted on the road surface.
Pick up a bicycle first (rental information here), ride out, and cross.
On a bicycle you will never once reach for your wallet.
What you do need before crossing is a drink.
There are no shops or vending machines on the bridge itself, and none on Umashima, the small island under the middle of it.
The Kurushima Strait Observation Hall at Itoyama has vending machines, a small shop and free toilets, so stock up there.
On the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge, pedestrians and cyclists share the same path while mopeds use a separate one.
The entrances are colour-coded, so it is hard to take the wrong one.
Open the Kurushima Strait Observation Hall (Itoyama) on Google Maps
The bridge is free — the bicycle is not
Worth saying plainly: the toll is free, but the bicycle still has to be rented.
Current rates and pick-up points on the Imabari side are in our rental cycle guide.
When you get back, the usual finish is a soak at Kisuke no Yu, the hot spring by the station.
There is also a way to cross the water without a bridge at all.
From Hashihama Port a small ferry runs to Oshima, an island with the remains of a Meiji-era fortress — that one does have a fare, and it is well worth it.
Information correct as of August 2026.
Tolls and the free-scheme end date can change; check the JB Honshi Expressway website for the latest.
Original article in Japanese: しまなみ海道の通行料まとめ｜自転車は2028年3月末まで無料、歩行者は無料、原付は6橋で500円（2026年）
