Motorcycle ETC discounts and Touring Plans on Japan's expressways (2026)

The three standard NEXCO ETC discounts

NEXCO's standing discounts are applied automatically to ETC vehicles, motorcycles included, on the three NEXCO networks. Each has its own window and conditions.

Holiday-discount blackout dates for fiscal 2026

The holiday discount is suspended during congested periods: Golden Week, Obon, year-end and New Year, Silver Week, and three-day weekends. NEXCO East published the fiscal 2026 calendar on 17 March 2026. The excluded dates are 25–26 and 29 April; 2–6 May; 18–20 July; 8–9, 11, and 15–16 August; 19–23 September; 10–12 October; 21–23 November; 26–27 December 2026; and 1–3 and 9–11 January and 20–22 March 2027. No dates in February 2027 are excluded.

The late-night reform that has not started yet

NEXCO has announced a redesign of the late-night discount: the window widens to 22:00–05:00, only the distance actually driven inside the window is discounted (30 percent, or 20 percent for trips that exit during the 22:00 hour), the discount is paid back afterwards to an ETC Mileage or ETC corporate-card account on the 20th of the following month, and a per-hour distance cap applies. System work was suspended after the 6 April 2025 ETC outage on NEXCO Central, and the start was pushed to after fiscal 2026 with no date announced. As of 3 September 2026 the current 00:00–04:00, 30 percent rule still applies.

The motorcycle flat-rate discount: 37.5 percent off long weekend rides

The 2026 motorcycle flat-rate discount (二輪車定率割引) runs from Saturday 4 April to Sunday 29 November 2026 on Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays, and until 31 October in Hokkaido. It takes 37.5 percent off the ETC toll for any single interchange-to-interchange run longer than 80 km; the threshold is per run, not per day. The 2026 conditions require a motorcycle passing through ETC wireless communication; the official wording does not require ETC 2.0.

You must apply in advance on the internet through NEXCO Central's 速旅 (Hayatabi) site, which needs a free membership; applications can be made right up to the ride, and each month's applications for the following month open on the 20th. ETC corporate cards are not eligible. The discount is applied afterwards, so the gate still shows the full toll; if a holiday or late-night discount also applies, whichever produces the lowest toll is used. Excluded roads include the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, Daisan-Keihin, Yokohama Shindo, Yokohama-Yokosuka Road, Daini-Hanna, Daini-Shinmei, the Kanmon Tunnel, Yagiyama Bypass, and the Okinawa Expressway. Applications for 2026 opened on 24 March at 14:00.

Touring Plans 2026: unlimited rides in an area for two or three days

The Touring Plans are joint flat-rate products from NEXCO East, Central, and West with the Miyagi, Kyoto, and Hyogo prefectural road corporations. They run from Wednesday 1 April to Monday 30 November 2026 (to 31 October in Hokkaido), are for ETC motorcycles only, and give unlimited entries and exits on the expressways inside the plan area for up to two or three days for a fixed price that the operators describe as roughly half the normal toll. You apply beforehand, there is no cancellation fee, and there is no limit on how many plans you book. The operators' worked example for course 4: Oizumi to Utsunomiya to Numata and back to Nerima costs ¥5,850 at normal motorcycle tolls and ¥3,100 on the plan.

Book through NEXCO East's ドラ割 (Dorawari), NEXCO Central's 速旅 (Hayatabi), or NEXCO West's みち旅 (Michitabi), depending on the course. NEXCO West provides a distance and toll check tool for plan routes.

Using a plan and the 37.5 percent discount on the same day

The two programmes can be booked for the same day. Inside the plan area the plan's flat price applies. Kilometres ridden outside the area are eligible for the flat-rate discount if that run on its own exceeds 80 km. Neither programme covers the Shuto or Hanshin urban expressways, which are separate companies with their own tolls.

Practical notes for visiting riders

Everything above depends on a motorcycle ETC on-board unit with a valid ETC card, so check that a rental motorcycle comes with one and that the card is inserted before you enter. Discounts that are applied afterwards will not show on the gate display or on a receipt printed at the booth; check the ETC usage record later. Plan tolls for the rest of a trip with the calculator on this site, which quotes NEXCO fares for ordinary cars and the motorcycle class by interchange pair.