Kurobe New Route package tour only?

Hi everyone.
We were hoping to visit Kurobe Gorge in fall, and initially wanted to go last year, but decided to wait for the new route to be completed so went to Kyoto instead. Now it appears to be opening this year.

I am just not sure if I am reading this correctly, that it will be package tour only where you MUST stay a night?
https://www.japan-guide.com/news/kurobe-unazuki-canyon-route.html
My understanding from the regular/longstanding route was that it was doable as a daytrip from Toyama, no advanced reservations were required as it is a series of busses, ropeways etc.
However is the article saying we cannot buy bus/train/faciltiy tickets on the day for the new part of the route? If so, that is a big dealbreaker for us, and will consider going elsewhere until it fully "opens up". Despite having been to Japan four times, there are still so many places I want to go :) As a free and easy traveller, I don't generally want to book package tours where we must be at a specific place at a specific time.

My question is, am I right in interpreting that article, that to access the new route you NEED to book a package tour which includes a night stay, or is it only if you want to stay the night that you need to book a package?

Thanks.

Yes, you are reading the article correctly, and yes, it will be a deal-breaker for many who were hoping to travel the new route.

Thanks Uji
I understand they have a right to do whatever they want with their own investment/property, though this makes little sense to me to force people to stay overnight.
If they really wanted to restrict numbers they could easily just use an online reservation system with a start and end time for each round trip.
While some people do stay overnight, I was under the impression the vast majority of visitors to the kurobe area are daytrippers?
Do you folks think this is a short term measure, or going to be like this for a long time?
Unless it changes or is announced to change soon though, it is probably a miss for me. For this fall, if we go at all, we probably need to start making plans in the few months.

I've been to the Kurobe Gorge and the Alpine Route.

Both kind of take the whole day to get there and do whatever it is you want to do there.

I stayed in Kurobe when I visited the Gorge and was happy that I did. When I visited the Alpine route it was a long day (Toyama to Matsumoto) and it would have been nice to stay.

Due to this - I understand their decision to maximize potential revenue due to the high costs incurred in building the extension and the highly limited number of people it can support.

this makes little sense to me to force people to stay overnight

Economically speaking it does make sense, as it makes people spend their money on hotels locally.

The Kurobe Unazuki Canyon Route falls into a different legal classification than the Kurobe Gorge Railway and the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route. I am not sure about the correct legal terms, but the latter is basically not open to the public. It cannot be passed freely by the public, and can only be visited on guided tours with helmets on. Furthermore, the capacity along the route is simply very limited, and needs to be shared with the employees, who work at the power stations along that line, etc. For these reasons, the capacity is very low. About 8000 in 2024. I heard about a capacity of 30,000 in the longer term, but I am not sure whether it is true or not.

It would be great if they had a tour-only option in the future.

I see, so it is going to be a lot less "free and easy" as the main/pre-existing sections.
I was hoping to stay in Toyama and make a daytrip over, using the new route to connect with the kurobe gorge railway essentially doing a loop as a daytrip.
A daytrip option would be great, guided or not. But it seems they have made a deal with the hotels and want to offer it as a hotel-guest exclusive thing. Again, their right to do whatever they want with their private facilities, but I hope they have a daytrip option soon.

I am interesting in this trip. Which agent can I book from? Can I choose which ryokan/hotel I will stay at?