Kyoto bus navigation

Hello,
I never ride the bus at home, so I'm quite nervous about riding the bus in a foreign country. Most sites only tell you how to get to places from Kyoto station. I got a bus navigation map online and it tells you how to get from one place to another but I want to make sure I understand certain things so I don't get lost or waste time. ^_^;;

For example:
I plan to go from Sanjusangendo to Kinkakuji part of my first day. The bus map says to take 100.206.208 to Kyotoekimae change to 101.205 to Kinkakujimichi. 100, 206 and 208 are separate bus lines and I can take any of the three to Kyoto station then switch to either 101 or 205 to get to Kinkakuji. Is that correct? And does anyone know about how long it would take, because I noticed on a map that Sanjusangendo and Kinkakuji are kind of far apart. Also, is there a way to find out which bus line I should take that would get me there the fastest? And lastly, when do buses and the subway start and stop operating?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Wherever possible, use the Raku buses (100, 101, 102). These are special tourist buses that make limited stops with annoucements in English.

It can take a long time to get from Sanjusangendo to Kinkakuji by bus. I think it's better after your visit to Sanjusangendo to go back to Kyoto station and than take the subway to Kitaoji, and take bus 205 to Kinkakuji

Hi
well I can tell you that a bus ride in Kyoto looks ( on the Map )
quite confusing hoewever the distances aren't that huge you will be suprised.Also the announcement's are of course sometime in english but the displays are. You got the Bus map that's waht you need and your ticket thats it ;) have fun

the staff at the tourist office located on a mezzanine of the main JR Kyoto station is great. They will give you a map of the bus system and mark on the map where to get on/get off for all the buses you need to use.

The distance from Kyoto station to Sanjusangendo is about 1Km, the distance between Sanjusangendo and Kinkakuji is about 12Km, on a highway not so much, but in a very busy city like Kyoto, with it's many traffic jams, it's a big distance...

Agreed with RobBeer answered above. We spent hours on 205 with all stops last year, packed, not only visitors, but local people in the festival season, traffic jammed around town, specially on Sunday. the aircon in the bus was actually quite warm... that was the only negative moment in our whole trip.

thanks everyone for your help! But can someone let me know what time the buses and subway start and stop operating? I would like to start my days as early as possible.

Thanks again!