| Transport in Greater Tokyo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Owner | Tokyo Metropolitan Government,Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation,Kanagawa Prefecture,Saitama Prefecture,Chiba Prefecture, other municipal governments |
| Locale | Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area |
| Transit type | Rapid transit,commuter rail,bus andbus rapid transit,light rail,people mover,aerial tramway,bicycle sharing system,taxicab |
| Operation | |
| Operator(s) | Tokyo Metro,Toei Subway,Keikyu Corporation,Odakyu Electric Railway,Keisei Electric Railway, JR East,Seibu Railway,Tobu Railway,Tokyu Group,Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company,Sagami Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (most common) |
Thetransport network in Greater Tokyo includes public and private rail and highway networks; airports for international, domestic, and general aviation; buses; motorcycle delivery services, walking, bicycling, and commercial shipping. While the nexus is in the central part ofTokyo, every part of theGreater Tokyo Area has rail or road transport services. There are also a number of ports offering sea and air transport to the general public.
Public transport within Greater Tokyo is dominated by the world's most extensive urban rail network (as of May 2014, the articleTokyo rail list lists 158 lines, 48 operators, 4,714.5 km of operational track and 2,210 stations [although stations are recounted for each operator]) of suburban trains and subways run by a variety of operators, with buses, trams, monorails, and other modes supporting the railway lines. The above figures do not include anyShinkansen services. However, because each operator manages only its own network, the system is managed as a collection of rail networks rather than a single unit. 40 million passengers (counted twice if transferring between operators) use the rail system daily (14.6 billion annually) with the subway representing 22% of that figure with 8.66 million using it daily.[1] There are 0.24 commuter rail stations per square kilometer (0.61/sq mi) in the Tokyo area, or one for each 4.1 square kilometers (1.6 sq mi) of developed land area. Commuter rail ridership is very dense, at 6 million people per line mile annually, with the highest among automotive urban areas.[clarification needed][2] Walking and cycling are much more common than in many cities around the globe. Privateautomobiles and motorcycles play a secondary role in urban transport.
Since the Tokyo region is densely populated and relies mainly on rail travel, air traffic infrastructure is comparatively underdeveloped. The situation has improved recently with expansions at both Tokyo airports, as well as Haneda Airport starting to accept international flights again.
Commercial flights in the region are served predominantly byHaneda Airport inŌta, Tokyo (domestic hub for Japan's major airlines) andNarita International Airport inNarita, Chiba (main international gateway airport to the region but has also recently become a new hub for some domestic flights).
Chofu Airport in the city ofChōfu in western Tokyo handles commuter flights to the Izu Islands, which are administratively part of Tokyo.Tokyo Heliport inKōtō serves public-safety and news traffic. In the Izu Islands,Ōshima Airport onŌshima,Hachijōjima Airport onHachijō, andMiyakejima Airport onMiyake provide air services.
Ibaraki Airport, located 85 km north of Tokyo, acts as a hub for low-cost carriers, with flights to Sapporo being the most popular.Shizuoka Airport, 175 km southwest of Tokyo, aims to be a more convenient alternative for Shizuoka residents than airports in Tokyo or Nagoya, however none of the above airports have shown to take away any significant traffic from Narita or Haneda and continue to play minor roles.
In addition, the Greater Tokyo area has military bases with airfields:
There is also a limited number of helicopter transport services in Tokyo, with one service linking Narita airport with central Tokyo.[3]
Rail is the primarymode of transport in Tokyo. Greater Tokyo has the most extensive urban railway network and the most used in the world with 40 million passengers (transfers between networks tallied twice) in the metro area daily, out of a metro population of 36 million.[1] There are 882 interconnected rail stations in the Tokyo Metropolis, 282 of which are Subway stations,[4] with several hundred more in each of the 3 surrounding densely populated suburban prefectures. There are 30 operators running 121 passenger rail lines (102 servingTokyo and 19 more serving Greater Tokyo but not Tokyo's city center itself), excluding about 12 cable cars.
Uniquely to most major cities in the world, Tokyo's railway system is not a single, unified and centrally operated network, but rather, it consists of many separately owned and operated systems with varying degrees of interconnectivity. Most lines in Tokyo are privately owned, funded, and operated, though some, like theToei Subway and theTokyo Metro, are supported by the Government either directly or indirectly. Each of the region's rail companies tends to displayonly its own maps, with key transfer points highlighted, ignoring the rest of the metro area's network.
Extensivethrough andexpress services for seamless interconnections between certain lines are a major feature of the network; the Narita-Haneda service run integrates track of 6 separate and independent operators. Suburban rail operations and subway lines are also very integrated. Frequent and high-capacity suburban trains from the suburbs commonly continuedirectly into the subway network to serve central Tokyo, often emerging on the other side of the city to serve another company's surface suburban lines, behaving like anS-bahn network.Shinjuku Station is the busiest train station in the world by passenger throughput.[5] Tokyo's railways tend to shut down at around midnight, with stations themselves closed up around 1 a.m.
Trains had historically been extremely crowded atpeak travel times, with people being pushed into trains by so-calledoshiya ("pushers"), which was common in the boom eras of the 1960s-1980s. Upgrades on Greater Tokyo's railways are chiefly focused on improving services andgrade-separating lines.
Since corporations own, fund, promote, and operate their own networks, this tends to result in high fragmentation andcompany stations. The end user may need to pass through multiple company gates to get to their destination, racking up extra costs in the process (generally the longer the trip, the less charge per kilometer). This is in contrast to other nations where fares are calculated in a more integrated way. For tourists, transferring between multiple operators and paying several times to get to a single destination within the metro area can be quite confusing and expensive. Locals tend to patronize a particular company for a particular destination and walk/bike to and from that company's stations, avoiding the need to transfer and pay another fare to a different company that may have a station closer to the desired destination. Some private railroads also capitalize on real estate holdings and high foot traffic by operating their own retail stores at stations. For example,Odakyu Electric Railway andKeio Corporation both have department stores over their properties atShinjuku Station.
Passengers carried in Greater Tokyo stations daily (2023):[6]
East Japan Railway Company, or JR East, is the largest passenger railway company in the world. It operates trains throughout the Greater Tokyo area (as well as the rest of northeasternHonshū).
In addition to operating some long-haulshinkansen ("bullet train") lines, JR East operates Tokyo's largest commuter railway network. This network includes the Yamanote Line , which encircles the center of Tokyo; the Keihin-Tohoku Line between Saitama and Yokohama; the Utsunomiya Line (part of theTōhoku Main Line) to Saitama and beyond; the Chuo Line to western Tokyo; the Sobu Line , Chuo-Sobu Line and Keiyō Line to Chiba; and the Yokohama , Tokaido , and Yokosuka lines to Kanagawa.
Many additional lines form a network outside the center of the city, allowing inter-suburban travel. Among these are theHachikō,Itsukaichi, Joban ,Jōetsu,Kawagoe, Musashino ,Ōme,Negishi, Nambu ,Sagami, Takasaki , and Tsurumi lines. In total, JR alone operates 23 lines within the Greater Tokyo area.
JR East is also the majority shareholder in the Tokyo Monorail , one of the world's most commercially successfulmonorail lines.
Regional railways transport commuters from the suburbs to central Tokyo. These include severalprivate railway networks that own and operate a total of 55 lines serving Tokyo. These same operators indirectly operate another 24 lines outside of Tokyo as well as a few tourist-orientedaerial lifts andfuniculars.
Some private and public carriers operate within the boundaries of Tokyo.
Two organizations operate theTokyo subway network with several other operators in the metropolitan area that operate lines that can be classified asrapid transit:
Railway companies that serve other parts of Greater Tokyo include:
Below is the annual ridership of each major operator as of the 2017 fiscal year.[7] Transfers between operators are not counted unless they pass through a ticketing gate (not simply a platform).
| Operator | Daily ridership | Annual ridership |
|---|---|---|
| East Japan Railway Company | 16,359,962 | 5,971,386,130 |
| Tokyo Metro | 7,422,095 | 2,709,064,675 |
| Tōkyū Corporation | 3,171,660 | 1,157,655,900 |
| Toei Subway | 3,128,718 | 1,141,982,070 |
| Tōbu Railway | 2,522,067 | 920,554,455 |
| Odakyū Electric Railway | 2,069,383 | 755,324,795 |
| Keio Corporation | 1,851,364 | 675,747,860 |
| Seibu Railway | 1,804,521 | 658,650,165 |
| Keihin Electric Railway (Keikyu) | 1,316,499 | 480,522,135 |
| Keisei Electric Railway | 786,063 | 286,912,995 |
| Sagami Railway | 634,899 | 231,738,135 |
| Total | 41,067,231 | 14,989,539,315 |
Public buses in Greater Tokyo usually serve a secondary role, feeding bus passengers to and from train stations. Exceptions are long-distance bus services, buses in areas poorly served by rail (not many exist), and airport bus services for people with luggage.Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation operatesToei buses mainly within the23 special wards while private bus companies (mostly the subsidiaries of the large train operators listed above) operate other bus routes, as do other city governments, such as Kawasaki City Bus, Yokohama City Bus, etc. Toei buses have a fixed fare of 210 yen[8] per ride, while most other companies charge according to distance. Some train operators offer combined bus/train tickets; special fares apply for children, seniors and the disabled. Some routes feature non-step buses with akneeling function to assist mobility-impaired users.[9]
Tokyo Toden, Tokyo's tram network, previously boasted 41 routes with 213 kilometers of track. Now Tokyo has onetram line and onelight rail line.
Taxis also serve a similar role to buses, supplementing the rail system, especially after midnight when most rail lines cease to operate. People moving around the city on business often choose taxis for convenience, as do people setting out in small groups.
As of December 2007[update], taxis cost ¥710 (~$7.89 at ¥90/$1 USD) for the first two kilometers, and ¥90 for every 288 meters thereafter, or approximately ¥312.5 per kilometer. Most companies tend to raise fares by 20% between 22:00-5:00, but other companies have kept fares low to compete in a crowded market.[10][11]
National, prefectural and metropolitan, and local roads crisscross the region. Some of the major national highways are:
The datum from which distances are reckoned is in Nihonbashi.
TheShuto Expressway network covers central Tokyo, linking the intercity expressways together, while primarily serving commuters and truck traffic. TheBayshore Route bypasses Tokyo by traveling fromKanagawa Prefecture in between, above, and undermanmade islands around Tokyo Bay to Chiba Prefecture. TheTokyo Bay Aqua-Line, which goes underneath Tokyo Bay, links Kawasaki to Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture. Important regional expressways include theTokyo Inner Circular Expressway,Tokyo Outer Circular Expressway,Third Tokyo-Yokohama Road, andTokyo-Chiba Road. Presently under construction (with some segments operating), theCentral Capital District Expressway will be a major circumferential through the area.
Many long-distance expressway routes converge at Tokyo including theTōmei Expressway,Chūō Expressway,Kan-Etsu Expressway, andTōhoku Expressway.
Private and commercial automobiles account are owned by fewer individuals than in other parts of the country. Tokyo, with a population of over 13 million, in 2014 registered a bit less than 4 million vehicles. Tokyo's average car size is larger than the rest of the country, with only 20.1% beingkei cars. However it has followed the national trend of kei car popularity increasing almost every year.[12]Kanagawa prefecture also followed a similar trend but to a lower degree, the other two suburban prefectures were similar to the national averages. This is in contrast toOkinawa (opposite extreme in Japan), where there are almost as many registered vehicles as people, however 55.7% were kei cars in 2014.[citation needed]
The notable route which serves as internal transport isTokyo-Wan Ferry, the car-passengerferry route betweenYokosuka, Kanagawa andFuttsu, Chiba,[13] crossingTokyo Bay. Other passenger services within the bay are mostly used as scenic cruises, such asTokyo Cruise Ship andTokyo Mizube Line in Tokyo,The Port Service andKeihin Ferry Boat in Yokohama.
Out of the bay, the car-passenger ferries to theIzu Islands and theOgasawara Islands,Shikoku,Kyūshū, theAmami Islands andOkinawa serve from the ports of Tokyo orYokohama.[14]The car-passenger ferries toHokkaidō serve fromŌarai, Ibaraki.[14] There are some other freight ferries (which can carry less than 13 passengers) serving out of the Bay.
Shipping plays a crucial role for inbound and outbound freight, both domestic and international. ThePort of Tokyo andPort of Yokohama are both major ports for Japan and Greater Tokyo.
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Greater Tokyo is little different from the rest of Japan in regarding other modes of transport. It is home to the majority of Japan's automated bicycle systems with 14% of all commutes by bicycle and has a number ofbicycle sharing systems.[15]Docomo Bike Shares,Hello Cycling andLuup are among the most popular bicycle sharing service providers in Greater Tokyo, With Docomo Bike Shares holding the largest share of Bicycle sharing system usage.[16][17] However, even though Docomo is widely accepted as the dominant shared bicycle supplier, it is viewed as an unreliable and difficult to use system by many, with its app having 2.1 stars oniOS app store and 2 stars onTripadvisor[18][19][20]
| Shinkansen | |
|---|---|
 JR East linespassing through Central Tokyo | |
 Tokyo Metro | |
 Toei Subway | |
 Yokohama Municipal Subway | |
| JR East lines in satellite cities or suburbs | |
 JR Central linesin satellite cities or suburbs | |
 Keikyu | |
 Keio | |
 Keisei | |
 Odakyu | |
 Seibu | |
 Sotetsu | |
 Tobu | |
 Tokyu | |
| Other heavy rail lines | |
| Medium-capacity rails | |
| Monorails | |
| Trams and light rails | |
| People movers | |
| Hinterland | |
| Funiculars and aerial lifts | |
 Bus | |
| Public ferries | |
| Major terminals | |
| Miscellaneous | |
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