Subway Systems

Subways in Asia

The Tokyo subway is part of a widespread rapid transit system that covers Japan's Greater Tokyo area. Although the Tokyo subway operates mostly within the central city, its lines extend onto suburban railway lines so that in 2013, the entire Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway system, had 290 stations and 13 lines, together carrying an average of over 8 million passengers a day.

The two primary subway operators in Tokyo are Tokyo Metro, formerly Teito Rapid Transit Authority, which was privatized in 2004 and operates 184 stations and nine lines. The Toei Subway, an arm of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government operating under the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, operates 106 stations and four lines. They have different fare structures. Although Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway systems feature a unified system of line colors, line codes, and station numbers, they have different operating obstacles to overcome, including differences in fares and separate administrative bodies, infrastructures, and policies.

Other subway systems, including the Seoul Metropolitan System, operate under one authority but still face similar problems—like breaking even and overcrowding. Consisting of 19 lines, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system in South Korea opened in 1974 and enables its 5.6 million daily riders to reach their destinations safely and quickly, while operating at just a minor loss. The Seoul Subway System is noted for its cleanliness, passenger-friendly features, and use of advanced technology such as Internet access, digital TV screens, automatic payment systems, and climate-controlled seats. Planners are projecting extended lines and services from 2013 to 2018, including hookups with the Inchon 2 and other lines.

In China, the state-owned Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Corporation, with 14 lines, and the public-private joint venture with the Hong Kong MTR, with three lines, operate the Beijing subway, which is the oldest metro system in mainland China. The Beijing subway is the third largest in the world in annual ridership after Seoul and Moscow, with 2.46 billion trips in 2012 and an average weekly ridership of over 10 million. Beijing city planners addressed the city's ongoing traffic congestion problem by scheduling construction plans for additional lines to begin before 2015.

In 2012, Ying Minghong, board chairman of Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., which operates Shanghai's subway, stated in China Daily that Shanghai's subway system operated in the red. China's longest subway network, with 11 lines totaling more than 265 miles, the Shanghai Metro system totaled 354 miles by 2013 and is predicted to reach 544 miles by 2020. Shanghai Metro had 2.1 billion passengers in 2011, but the system does not generate enough income to be self-sustaining, even with Shanghai's 23 million population. The chairman said that ticket sales and advertising income cover daily operating costs but they do not cover maintenance or the interest on loans, emphasizing that other subway systems including the Moscow Metro had the same problem.

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