Transport in Greater Tokyo | |
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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 and bus 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 Railway, Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company, Sagami Railway |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 1,067 mm (most common) |
The transport 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 of Tokyo, every part of the Greater 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 article Tokyo 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 any Shinkansen 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. Private automobiles and motorcycles play a secondary role in urban transport.