Urban Rail Development in Tokyo from 2000 to 2010

Abstract

Tokyo is well known as a rail-oriented city where the huge traffic demand generated from the megacity is well supported by a sophisticated urban rail system. The results of the 2008 Person Trip Survey show that rail’s modal share was 30% as of 2008; the economy of Tokyo is highly dependent on an efficient urban rail network. As shown in Kato (2014), Tokyo’s urban rail market has unique characteristics: private rail companies provide many of the rail services, the rail network was developed under the guidance of the central government, rail users suffered from chronic traffic congestion for many years, and the rail market has recently been significantly influenced by a rapidly aging demographic. In spite of its uniqueness, the experiences of urban rail development in Tokyo could be useful for other OECD member countries.