Real Subway Series: Tokyo vs. NYC

The Tokyo subway system, known as the Tokyo Metro, has a long history reaching back to the early twentieth century. The Ginza Line, Tokyo's first underground train, opened in 1927, marking the start of what would become one of the world's most comprehensive and efficient urban transit networks.

The New York City Subway, one of the world's largest and busiest mass transit networks, has a long and illustrious history that began on October 27, 1904. The initial line, known as the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT), ran 9.1 miles from City Hall and 145th Street.

Following the success of the Ginza Line, Tokyo expanded its subway system to suit the increasing demands of its rapidly urbanizing population. However, World War II severely damaged the city's infrastructure, including the underground. Although reconstruction efforts were slow, the subway system began to recover and develop again by the 1950s.

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were crucial in the development of the subway system, since significant modifications and additions were performed to accommodate the flood of visitors. The subway system was at the heart of this event, which represented a watershed moment in Tokyo's urban development.

The New York City subway system has grown greatly throughout the years to satisfy the demands of the city's growing population. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, extensive expansion projects were conducted, creating many new lines and connecting various municipalities. The subway network was expanded by including the IND (Independent Subway System) and BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) lines, resulting in a massive interconnected system.

The subway was critical to the city's development, allowing suburbs to spread and Manhattan to rise as a global financial hub. It also functioned as a symbol of perseverance throughout difficult times, such as its construction during the Great Depression and sustained operation during 9/11.

Their histories are quite different. And when you look at the statistics, they are quite different as well. In Tokyo, 15 million people per day ride the subway. In New York it's closer to 4 million. There's another key statistic that might be even more important. Other than the COVID years of 2020 and 2021, the Tokyo Metro operates at a profit. New York's MTA regularly operates at a loss, and is projected to have $47 billion in outstanding debt by 2026. Why is that?

Tokyo Metro is a private company*. This gets bandied about quite often, although the difference here is not as straightforward as it may sound. Tokyo Metro was established as a private company, but with the ownership of all stock split between the national government of Japan (53.4%) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (46.6%). The MTA in New York is public benefit corporation owned by the State of New York. But Tokyo Metro employees are hired through a regular recruitment and application process, including management. MTA management are mostly civil servants, who must pass a civil service exam, particularly for promotion.

Tokyo Metro and MTA have different funding sources. This one seems to have more impact. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and National Government of Japan have invested heavily in mass transit, particularly since 1975. It has invested far less on roads than the automobile-oriented United States. A much larger percentage of Japanese limited access roads (e.g. expressways) are open thoroughfares, so much of the maintenance cost of highways is borne directly by the cars and trucks riding on them through tolls. America has far fewer toll roads, and the ones that it does have also often have a history of misappropriation of toll revenues. MTA is funded from taxes and issuance of bonds. MTA is one of the largest issuers of muni bonds in the United States.

Tokyo Metro and MTA have different fare rules. New York subway fares are fixed at $2.90 per ride, regardless of distance, and if the rider needs to change services, like to the Long Island Rail Road or Metro North to access the suburbs, they usually need a separate ticket. In Tokyo, fare is based on distance traveled, from 170 to 430 yen, and fare is calculated instantly from using the FeliCa NFC technology which has been in use since November 2001. FeliCa-based payments have been available in cell phones since 2008, and since 2016 it has been integrated with ApplePay so even visitors from overseas can pay with their iPhones, no card needed.

Tokyo Metro offers a superior customer experience. Practically everyone loves Pizza Rat. The ambition of a cute little furry animal dragging a piece of pizza bigger than itself to its home stirs even the hardest heart. Tokyo has rats also, who seem to have spread out in the city since the wholesale market moved from Tsukiji to Toyosu. Most importantly, Tokyo Metro stations do not have visible rats, (and probably few invisible ones either) because Tokyo Metro stations are incredibly clean and well lit. Another element of the riding experience is departing and arriving on time. Tokyo scores very well on this metric, although maybe not as good as people think. International media made a big deal in 2017 when the Tsukuba Express issued a public apology for leaving 20 seconds early. That might cause people to believe that there are never any delays on the Tokyo Metro. First, Tsukuba Express is an express train, not a subway, so it doesn't count. Second, Tokyo Metro has delays, caused by accidents, and very sadly, persons attempting to end their lives by jumping in front of the train. That said, however, the level of delay in Tokyo is much less than in New York. In April of 2023, in Tokyo, a fairly typical month, passengers were delayed approximately 10 minutes in total for the entire month. In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available in New York, passengers waited an average of 64 extra minutes on the platform and another 18 minutes on the train every month. Which was a remarkable improvement. Janno Lieber, Chair and CEO of MTA described it thusly:

We have right now the best on time performance of our subway system in over 10 years. It may not be up to Asia's standards, but for New York, it's really a great step in the right direction. We have an old system, so there are things that go wrong mechanically. You have a huge system of switches and interlocking, which require a ton of maintenance.

Tokyo's Mass Transit System Has Lots of Private Investment. While most of the other factors listed here contribute, I feel that this must be the largest contributor. Tokyo's two subway lines (I apologize for not mentioning Toei-which is Tokyo's second subway system and a separate entity- until now) serve a huge portion of Tokyo, but what makes the lines that much more effective is that they are fed by private railway companies that offer speedy connections to the suburbs. In New York, the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North Railroad, which are feeders to the subway are also under the aegis of MTA. But in Japan, the Metro and Toei are fed by trains from Tobu, Seibu, Odakyu, Keikyu, Keisei, Keio, and Tokyu, all of which are private companies. As Tokyo grew, space quickly became scarce. Real estate developers were left with plots of farmland far from the city center. The answer to the question of "how do we get people to buy our homes here in the sticks" was "build a dedicated commuter line that goes directly into JR (surface trains) and subway stations. And the developers created destinations at the end of the lines, with shopping and attractions to get people to use the trains. As an example, the end of the Seibu lines in Ikebukuro come directly under the Seibu department store. At the other end of the line out in Saitama in the middle of Seibu developed suburbia, there's the Belluna Dome where the Seibu Lions play, as well as the Sayama Indoor Skiing Ground, two lakes, and a golf course. In Atlanta, where I live, there is a large development on the northern side of the central city called Atlantic Station. The MARTA train lines do not run anywhere near it. The previous Braves baseball stadium, Turner field, was not close to a MARTA station, and the new Braves baseball stadium, Truist Park, is a 45 minute bus ride from the closest MARTA station. At least in New York, Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and MSG are all served by MTA.

In the end, it seems that America is optimized for automobiles, and Tokyo is optimized for mass transit. When population densities were far lower and energy/climate concerns were far less, that was functional, but it seems that for the short term future, the Tokyo method is the way we will have to go.

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenements halls and whispered in the sounds of silence. - Paul Simon