3 ms·
do you have any thoughts on how/why the japanese rail system is as successful as it is? it doesn't seem like any of that quite fits into the description of the
by noodle 17y ago
do you have any thoughts on how/why the japanese rail system is as successful as it is? it doesn't seem like any of that quite fits into the description of their system except quality of service.
- pchristensen 17y agoI don't know many specifics about Japan but here goes. Japans interurban trains are both heavily subsidized and expensive - they're more comparable to air travel than any trains in America. As for their subways, I'd guess it's because of density and parking. The special wards of Tokyo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_wards_of_Tokyo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_wards_of_Tokyo) are roughly equivalent to NYC - 8.8 million people, historic core, not including the suburbs or greater metro area. The only difference is it's in half the land area. So the whole special wards is twice as dense as NYC as a whole or about the same density as Brooklyn. Looking at the largest cities in the USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by...) vs largest cities in Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_cities_in_Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_cities_in_Japan) #1-4 are a perfect match and 1-10 are all pretty close in size, but I'm pretty sure Nagoya and Sapporo are much more dense than Houston and Phoenix. So Japan also has more cities where subways can work.