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There's lesson to be learned everywhere, including Tokyo. But it's hardly a perfect system. The main trains and stations are absurdly busy (to a degree where it

by latch 8y ago

There's lesson to be learned everywhere, including Tokyo. But it's hardly a perfect system. The main trains and stations are absurdly busy (to a degree where it won't work in the US). Signage is awful, and many station are confusing. If you're looking to build something at the same scale of Tokyo (in terms of KMs of track, and daily ridership) I think you need to do better. The system feels like it's bursting at the seams. On a smaller scale, Taipei's subway is pretty damn impressive. Hong Kong's octopus and airport express are still gold standards in payment and airport link. Finally, in many way's Shanghai takes the cake, in large part because of how it went from nothing to this massive system (largest by distance, I believe), in a relatively short time. I believe Shanghai has roughly the same daily ridership as Tokyo and, although it's also insane at peak hour, it's better than the worst of the Yamanote line.

Johnny555 8y ago
There's lesson to be learned everywhere, including Tokyo. But it's hardly a perfect system. The main trains and stations are absurdly busy (to a degree where it won't work in the US). Signage is awful, and many station are confusing. It's hard to make the case that an absurdly busy transit system is the sign of a transit system that needs improvement. The stations can be confusing at first (especially to a foreigner), but part of that is that the stations are huge... though after a few trips it's much more navigable. The thing that I like best about the Tokyo transit system (and Japanese transit in general) is that it's so punctual and reliable. In the USA (SF Bay Area) I need to take a train scheduled to reach my destination at least 30 minutes before I need to be there to account for inevitable delays. And in the off hours, trains may only run every 30 or 60 minutes, meaning that I might be padding my schedule up to 90 minutes to make sure I get there on time. While in Tokyo, trains arrive almost to the second of their scheduled time.

by latch 8y ago

Johnny555 8y ago

There's lesson to be learned everywhere, including Tokyo. But it's hardly a perfect system. The main trains and stations are absurdly busy (to a degree where it won't work in the US). Signage is awful, and many station are confusing. It's hard to make the case that an absurdly busy transit system is the sign of a transit system that needs improvement. The stations can be confusing at first (especially to a foreigner), but part of that is that the stations are huge... though after a few trips it's much more navigable. The thing that I like best about the Tokyo transit system (and Japanese transit in general) is that it's so punctual and reliable. In the USA (SF Bay Area) I need to take a train scheduled to reach my destination at least 30 minutes before I need to be there to account for inevitable delays. And in the off hours, trains may only run every 30 or 60 minutes, meaning that I might be padding my schedule up to 90 minutes to make sure I get there on time. While in Tokyo, trains arrive almost to the second of their scheduled time.