Developing Shanghai underground pedestrian system under urbanization: mobilit...
FinalEssay
1. Audrey Kam
3rd hour
Microeconomics final paper
Transit and how it affects Cities: Looking at Tokyo
When looking at the differences between cities, there is much to consider. Much
of the way they operate can be attributed tothe people that live there, and the
employment status of the people who live there may seem (at first) to be random, or not.
Many people in Detroit are employed by the auto industry, not surprisingly because this
“motor city” has very strong ties to three large domestic car producers. In fact, it seems
that many cities throughout the world were influenced heavily by the way they
developed. Detroit, for reasons that will become clear, did not invest in a mass transit
system when it was being built. The long-term effects that this had on the city go further
than just simply making the city harder and more expensive tonavigate, they make it a
difficult place to work.
The Greater Tokyoarea of Japan (including not only the city itself, but
Yokohama, Kawasaki, Sagamihara, Saitama, and Chiba1 ) covers roughly 5,310 sq miles
was home to 13.35 billion people in May 1, 2014. In stark contrast with our own pitifully
sparse public transportation, Tokyoboasts the most extensive urban (and suburban) rail
system in the world, a subway (which includes two operators, the Metro, and the Tokyo
Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation), and a city bus system. However, the majority
of commuters opt to use the subway and urban rail systems, carrying nearly 40 million
passengers each day. (Wikipedia ) 22% (8.66 million) of which are subway fares. But the
sheer volume that the rail system carries isn’t what helps it shape the success of the city,
it’s the accessibility, efficiency, and actual size of the system that makes it useful to
commuters (thereby making it a factor contributing to the way people work). 30
1
Yokohama, Kawasaki, Sagamihara, Satiama, and Chiba are technically suburban areas. However they
are still serviced by mass transit. Compare to GP area and Hamtramck.
2. Audrey Kam
3rd hour
Microeconomics final paper
operators, 121 passenger rail lines (12 of which serve only the area of Greater Tokyo, not
the city center). In the urban “Metropolis” area alone, there are 882 rail stations
(including subway stations, of which there are 2822 ) , with hundreds more in each
suburban prefecture (Urban Transport Fact Book, 1), and nearly 5000 buses feed into
the system as a whole. The trains run on time, have an efficient universal payment
system3 , and are relatively clean (I cite personal experience and compared to the
Washington DC metro, and the trains in Europe there are far less mystery sticky spots
on the ground and far fewer drunk people at any given hour of the day).
But, given the overwhelming advantage Tokyohas in both population and land
area, this information may seem to be biased. The key, it would seem, lies with the
density of the stations. In Tokyo, there is (on average) one (1) commuter rail station for
every 1.6 sq. miles of developed land (Urban Transport Factbook, pg 4). Meaning that
there will be a station within walking distance of practically every single person in the
city (maximum distance from you to a subway station at any given time is around the
same distance it is from North to the dead end of Morningside road). It’s just
convenient.
Even more interesting, in a comparison between different cities rail systems, the
closest correlation was between Station density, and the Downtown employment share.
(Figure 1) Given that the information in the table was around 12 years old, newer
information would certainly lend more credibility to this. However, some more data
2
Number may be partially inaccurate: there are two subway operators. 99 “unique” stations from the Toei
Subway, 179 from the Tokyo Metro network.
3
The PasMo or SuiCa systems utilized in subway and JR trains are similar to hotel key cards. The user
simply taps the card to a sensor at a turnstile and the machine subtracts the fare from the balance held
on the card once the journey is completed. This allows passengers who must change lines to get to their
destination to pay only once, when they exit the station.
3. Audrey Kam
3rd hour
Microeconomics final paper
from the same period will have to do because the layout of Tokyohas made it extremely
difficult to find the current numbers.
A transportation study examining why the land prices in Tokyowere sohigh in
relation to its mass transit system stated that
“The well-developed mass transit system in Tokyois an essential
factor that supports this size. In order for a mass transit system tobe
economically viable for the suppliers and convenient for the commuters, a
critical level of suburban population density is necessary. Only then can
the train system and the suburban bus system supply frequent service. The
fact that the suburbanization of Tokyotook place before motorization
occurred helped Tokyoattain a level of suburban density above the
“critical level.”(Noguchi et al, 128)
Which returns to the fact that Detroit, with its highly car-centric history, did not
develop in a manner conducive to the development of mass transit. The study went
further into detail on the relationship between where people chose to live and work and
the types of mass transit available and cost-effective for them. After the initial
development of the urban rail system in Tokyo, the development of the subway and
subsequent population shifts decreased the population density in the downtown area,
but increased the employment density.
The reason being that commuting small distances (or even longer ones) for work
was now more cost-effective for the average person, and so the suburban area of Tokyo
continued to expand, which would extend the effect of the system. In other words,
Tokyowas beginning to sprawl before the proliferation of the commuter rail system, and
the advent of the modern rail system let it become the metropolis that is is today.
Now the question is how this applies to Detroit. Given the circumstances under
which our city developed, it’s unsurprising that the mass transit system isn’t on Tokyo’s
4. Audrey Kam
3rd hour
Microeconomics final paper
level. If (funds allowing) Detroit were to put more into the transit infrastructure of the
city, traffic could be reduced, and more teens and adults without cars could gain speedy
access to their workplace (thus decreasing the cost of going to work and encouraging
employment). This change could also help the barely functional bus system toreduce
overcrowding and to standardize their routes.
At present, Detroit’s mass transit system consists of the bus system (a total of
135000 rides provided per day) that services the Greater Detroit area and a 2.9 mile
automated Elevated Rail train that is lovingly known as the people mover (Detroit
Transit). The buses are not praised as “clean” nor “efficient”, and the people mover
literally goes nowhere. In this situation, it would seem that Detroit is the underdog, and
isn’t looking at winning anytime soon unless some changes are made. I’ve been living
here for too long to expect the city to have any funds to make any changes to the system
it’s currently using, and so don’t really expect any. However, if change were possible, it
would not only give the economy a boost, but possibly reduce pollution, traffic volumes,
and number of disgruntled commuters who threaten to beat up my dad.
If every city made mass transit development a priority now, we could live in a
world where everywhere was like New York, Tokyo, Chicago, even Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, for mass transit on the scale that Tokyopractices to be efficient, there
must be a certain population density. So for many cities with sparse populations (again
Detroit is among them) mass transit isn’t really a good investment.
So in terms of making all of our lives ten times better in the foreseeable future,
the implementation of a mass transit system in Detroit is pretty much a no-go. But it’s
not our fault, it’s just how our city developed. Had the motorization and suburbization
5. Audrey Kam
3rd hour
Microeconomics final paper
of our city not occurred so close together, a mass transit system would have been
necessary and therefore, this could have changed the fate of our city in terms of
employment densities and population spread. Similarly it is mostly because Tokyohas
the extensive commuter rail system that it does that the working citizens of that city are
so dependent on it, and that the city developed the way it did (in terms again of
population and employment density). Which means that population and development
status of cities during suburbanization is what truly determines the later structure of the
future city. However, what we can take from this is that mass transit has a large impact
on the way people are employed and the size of cities.
7. Audrey Kam
3rd hour
Microeconomics final paper
"Urban Transport Fact Book: Tokyo-Yokohama Suburban Rail Summary (commuter rail, regional rail)." The Public Purpose.
Wendell Cox Consultancy , 2003. Wikipedia. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-cr-tok.pdf>.
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications website. Ministry of InternalAffairs and Communications,
1996. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://www.stat.go.jp/english/>.4
"Tokyo Metro." Wikipedia. n.d. N. pag. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Metro>
"Transport in Greater Tokyo." 2. Rail. Wikipedia. n.d. N. pag. Web. 31 May 2015.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Greater_Tokyo>.
"Employment Status Survey Summary of the Results ." Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
website. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2012. Web. 31 May 2015.
<http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/shugyou/pdf/sum2012.pdf>.
Noguchi, Yukio, James Poterba, Tatsuo Hatta, and Tom Ohkawara. "Housing and the Journey to Work in the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area." Housing Markets in the US and Japan. N.p.:University of Chicago Press, 1994. 87-129. Google.
Web. 31 May 2015. <http://www.nber.org/chapters/c8823>.
Detroit Transit. Transportation Riders United, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://www.detroittransit.org/about-transit/detroit-area-
transit-service/>.
● 4
documents from this source include
○ Labour Force Survey (Basic Tabulation) (April2015)
○ Annual Report on the Labor force survey 2014
