How expensive is Tokyo's metro?

[Brillemeister]

My mom, brother and I are vacationing to Tokyo possibly next year, and from what I've heard, it's the single most expensive city on earth. *shudder* So, could somebody at least tell me how costly a trip on the metro is?

[Vapour]

It depends on the distance. From urbanrail.net :

- FARES

Single Fare - 160-300 Yen depending on distance

11-Rides (for the price of 10) - price depending on distance
12-Rides (for the price of 10) off-peak - price depending on distance

1-Day Pass 710 Yen (Tokyo Metro Subways only) and 700 Yen (TOEI Subways)

Tokyo Combination Ticket - 1580 Yen (1-day travelcard for all transport)

Monthly Pass - available for a route and distance chosen

Tokyo Metro All-Line Pass - 1 month: 16,820 yen

Cash Cards (T-Cards) available for 1000, 3000 or 5000 Yen

[waynelorentz]

Thanks for the information. Doesn't sound all that bad, espeically with a daypass, which is what I would use as a tourist. I'm not the person who asked the original question, but I'm glad for the answer, and I'm thinking about a trip to Tokyo in the late winter.

On that topic, what's the weather like in Tokyo around the last week of February and the first week of March? I've seen all sorts of charts and graphs online, but I'd like to hear from someone who really knows what it's like.

[Vapour]

Taking into account you're from Chicago, not that cold :)

[Nick]

The weather is nice around that time of the year.I was actually working there at the end of Feb this year.Plenty of snow on some of the mountains but in the city not much.Most days were snow free.Frosty mornings though.The temp got up to 13 Celcius most days.

[Rapid]

Thats expensive compared to my city, Toronto

[Draff]

You should go to London then. Tokyo, although rated more expensive, seemed a lot cheaper. (One way on the Tube is 2 pounds!)

[Revaddict]

yeah but a one day travel card is 5 pounds compared to tokyo's 1500yen

[dom]

Okay if you want to go to tokyo for about 5 days you can probably live on less than in London to be honest.

- For each single journey on the subway its about 160-190 yen. You'll use that about 4-5 trips a day.

- For hotel accomodation you can sleep in a ryokan for 4000 yen in bunkyo-ku (in the city centre) or in a capsule hotel for around the same price in Shinjuku.

Basically you can get by on about 8000-10,0000 yen a day. 10,000 yen (50 quid) would be more comfortable however. You might want to go to Mount Fuji (90 mins each way - about 2500 yen return) or to Nikko (around 4000 yen return) or Yokohama (about 1000 yen return) during your stay. Taking the bullet train to Kyoto is fun but expensive...look at spending 20,000 yen return for the shinkansen ticket.

If you want to stay in nice hotels etc, take lots of taxis then the sky is the limit. If you want to have major fun then around 15,000 yen per day should be more than enough cash to go out in the evening in roppongi/shibuya have lots of drinks and have 3 meals during the day.

Food is actually suprisingly cheap in Tokyo. The key really is finding the right accomodation. I always go cheap on the hotels, just staying at capsules or the homeikan ryokan near Tokyo uni.

[Draff]

Okay if you want to go to tokyo for about 5 days you can probably live on less than in London to be honest.


I agree. In Tokyo, or Japan for that matter, I could live off the conbini's while I was looking at a sandwich for about 2 pounds alone at a grocery store.

[Alan934]

How do people get by with such high prices?

[Isan]

Thats expensive compared to my city, Toronto

TTC is bit cheaper than Tokyo Mass transit :) especially in connecting with sub-urban & outskrit community

Japan public transport actually is really highly than any other Asia Regional Country indeed and therefore


Alan934 How do people get by with such high prices?

Company is forced to providing all transportion means, as part of the enumeration package, to all employee for those travelling btw residential & working place

[TRZ]

Tokyo Metro is actually cheaper than TTC for short trips. Same goes for the suburban lines like Tokyu, but when I say short trips, I mean less than... lemme see, around 5, maybe 7 stations depending on where you start and get off. If you are travelling a little farther than that the fare is about the same, if your travelling more than a little farther it is more expensive than TTC.

All of the Tokyo transit systems are by distance. PassNet Card is conveninet, it works on close to everything except JR Lines (a few other exceptions, but not many).

Japan is expensive if you DON'T know where to go. The transit costs as well as food costs are reasonable - and cheap if you are on a Japanese paycheck.

[v9]

Riding around in Tokyo "felt" about as expensive as Boston or NYC. But Japan has much better rail transit than any other country in the world.

[Zuelas]

what is the yen/dollar ratio?

[Draff]

1 USD is about 111 JPY.

[PEK]

that's not very expensive.......but i heard the rail express from narita to downtown tokyo is 36 us dollars?

[TRZ]

that's not very expensive.......but i heard the rail express from narita to downtown tokyo is 36 us dollars?

3000 yen for Narita to Tokyo, Shinjuku, and other locations (some have more service than others, but all go to Tokyo and more than half continue to Shinjuku). Given the distance (65+km) and the express factor, well worth the money.

[Vapour]

Or you can use the much cheaper Keisei skyliner, just 1000 yen (Narita - Ueno)

[plotstyle]

great stuff guys on my to do list!!!!!

[maxxam80]

tokyo sounds cheaper than London (where I live)

a pint of beer at canary wharf costs £3.20

What I don't understand about the USA is that they get paid properbly the same amount on average as a brit but can live for much cheaper

does that mean you have loads of money to spend on goods and services

and USA taxes are lower than UK

petrol is 89p a litre here and under half in america although rising

[ger]

The tokyo metro it´s expensive to me, also in my city, Buenos Aires in Argentina, we pays 22 cent of dollar per trip(but we use some japanese old trains like Eidan marunouchi series 500, and nagoya subway 300, 250, 1000, 1100 and 1200 series)

[Top Gear]

Thats expensive compared to my city, Toronto

160 yen is approx $1.60Cdn and we pay $2.75 per trip. I'd say its cheaper than Toronto. I also recall reading a newspaper article on how Toronto has one of the highest public transit fares on earth.

[vtower]

tokyo sounds cheaper than London (where I live)

a pint of beer at canary wharf costs £3.20

What I don't understand about the USA is that they get paid properbly the same amount on average as a brit but can live for much cheaper

does that mean you have loads of money to spend on goods and services

and USA taxes are lower than UK

petrol is 89p a litre here and under half in america although rising
Indeed, Tokyo is a lot cheaper than London, matey. Nothing in the world beats the richness of London. But a pint of beer costs 1000 yen (=4.2 GBP) in the British pubs here. A big rip off in it?

:) :cheers:

Hope we'll have nice pubs like those in Canary Wharf. But the drinking culture in Japan is very poor. The business men drink Sake in a shabby Yakitori bar or something and vomit on the trains. Horrible cnuts. Disgusting. It's extremely boring without some proper fight on the streets, getting absolutely pissed after a football match. The nightclubs here are shit also. The music is all Eurobeat crap or stupid trance music adjusted for the Japanese pops.

:no:

[sfgadv02]

JR EAST isn't so bad in terms of price. I ususally travel to stations within the 320 yen limit.

[TRZ]

Indeed, Tokyo is a lot cheaper than London, matey. Nothing in the world beats the richness of London. But a pint of beer costs 1000 yen (=4.2 GBP) in the British pubs here. A big rip off in it?

:) :cheers:

Hope we'll have nice pubs like those in Canary Wharf. But the drinking culture in Japan is very poor. The business men drink Sake in a shabby Yakitori bar or something and vomit on the trains. Horrible cnuts. Disgusting. It's extremely boring without some proper fight on the streets, getting absolutely pissed after a football match. The nightclubs here are shit also. The music is all Eurobeat crap or stupid trance music adjusted for the Japanese pops.

:no:


Alcohol prices can vary wildly depending on the place. As for drinking culture, yeah, drunks on the train can be a problem sometimes, that's for sure. However, I disagree with the nightclubs comment. Yes, there are ass clubs with bad music, but there are good ones obviosly. Gotta know where to look:cheers:

[TRZ]

160 yen is approx $1.60Cdn and we pay $2.75 per trip. I'd say its cheaper than Toronto. I also recall reading a newspaper article on how Toronto has one of the highest public transit fares on earth.

One thing to keep in mind is that Toronto is on a flat-fare system, Tokyo isn't. In Toronto, Kipling to Kennedy is cheaper than Tokyo's Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi.

[vtower]

Alcohol prices can vary wildly depending on the place. As for drinking culture, yeah, drunks on the train can be a problem sometimes, that's for sure. However, I disagree with the nightclubs comment. Yes, there are ass clubs with bad music, but there are good ones obviosly. Gotta know where to look:cheers:
True. There are many lower-end beers and they taste horrible, as if some Eastern European cheap beers. As for the nightclubs, can you name a good one? I'm always annoyed with the shitty Eurobeat and trance music tuned for the nerds. Bollocks.

:cheers:

[Eddy C]

JR is much cheaper of course in Tokyo and has a good network as well.
Most attractives places I could reach with those trains. It is a pity Yurikamome is so expensive.

[princeofseoul]

One thing to keep in mind is that Toronto is on a flat-fare system, Tokyo isn't. In Toronto, Kipling to Kennedy is cheaper than Tokyo's Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi.

Good point. I think a better comparison between cities should be how much it costs to travel from a typical suburb to the center of the city.. In tokyo, it's about 400 yens one way (from a yokohama burb on the den-en-toshi to omotesando for instance). Not so cheap, but not so expensive either.. In NYC, I recall 10$ from Princeton to Manhattan - about the same distance as Narita to Tokyo and same price too.

[vtower]

Yokohama is not a part of Tokyo.

[vtower]

JR is much cheaper of course in Tokyo and has a good network as well.
Most attractives places I could reach with those trains. It is a pity Yurikamome is so expensive.
JR Lines are cheaper but they are mainly used by the commuters outside Tokyo.

[Top Gear]

One thing to keep in mind is that Toronto is on a flat-fare system, Tokyo isn't. In Toronto, Kipling to Kennedy is cheaper than Tokyo's Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi.

If you look it at that way, Toronto also has an additional fare charge of another $2.75 if you're coming in from north of Steeles which could easily make a short trip $5.50 in total or $6.50 if you're coming in from northern York Region (north of 19th Ave). It's the same if you're coming in from Mississauga or Pickering. So apparently, travelling from a suburb to the city is also costlier in Toronto (5.50 as opposed to 4.00) assuming the tokyo fare is not part of a discount plan.

[ThirskUK]

I used to go to Tokyo twice and I bought Japan Rail Pass from travel agency in Thailand, it's cheaper if you travel long distance also because you can take almost ANY train available (except Nozomi). It's really worth every yen!!!

I ride from Kyoto to Tokyo everyday, the trip is about 2.5 hr. the last day I try the bus and It was almost 8 hr!!!!

[TRZ]

If you look it at that way, Toronto also has an additional fare charge of another $2.75 if you're coming in from north of Steeles which could easily make a short trip $5.50 in total or $6.50 if you're coming in from northern York Region (north of 19th Ave). It's the same if you're coming in from Mississauga or Pickering. So apparently, travelling from a suburb to the city is also costlier in Toronto (5.50 as opposed to 4.00) assuming the tokyo fare is not part of a discount plan.

What you are talking about are different operators, and the same applies in Tokyo, likely far more frequently than in Toronto since there are close to 15 major railway operators that all have separate fare structures and require additional fares to board when connecting from other operators' lines. The difference between Toronto and Tokyo on this front is that Toronto's and its surrounding area operate with jurisdictional territory, where each operator has a monopoly on its service area. Tokyo is more of a free-for-all where two companies can effectively service and compete for the same route (there are a lot of examples that compete with the JR Lines, examples include Seibu Shinjuku Line vs. JR Chuo Line, Keio Main Line vs. JR Chuo Line, Keisei Main Line vs. JR Sobu Line, Keikyuu Main Line vs. JR Keihin-Tohoku Line, and coming soon, Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line vs. the western quarter of the JR Yamanote Line).

[Top Gear]

^ I dont see your point, it's still more expensive in Toronto...

[TRZ]

^ I dont see your point, it's still more expensive in Toronto...

No, it isn't. For example, if I want to go from, say, Takenotsuka to Jiyuugaoka, a distance comparable to STC and MCC in Toronto, would be more expensive than Toronto because the trip involves 3 railway companies, even though the trip can be done on a single train. In Toronto's case, because it is jurisdiction-controlled, you are only charged an additional fare at the border. In Tokyo, you are not charged another fare at the border, it is when you switch operators, whether through-service or not, and in the above example the border is only crossed once but railway companies change twice. See what I'm getting at?

[Top Gear]

ok, so from your experience would you say, overall (considering everyday PRACTICAL situations), that transit is cheaper in Toronto?

[TRZ]

ok, so from your experience would you say, overall (considering everyday PRACTICAL situations), that transit is cheaper in Toronto?

Hard to say... in Japan it is the law for your employer to pay for your commuting costs, so that gives lots of people effectively free travel on their commuting line, so if where you work is close to where you play, then you will have much cheaper transit in Tokyo. If Toronto City Hall is really serious about tackling their gridlock problems, they should start making employers pay for employees' transit costs (since it is a business expense anyway, it deserves re-imbursement, it is like using the company car (personal cars not applicable)).