public transports in tokyo

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public transports in tokyo

PUBLICS TRANSPORTS IN TOKYO

Publics transports in Tokyo

Useful informations:

Making queue aside doors
Don’t buy physical tickets, add public transport card on your phone (more informations bellow)
public transports are really clean, don’t let wastes in it
Useful app: Google Maps

Throught Tokyo

Composed of many train stations; Tokyo biggest stations are Tokyo and Akihabara stations on the middle, Shinagawa station to the South, Shinjuku and Shibuya stations at the West as well as Ikebukuro and Ueno station to the North. In your minds, if you think about japanese sleeping in public transports, it’s because traveling in Tokyo can easily take you an hour. Because trains are equiped of heated seats, we are easily feeling well in it. Despite the size of Tokyo, public transports are on time and really clean. For tickets, price despends of the distance you are traveling along the public transport network. For people who lived in Tokyo, if you are doing the same ride everydays, you are able to take a transit pass (valid only on this ride).

How does work public transports

To use public transports, you have two options:

The first one that I recommend is to use an IC card as Suica, Passmo or equivalent via your smartphone (in my case, I used a Toica card). On iphone, use card application and add a public transport card as Suica / Passmo/ … On android, download on applications Suica / Passmo / … After that, you only have to pass your phone on the ticket barriers.

If you prefer to buy physical tickets, it will be more complicated. You will have to buy tickets at the entrance station and select at which station you will have to go down. When you go in, you will have to insert tickets into the ticket barriers and take it back. When you go out, tickets barriers won’t give you back tickets so you just have to insert tickets and going out. If you change your mind on the final destination once you passed tickets barriers, you will have to pay an extra depending where you are going (just go to see station attendants at the main entrance). Be careful, each compagnie have their own tickets. So if you don’t want to boring yourself each time you will use public transports, just download an app on your smartphone.

Lines symbolisation

Shape: Circle –> Metro / Square –> Train

Color: color line

Letter: First letter of the name line (often)

Number: Number of the station

Type of trains

Shinkansen « 新幹線 » ; The JR Pass allow to use as much as you want Shinkansen during a limited time; however since 2024, by increasing it’s price, it’s less profitable
Limited Express, 特急 “Tokkyu” only stop on biggest stations. Be careful if you use this train, it might happen you have to book seats (need an additional ticket).
Semi-Express, 準特急 “Juntokkyu”
Express 急行 “kyukou”
Rapid: 快速 “kaisoku”
Local: 普通 “futsu” : they stop at every stations. Generally the color is blue on the service board.

Attention: At the endpoints of metro lines, for some of them, they becomes “trains lines” (it’s only a name modification). For the metro, if it’s not a limited express, nothings to worry, they stop at every stations. So if you are taking the metro to go out of the center of Tokyo, be careful to what kind of metro you are taking (same principles than trains). Look at “shibuya station” picture.