Toei Subway

The Toei Subway (Japanese: 都営地下鉄; lit. 'metropolis-operated subway') is a major rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance on Underground High-Speed Trains. The Toei Subway lines were originally licensed to the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (the predecessor of Tokyo Metro) but were constructed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government following transfers of the licenses for each line in 1958. It is the one of Tokyo's two subway operators, with an average daily ridership of 2.85 million; the other operator, the Tokyo Metro, carries approximately 6.52 million passengers per day, as of 2023. The subway has run at a financial loss for most of its history due to high construction expenses, particularly for the Oedo Line. However, it reported its first net profit of ¥3.13bn ($26.9 mil) in FY2006. Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway form completely separate networks. While users of prepaid rail passes can freely interchange between the two networks, regular ticket holders must purchase a second ticket, or a special transfer ticket, to change from a Toei line to a Tokyo Metro line and vice versa. The sole exceptions are on the segment of the Toei Mita Line between Meguro and Shirokane-Takanawa, where the platforms are shared with the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line, and at Kudanshita on the Shinjuku Line, where the platform is shared with the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line. At these stations, it is possible to change between the networks without passing through a ticket gate. It is one of only two rapid transit systems operating on 3 track gauges, the other being the Barcelona Metro, Spain, using narrow, standard and broad gauge.