The Bureau of Transportation, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (東京都交通局) is a bureau of the Tokyo government. It runs public transport services in Tokyo and the area around it.
History
The bureau's history began in 1911. On 1 August 1911 Tokyo City (東京市) bought Tokyo Railway Company (東京鉄道株式会社). It set up the Tokyo City Electric Bureau (東京市電気局) to run the street trams (市電) and supply electricity. On 1 September 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake (関東大震災) caused heavy damage to the trams. On 18 January 1924 bus service (市バス) began as an emergency way to restore transport while the trams were repaired. Japanese Wikipedia says the detailed histories of the subway, trams and buses are on separate pages.
On 1 February 1942, under the Land Transport Business Adjustment Act (陸上交通事業調整法), transport controls merged several operators into the bureau. They included Tokyo Underground Railway (東京地下鉄道), which ran buses and the Jōtō and Seibu tram lines, Ōji Electric Railway (王子電気軌道), whose tram lines included part of the present Toden Arakawa Line, Tokyo Ring Bus (東京環状乗合自動車), and Jōtō Bus (城東乗合自動車) on its bus route from Sakisaki to Uguisudani. The bus routes inside the Yamanote Line (山手線) of Tokyo Yokohama Electric Railway (東京横浜電鉄) and Keio Electric Railway (京王電気軌道) were also merged in. On 1 April 1942 the power distribution part was split off and transferred to Kanto Haiden (関東配電), a predecessor of Tokyo Electric Power. On 29 May 1943 the Tokyo City Electric Bureau Cooperation Association (財団法人東京市電気局協力会) was set up. On 1 July 1943, when the Tokyo Metropolis system took effect, the bureau was renamed the Bureau of Transportation, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (東京都交通局). In 1948 the sightseeing bus business was transferred to Shin Nippon Kankō (新日本観光), later Hato Bus (はとバス).
On 20 May 1952 the Toei trolleybus opened. On 17 December 1957 the Ueno Zoo Monorail opened. On 4 December 1960 the Toei subway opened. On 3 June 1963 Tokyo Kōtsū Kaikan Co. (株式会社東京交通会館) was set up.
On 1 January 1967 the bureau was designated a body under financial reconstruction, and on 1 August 1967 it adopted its first reconstruction plan. On 30 September 1968 the Toei trolleybus was abolished. On 16 October 1969 Tokyo Transport Service Co. (東京交通サービス) was set up. On 12 November 1972 the tram lines were abolished, except for the present Arakawa Line section. On 22 October 1976 a second reconstruction plan was adopted. In 1977 a one-day ticket for trams, buses and the Toei subway went on sale. On 26 November 1980 a third reconstruction plan was adopted. On 18 January 1984 the reconstruction was completed, and a plan for the bureau's healthy management was adopted.
On 12 November 1987 Tokyo Traffic Development Co. (東京トラフィック開発) was set up. On 1 April 1988 smoking was banned across all Toei subway lines. On 28 July 1988 Tokyo Metropolitan Subway Construction Co. (東京都地下鉄建設株式会社) was set up. On 1 April 1991 the bureau's head office moved from Tokyo Kōtsū Kaikan to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government No. 2 building. On 1 November 1993 the T card went on sale. On 1 October 1994 a bus common card went on sale. On 3 July 1995 all Toei subway cars became fully air-conditioned.
On 14 October 2000 the Passnet card was introduced. On 1 April 2004 some Toei bus routes were outsourced to Hato Bus. On 7 March 2006 a management advisory committee was set up. On 18 March 2007 the PASMO IC card was introduced, and mutual use with Suica began on the same day. On 10 January 2008 issue and sale of Passnet (T card) ended on the last trains of that day, as PASMO spread. On 14 March 2008 Passnet and T cards stopped working at automatic gates. On 30 March 2008 the Nippori-Toneri Liner (日暮里・舎人ライナー) opened, and the one-day ticket was renamed Toei Marugoto Kippu (都営まるごときっぷ). On 31 March 2010 sales of the bus common card and transfer-discount card ended, and their use ended on 31 July 2010. On 1 August 2011 the bureau marked 100 years since its start as the Tokyo City Electric Bureau. For the first time in 33 years a flower tram ran on the Arakawa Line. The ToKoPo point service using PASMO also started that day. On 23 March 2013 nationwide mutual use of IC cards began, so Kitaca, manaca, TOICA, ICOCA, PiTaPa, nimoca, Hayakaken and SUGOCA could be used.
On 31 May 2019 service information was made available through the Public Transport Open Data Center. On 1 November 2019 the Ueno Zoo Monorail was suspended. On 30 March 2020 the Toei Transport app began delivering service status and station information. On 27 December 2023 the Ueno Zoo Monorail was abolished. On 23 December 2025 touch payment by credit card and other cards began at all Toei subway stations from the first train of that day.
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Written by an AI from the company's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.
