Distance pricing seems to work just fine here in Japan, although I did't dig into the data on public transit, just based on my personal experience.
Fares in Osaka or Tokyo are ~$2 per 3-4 stations from your departure point. Riding to Kyoto from downtown Osaka (40km) is ~$8 and 8 stops across two lines. The prices overall are low (IMO), and Japan has lower wage inequality than the US (IIRC).
I was in Tokyo recently. You can cross most of the city by subway/train for ~300 yen, or $2.66 USD at today's change rate. Compare to San Francisco, where I live. A Muni ticket is around $2.25, and a BART ticket ~$4... both with much worse service and smaller coverage.
You could argue, perhaps, that the price is expensive relative to what Japanese people earn, but from my impression it was a very effective and reasonably priced public transportation system.
Not really. Tokyo-Osaka is going to be a bit under $200 whichever way you might choose. Maybe rail is $30 cheaper but it's a 15% difference rather than say 50%+.
Your claims didn't match my recollection, so I just looked up a one-way fare from Tokyo to Osaka (6/25/2015; date randomly chosen) on the train, and on Kayak. The first train I found (not necessarily the cheapest) was $117 USD, vs. a cheapest airfare that was $55-$140 via the deep-discount airlines and $200+ for the less crappy ones. So yes, if you're willing to fly the discount airlines, you can save about $60.
That said, flying takes 1h30, plus an hour on each end, give or take, and then you have to get to the city. The train takes 170 minutes (~3 hours), doesn't require security, and drops you right in the center of town. That seems pretty competitive to me -- which is probably why most trains I've taken in Japan have been at least half full, and popular routes sell out on a regular basis.
I won't dispute that Japan has spent a great deal on their train system. The US has easily spent hundreds of billions on the highway system. It's a matter of priorities.
One thing to note is that the bullet trains in Japan are also expensive to ride. A 300km, 1hr20min train ride costs $100/person.
But it still works out, because driving is also expensive - the highway network in Japan is privatized, and the tolls are pretty steep. The tolls for the same trip as above are $40. Add to that the cost of gas and parking, and driving only ends up being cheaper once you're several people sharing a ride.
FWIW, that's about what a ticket costs on the Japanese high-speed rail as well (for a shorter distance even). The difference is that in Japan, driving is way more expensive due to the heavily-privatized nearly fully-tolled highway system
Tokyo's subways and railroads are privately owned and ticket costs are based on the distance traveled. Americans always seem to want to pay $2 whether they go 5 blocks or 5 miles, among other unreasonable expectations for public transport.
When my wife and I visited Japan, her Tokyo-based friend came with us on the Shinkansen for the first part of our trip. If I remember right, it cost her something like $200 to ride the train to Nagoya and back. Now, that was something like 200 miles, but still, commuting via Shinkansen would not be cheap.
Edit: it was cheaper for us because we paid $250 for a 7-day Japan Rail Pass which let us ride almost every Shinkansen and almost every local train as much as we wanted. Highly recommended if you're planning a trip to Japan and want to get out of Tokyo.
When I was a student, I usually took a bus for Nara <-> Tokyo for around 5000 Yen each way - but that was barely tolerable, indeed. Even if the bridge to cross the Osaka bay must add a significant cost to the ticket when coming from Tokushima, I would be surprised if you could not find cheaper.
And the Shinkansen, while a great train system especially in combination with Japan's train system generally, isn't cheap. A quick look says $130 for Tokyo to Kyoto--a common several hour route--one way, no-reserved. (Which sounds about right from my experience although I always have gotten one of the tourist passes you can only purchase overseas.)
You get outside of Western Europe and Japan and trains tend to get cheaper--don't have recent experience with China--but western trains are pretty pricey generally, especially of the walk up to the counter and buy a ticket variety.
One thing he doesn't mention is transport costs. Japanese people have their commuter train costs paid for by their employers. If you aren't Japanese, you probably have to pay for this yourself. I thought I was clever by living in a $280 apartment 40 minutes outside of Tokyo. However, my train fares ended up costing $600 a month, so I moved to a more expensive apartment where I could walk to work.
Likewise, road tolls are incredibly high by North American standards. I remember one 30 mile stretch that cost $17 each way.
The current Nozomi Shinkansen is about $130 each way from Osaka to Tokyo. Not out of reach for a few meetings per month, but a big stretch for a daily salaryman commute. I haven’t seen any pricing for the Linear yet.
Err, no, the maximum fare on the Tokyo Metro is Y310 (~US$2.5). Y1000 is enough for a trip of up to 60km one-way on JR, or even longer on cheaper private railways. Of course, in Tokyo there are people who commute that far, but that's definitely at the expensive side of the spectrum.
I agree that the Shinkansen can be regarded as a competitive option for medium-distance inter-city travel, but I think that daily use of trains in Japan can be expensive. A Tokyo Metropolitan pass costs 750 yen/day, and that's only sufficient if you don't travel outside the metropolitan area. In contrast, I only pay $5.50 round trip going between Evanston and Chicago on the L. Although I guess that comparison had more impact when the exchange rate was worse.
Haha typed on mobile, my bad. The trains are pretty cheap compared to the cost of car ownership in America. From another comment I wrote:
> I live pretty far from central Tokyo and for between 200-350yen one way I can get to Shinjuku / Shibuya / Ikebukuro / Ueno and everywhere in between. So that's 400-700yen round trip for a night out.
> In Seattle or Atlanta? You'd be extremely lucky if your destination within a 15min walk of a bus stop or train station. In Atlanta good luck not getting mugged while waiting for the bus at night. Uber typically costs $10-15 one way (although to be fair you can split the cost between friends if you're travelling together).
> Or if you own a car in the US, you can reliably get from A to B, but you're paying between $5-10/day for insurance (whether you use the car that day or not) and $10-20 to park if you're in a city.
I really like high speed trains but have you paid for them? They are great for business where you need to go somewhere and come back, but for a family of 4 they are extremely expensive. From Tokyo to Osaka ~350 miles, it's about $130 per person each way on the Shinkansen. For 4 of us (2 adults, a child, and a free toddler), it would be ~$650 for round trip tickets.
Fares in Osaka or Tokyo are ~$2 per 3-4 stations from your departure point. Riding to Kyoto from downtown Osaka (40km) is ~$8 and 8 stops across two lines. The prices overall are low (IMO), and Japan has lower wage inequality than the US (IIRC).
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