So, Canada and Korea will be hosting G-20 summit this year. As Canada being one of economic "leaders", I wanted to see if our public transit is competitive to others. So I made a compilation of G-20 underground transportation system. See if you agree with the government's assertion that we have "world class" public transportation system. Here are the first five: (These are not ranked)
1. Korea
Seoul metro (locally known as Ji-ha-chul) has almost 5.5 million riders per day, ranking one of the top in the world for public transportation usage. Most subway stations with heavy traffic have "doors" to prevent from people falling down. It is generally very clean and spacious both in the train and the station.
There are 11 lines that runs 317km to connect Seoul and nearby cities. The fare depends on the length of trip (Ticket prices start at 1000 won ($1 CAD) for a trip up to 10 km, with 100 won added for each subsequent 5 km). There are also subway system in Busan, Gwanju, Incheon, etc. For more information please visit the Wiki page.
Map of subway system in Seoul, Korea
2. Argentina
Buenos Aires metro (locally known as Subte) has 6 lines of subway that runs 52.5 km in Buenos Aires. There are about 1.7 million subway riders per day and Buenos Aires is the only city with subway system in Argentina. A single fare is 1.10 pesos (approximately 29 cents) with no travel restrictions.
Map of Buenos Aires subway
3. Australia
Australia's second most populated city Melbourne has a subway (locally called Metro) that runs 830 km in the the city. There are approximately 380,000 riders per year. Myki, a new card ticketing system adopted by the Melbourne Metro, is being used for passenger's payment method and you can find the price structure here- Myki fare.
Melbourne is also home to the largest Tram network in the world. Tram, also called streetcar or trolley, is a railbourne vehicle designed to transport light weight cargo or passengers between nearby towns.
This is a map of Melbourne's metro system
4. Brazil
In São Paulo, the Metrô transports 3.3 million riders per day. There are 4 lines that runs 62.3 km however with CPTM, a regional rail company owned by Sthe tate Secretariat for Metropolitan Transports, there are 10 lines in total with track length of 322.1 km. A single fare is R$ 2.55 (CAD$ 1.48) for metro, R$ 4.80 (CAD$ 2.78) including transfer to buses.
Map of Sao Paulo Metro and CPTM
5. China
China has 11 cities with their own underground transportation system, however Beijing stands out to be the oldest and busiest subway. It delivers about 4 million riders per day, 9 lines with 228km of track. Beijing subway (locally called Beijīng dìtie) has an ambitious plan to double the track length by 2015 with the help of government's US$ 586 billion. A single fare is 30 cents with unlimited travel.
Map of Beijing subway
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