The table provides a comparative overview of six underground railway systems, detailing their opening dates, route lengths in kilometres, and annual passenger volumes in millions. Overall, it is evident that the oldest systems, such as London, have developed the most extensive networks, whereas the more recently established systems, like Kyoto and Los Angeles, operate on a much smaller scale.
London, which opened in 1863, boasts the longest route at 394 km, followed by Paris at 199 km. Despite its age, London’s annual ridership of 775 million is surpassed by Paris and Tokyo. Tokyo, established in 1927, serves the highest number of passengers annually at 1,927 million, despite having a shorter route length of 155 km compared to London and Paris. This suggests a higher density of usage in the Japanese capital.
In contrast, the systems opened in the latter half of the 20th century show markedly lower figures. Washington DC, opened in 1976, has a 126 km route serving 144 million passengers. The newest systems, Kyoto (1981) and Los Angeles (2001), are the smallest, with route lengths of only 11 km and 28 km respectively, and annual passenger numbers of 45 million and 50 million.