STATISTICS BRIEF

1

INTRODUCTION

Metros are of critical importance for mobility, as societies are becoming ever more urbanised. At the end of 2017, there were metros in 182 cities in 56 countries, carrying on average a total of 168 million passengers per day. 75 new metros have opened since the year 2000 (+70%). This massive growth is to be credited largely to developments in a few countries in Asia.

For this new metro Statistics Brief UITP has col-lected exhaustive data for a series of key indicators for all metros in the world including ridership, num-ber of lines, network length, number of stations and – new for this edition – fleet size. Extensive data was also collected for another new field: infrastruc-ture construction model (underground, elevated, at grade or in trench).

WORLD METRO FIGURES 2018

Asia-Pacific26,690m passengers annually 73 cities 7,218km of track; 5,200 stations 53,700 carriages

Europe10,750m passengers annually 46 cities2,921km of track 2,950 stations 25,800 carriages

Eurasia4,700m passengers annually 16 cities 813km of track; 540 stations 8,100 carriages

North America3,730m passengers annually 17 cities 1,544km of track; 1270 stations 14,200 carriages

MENA1,990m passengers annually 11 cities 464km of track; 350 stations 3,300 carriagesLatin America

5,915m passengers annually 19 cities 943km of track; 780 stations 9,000 carriages

Countries without metro networks

Metro networks worldwide 2017

2

RIDERSHIP

In 2017, the 182 metro systems accounted for a total an-nual ridership1 of 53,768 million passengers. In the last six years, annual metro ridership grew globally by 8,716 million passengers (+19.5%).Broken down by continent, the ridership growth rate be-tween 2012 and 2017 was the most robust in the MENA

region (+58%), followed by Asia (+28%) and Latin Amer-ica (+20%). North America and Europe recorded a 10% increase, while Eurasia lost 3% of passengers. Closer analysis of North American data reveals that the moderate growth apparent at the regional level hides a contrasting situation, with Canadian metros and New York growing significantly (in a range of 5-46%), while the other 13 metros showing a decrease in passengers.

1 Ridership data are trips, as opposed to boardings

40,0002012

45,05144,264

46,662

48,514

50,790

53,768

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

42,000

44,000

46,000

48,000

50,000

52,000

54,000

9,70

9

1,254

4,98

6

3,34

84,86

6

20,8

87

1,374

5,27

2

3,40

04,96

5

19,6

58

1,650

5,47

9

3,59

74,88

8

21,0

98

1,772

5,59

7

3,69

84,76

8

22,3

18

1,862

5,64

2

3,63

64,73

6

24,4

00

1,990

5,91

4

3,72

74,69

8

26,6

90

9,59

49,

949

10,3

6110

,515

10,74

7

ASIA-PACIFIC EURASIA NORTH AMERICA LATIN AMERICA MENA EUROPE

Ridership 2012-2017

Global ridership evolution (m.)

3

NEW METRO CITIES

Looking at the history of metro development, there has never been such strong development since Asia started to massively invest in metros in the 1970s (see graph next page). There has been a significant surge in the current decade, which is not even finished, largely due to China and India.

Asia is home to no less than seven of the top 10 busiest metros. Compared to the 2015 UITP Metro Statistics Brief, New Delhi joined the Top 10 group, replacing Paris. Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Guangzhou and Mexico moved down in the ranking while Moscow climbed up to number two.

Ridership evolution was also analysed compared to the population in the served urban areas2. Eurasia and Eu-rope are the regions where metro services are most used “per capita”. All other regions are at a comparable level. Metros gained popularity in all regions except in North America (stable) and Eurasia (declined).

2 The latest edition (2017) of the UN DESA World Urbanisation Prospects was used for nearly all the cities with a metro system. As data is provided for years 2005, 2010 and 2015, the average annual population growth rate in these cities was used to calculate the population between these years.

42

ASIA-PACIFIC EURASIA NORTH AMERICA LATIN AMERICA MENA EUROPE

39 39 39

42 4342

93

121

119 117

94 95

46

43 4445

48

Trips per capita 2015-2017

Top 10 busiest Metros (annual ridership in millions)

Evolution of annual trips in metro cities per inhabitant per region (2015-2016-2017).

© Filipe Frazao

1 TOKYO 3,463

2 MOSCOW 2,369

3 SHANGHAI 2,044

4 BEIJING 1,988

5 SEOUL 1,885

6 NEW YORK CITY 1,806

7 NEW DELHI 1,789

8 GUANGZHOU 1,730

9 MEXICO CITY 1,678

10 HONG KONG 1,600

4

INFRASTRUCTURE

As of 31 December 2017, the 182 metro systems3 to-gether made up an installed asset base of 642 lines for a total length of 13,903km and 11,084 stations (see distri-bution per region on map, page one).

1,901km of new infrastructure was put in revenue ser-vice between the start of 2015 and the end of 2017. This includes the new lines that opened in the 19 new metro cities in China, India and Iran (577km), but also new lines in already established metro cities (820km) as well as line extensions (504km).

Total number of metro systems and the location of systems inaugurated each decade (bar).

2,73

0

292

809

1,544

813

7,21

8

1,535

801

6,28

0

1,520

788

5,62

4

1,518

781

5,14

7

1,508

766

4,81

5

2,80

9

318

864

2,83

6

362

872

2,87

2

368

898

2,92

1

464

943

ASIA-PACIFIC EURASIA NORTH AMERICA LATIN AMERICA MENA EUROPE

Total line length evolution (km) per region 2013-2017

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Metro system opening (per decade) 1860-2017

1319

2

5

110

231

8

11

2

33

4

4

3

6

9

1

10

3

31

6

311

13

321

111 222

22

1

111

1860-69

#new

syste

ms p

er d

ecad

e

Cum

ulativ

e # sy

stem

s

1870-79

1880-89

1890-99

1900-09

1910-19

1920-29

1930-39

1940-49

1950-59

1960-69

1970-79

1980-89

1990-99

2000-09

2010-19

Asia-Pacific

MENA

Europe

Latin America

Eurasia

North America

Cumulative # systems

3 A system is a network available to passengers in a specific city / metropolitan area, and not necessarily an operator, as some systems are run by multiple operators.

7

1

5

At the level of individual metros, compared to the situ-ation at the end of 2014, Shenzhen joined the Top 10 of the longest metro systems, replacing Mexico City. Seoul climbed up one position to number three and Guangzhou climbed from number nine to number seven in the rank-

Six more metros have a length exceeding 200km: Sin-gapore (265km), Chongqing (260km), Mexico City (226km), Tehran (221 km), New Delhi (220km), Paris (215km) and Wuhan (204km). New Delhi is likely to en-ter the Top 10 in 2018.

ing. London, Moscow and Madrid all moved down one position.Asia is home to no less than six of the top 10 longest metros.

The 10 longest metro systems at the end of 2017. * indicates cities with multiple operators’ infrastructure aggregated.

Shenzhen Metro entered the Top 10 longest metro networks.

Shanghai

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Beijing

Seoul*

London*

New York*

Tokyo*

Guangzhou

Moscow

Madrid

Shenzhen

Top 10 longest metro systems (km)4

639

590

466

436

401

382

371

348

295

286

© Shenzhen Metro

4 Cities marked by an asterisk in the table are multiple operator systems with aggregated system length values.

6

NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS

The average line length globally is 20km and the aver-age distance between stations is 1.25km. There are sub-stantial variations between the longest and shortest line:

The type of metro infrastructure was further studied and analysed in a sample of 143 out of 182 metros covering 85% of all stations. Stations were clustered according to their design features (underground, at-grade, elevated or in-trench).

Aggregated construction model data shows some varia-tions per region, with underground metro design remain-ing the dominant model in every region.

82.4km (line 11 Shanghai) and 1.8km (line U55 Berlin) respectively. Detailed regional characteristics are de-picted in the chart below.

Distribution of construction models for metro stations, according to world region.

17 km

26 km

17 km

20 km

1,221 1,209

1,361

993

1,508

1,384

18 km

26 km

15

1,000

10

800

5

600

0

400

200

0

20

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

1,200

251,400

30 1,600

Aver

age l

ine l

engt

h (k

m)

Aver

age d

istan

ce b

etwe

en st

ation

s (m

)

ASIA-PACIFIC

ASIA-PACIFIC

EURASIA

EURASIA

NORTH AMERICA

NORTH AMERICA

LATIN AMERICA

LATIN AMERICA

MENA

MENA

EUROPE

EUROPE

Metro network characteristics

Metro construction models per region

97

36146

1,004

395

51

206

46620432

274

195

142

53

39

4492,588

597

4712,122

Underground stations

Elevated stations

At-grade stations

Trench stations

7

ROLLING STOCK

For this report, UITP collected rolling stock data for all metros in the world for the first time. The chosen unit is the “metro carriage (or car)”, as this allows for better comparison than “train” or “vehicle” (a train can be made up of between two and 12 carriages).For 2017, the total operational fleet consisted of over 114,000 carriages (see map on page one for figures per region).

THE RISE OF FAO

In March 2018 the total line length of operational ful-ly automated (FAO) metros reached the milestone of 1,000km with the opening of the Pujiang Line in Shang-hai. Fully automated metros currently represent 7% of the total length of installed metro assets. However mod-est it may seem, it should be kept in mind that fully au-tomated metros (Grade of Automation 45) emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, compared to 150 years of conven-tional metro history.Over the period 2015-17, ten new metro lines designed to run with fully automated operation (FAO/GOA4) entered in service in ten cities, with a total length of 157km. Together with nine line extensions, new GOA4

totals 274km and represents 12% of total of the metro infrastructure installed in 2015-17. If we exclude China, which is only starting FAO metro and is disproportionately affecting the growth figures, new GOA4 metros represent 32% of all new metros opened over the same period.The strong “mainstreaming” of GOA4 metros world-wide will be confirmed in the next years, now that China has resolutely embraced the fully automated metro ap-proach.

GROWTH PROJECTIONS

In the next five years, over 200 new lines (conventional and GOA4) and even more extensions are expected to open in most regions, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the summer of 2018, some 5,400km were reported to be in construction or at testing stages, another 1,700km in design and tender stages. The chart below illustrates the expected cumulative in-frastructure developments over the next five years, as well as the strong mainstreaming of GOA4 metros worldwide. 32 GOA4 lines are to enter revenue service in 16 Chinese cities by 2022.

Predicted evolution of annual metro infrastructure length per year.

Annual metro growth & prognosis (km) 2015-22

2000 60%

150050%

1000

40%

500

30%

02015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

20%

10%

0%542 631 875 1173 1118 1201 889 872

60111

103

126 168

527

658 807

10%

15%

10% 10%13%

31%

56%

48%

GOA4 metros (km)conv. metros (km) Percentage GOA4

5 The automation data reflected in the statistics correspond exclusively to metro lines without staff on board (GOA4 as considered in standard IEC 62267).

Rue Sainte-Marie 6, B-1080 Brussels, Belgium | Tel +32 (0)2 673 61 00 | Fax +32 (0)2 660 10 72 | info@uitp.org | www.uitp.org

This is an official Statistics Brief of UITP, the International Association of Public Transport. UITP has over 1,500 member companies in 96 countries throughout the world and represents the interests of key players in this sector. Its membership includes transport authorities, operators, both private and public, in all modes of collective passenger transport, and the industry. UITP addresses the economic, technical, organisation and management aspects of passenger transport, as well as the development of policy for mobility and public transport worldwide.

© UITP - All rights reserved - Responsible Publisher: Mohamed Mezghani, Rue Sainte Marie 6, B-1080 Brussels, Belgium - Legal deposit: D/2018/0107/10

DIGITAL VERSION AVAIL ABLE ON

Data for the section of this report on fully automated metros was collected by the UITP Observatory of Automated Metros.

DEFINITION AND METHODOLOGY

The data for this document was extracted from a database compiled by UITP using official company data and other authoritative sources (national statistics office, national associations, etc.).

Metros are high capacity urban rail systems, running on an exclusive right-of-way. Metro lines included in the above statistics run with trains composed of a minimum of two cars and with a total capacity of at least 100 passengers per train. Suburban railways are not included and are available in a separate dataset. Systems that are based on light rail vehicles, monorail or magnetic levitation technology are included if they meet all other criteria above. Suspended systems are not included.

Infrastructure predictions are based on scenarios developed from UITP’s rail project database.

This Statistics Brief is based on the full Metro Statistics Report 2018 which includes further details and analysis. The extensive report is available, together with the full dataset, on request from UITP.

SEPTEMBER | 2018

© RATP