Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation

Apart from its own logo, a stylized ginkgo leaf used as the symbol of the Tokyo Metropolis, Toei Subway shares a design language in common with Tokyo Metro. Lines are indicated by a letter in Futura Bold on a white background inside a roundel in the line color, with signs indicating stations adding the station number as well. Line colors and letter-designations are complementary with Tokyo Metro's, with none overlapping (e.g., the Mita Line's letter-designation is “I”, rather than “M”, which is used by the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line). Informational signage is also designed identically, with platform-level station placards differing only in the placement of the bands in the line color: Toei Subway has two thin bands at the top and bottom, while Tokyo Metro has one wider band at the bottom (or, in the case of long, narrow placards, in a continuous band extending to the left and right along the wall itself).

The Toei Subway is made up of four lines operating on 109.0 kilometers (67.7 mi) of route.[1]

Line color	Mark	Line	Japanese	Route	Stations[1]	Length[1]	Train Length	Opened	Gauge[1]	Current supply[1]
Rose		Asakusa Line	浅草線	Nishi-Magome to Oshiage	20	18.3 km	8 cars	1960	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)	1500 VDC, overhead supply
Blue		Mita Line	三田線	Meguro to Nishi-Takashimadaira	27	26.5 km	6 cars (to be expanded to 8 cars)	1968	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Leaf		Shinjuku Line	新宿線	Shinjuku to Moto-Yawata	21	23.5 km	8 or 10 cars	1978	1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)
Ruby		Ōedo Line	大江戸線	Hikarigaoka to Tochōmae via Tochōmae, Roppongi and Ryogoku	38	40.7 km	8 cars	1991	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Total					106	109.0 km

Two of the lines have different colors for their station signs: Asakusa (Vermilion A) and Shinjuku (Lime S). The Ōedo Line formerly had a darker magenta (O) as its designated color.

The different gauges of the Toei lines arose in part due to the need to accommodate through services with private suburban railway lines. Through services currently in regular operation include:

• Mita Line shares tracks of the section from Meguro to Shirokane-Takanawa with Tokyo Metro Namboku Line, 2.3 km.

According to the company, an average of 2.34 million people used the company's four subway routes each day in 2008. The company made a profit of ¥12.2 billion in 2009.[2]

There are a total of 99 unique stations (i.e., counting stations served by multiple lines only once) on the Toei Subway network, or 106 total stations if each station on each line counts as one station.[1] Almost all stations are located within the 23 special wards, with many located in areas not served by the complementary Tokyo Metro network.

Tokyo City purchased the Tokyo Railway Company, a streetcar operator, in 1911, and placed its lines under the authority of the Tokyo Municipal Electric Bureau (東京市電気局, Tokyo-shi Denki Kyoku). The TMEB began bus service in 1924 as an emergency measure after the Great Kantō earthquake knocked out streetcar service in the city. (The TMEB was also responsible for providing electric power to Tokyo, but this service was privatized in 1942 as Tokyo Electric).

In 1942, the Japanese government forced a number of private transit businesses in Tokyo to merge into the TMEB. These included the bus lines of the Tokyo Underground Railway (whose Ginza Line remained independent), the Keio Electric Railway and the Tokyu Corporation, as well as the Oji Electric Tramway (operator of the Arakawa Line) and several smaller bus companies.

In 1943, Tokyo City was abolished and the TMEB's operations were transferred to the new TMBT.

TMBT operated electric trolley buses between 1952 and 1968 on four routes:

• Route 101: Imai - Kameido - Oshiage - Asakusa - Ueno
• Route 102: Ikebukuro - Shibuya - Naka-meguro - Gotanda - Shinagawa
• Route 103: Ikebukuro - Oji - San'ya - Kameido
• Route 104: Ikebukuro - Oji - Asakusa

The trolley buses were short-lived, however, mostly owing to their vulnerability to weather: rain caused problems with the overhead power supply, and snow required tire chains to be installed on vehicles in order to maintain traction.