Dawn of the Metro Systems

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First published: Sunday July 4th, 2021

As more people are moving into cities than ever before, the influx in Urban centres have made the Metro systems and Subways a necessity for heavy capacity mass transportation across the world. This graph shows how many cities have opted for a heavy Capacity Mass Rapid Transit systems since 1863.

Source: Wikipedia

Only the first system has been counted for cities with multiple networks (eg: Tokyo is served by Toei Metro, Tokyo Subway and the Rinkai line)

Excludes medium capacity Rapid Transit and Light Railways

Special thanks to Abby and IAB

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Year Opened	Number of cities with a Metro
1863	1
1895	2
1896	3
1896	4
1900	5
1901	6
1902	7
1904	8
1904	9
1907	10
1912	11
1913	12
1919	13
1924	14
1927	15
1933	16
1935	17
1950	18
1954	19
1955	20
1955	21
1955	22
1957	23
1959	24
1960	25
1960	26
1964	27
1966	28
1966	29
1966	30
1967	31
1968	32
1969	33
1971	34
1971	35
1971	36
1972	37
1972	38
1972	39
1973	40
1974	41
1974	42
1974	43
1975	44
1975	45
1976	46
1976	47
1976	48
1977	49
1977	50
1977	51
1977	52
1978	53
1979	54
1979	55
1979	56
1979	57
1981	58
1981	59
1981	60
1982	61
1983	62
1983	63
1983	64
1984	65
1984	66
1984	67
1984	68
1984	69
1985	70
1985	71
1985	72
1985	73
1985	74
1986	75
1986	76
1987	77
1987	78
1987	79
1987	80
1987	81
1989	82
1990	83
1991	84
1991	85
1993	86
1993	87
1993	88
1993	89
1994	90
1995	91
1995	92
1995	93
1995	94
1996	95
1996	96
1996	97
1997	98
1997	99
1997	100
1998	101
1999	102
1999	103
1999	104
2000	105
2000	106
2001	107
2002	108
2002	109
2002	110
2002	111
2003	112
2004	113
2004	114
2004	115
2004	116
2004	117
2005	118
2005	119
2005	120
2006	121
2006	122
2008	123
2008	124
2009	125
2009	126
2009	127
2010	128
2010	129
2010	130
2011	131
2011	132
2011	133
2011	134
2011	135
2011	136
2011	137
2012	138
2012	139
2012	140
2013	141
2013	142
2013	143
2014	144
2014	145
2014	146
2014	147
2014	148
2014	149
2014	150
2015	151
2015	152
2015	153
2015	154
2015	155
2015	156
2016	157
2016	158
2016	159
2016	160
2017	161
2017	162
2017	163
2017	164
2017	165
2017	166
2017	167
2018	168
2019	169
2019	170
2019	171
2019	172
2019	173
2019	174
2019	175
2019	176
2019	177
2019	178
2019	179
2019	180
2020	181
2020	182
2020	183
2021	184
2021	185
2021	186

4 Comments

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Level 68

Jul 4, 2021

Cool! Seems there was a rapid rise from 1970 and then it never stopped

Level 60

Jul 4, 2021

Yup, new cities started building more metros around 1970s and peaked at the start of the 21st century. But it has considerably decreased now with only China and India building more of the new metros

Thanks

I'm glad you liked it

Level 71

Jul 5, 2021

Cool map! I'd love to see a map like this for just Asia as well, since it looks like growth has exploded in the past 20 years, especially in China and India. I also know that Bangladesh is opening up its first one pretty soon, and (according to the source) it seems that Vietnam will as well.

Level 51

Sep 19, 2021

In one 32 years, only one new city got a metro, but in another 32 years, 103 new cities got a metro... wow!