is a
transportation company in
Kōchi, Kōchi, Japan. The public company operates
tram and bus lines.
The company was established on October 1, 2014, by merging the businesses of , a tram and bus company, as well as its subsidiary , a bus company, and , a bus company.
History
Tosa Electric Railway was founded on July 8, 1903, and the tram line was opened on May 2, 1904. The company also operated a
heavy rail
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
Rapid transit
A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid accelerati ...
way line called , but it was closed in 1974. The company was commonly known as among locals, while people in other prefectures tend to call it , as the word ''Toden'' can be confusing with
Tokyo Metropolitan Tramway, which was commonly called .
Tosa Electric Railway and Kōchiken Kōtsū introduced
DESUCA, a
smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...
ticket system, from January 2009.
In June 2014, the shareholders of Tosa Electric Railway and Kōchiken Kōtsū, both in the state of insolvency, approved the reconstruction plan, under which the companies' businesses be transferred to the newly established company funded by
Kōchi Prefecture and other 12 municipalities. The name of the company was selected from 1,235 proposals from the public.
Tram lines
There are three lines with 76 stations, covering a total distance of 25.3 km. It is the second longest tram network in Japan, after
Hiroshima Electric Railway. The network in Kōchi, however, has suffered from declining ridership since the 1960s. In an attempt to reverse this trend, the company has tried introducing newly built stations and cars, but has not seen much success. The Government of Kōchi Prefecture, as well as that of Kōchi City are considering plans to support the company.
Lines
*
Sanbashi Line: Kōchi-Ekimae — Harimayabashi — Sambashidōri-Gochōme
*
Ino Line: Harimayabashi — Ino
**Most tramcars directly continue to Gomen Line.
*
Gomen Line: Harimayabashi — Gomenmachi
**Most tramcars directly continue to Ino Line.
Connections
*
Asahi-Ekimaedōri Station:
JR Shikoku Dosan Line (
Asahi)
*
Asakura-Ekimae Station
is a tram station in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of J ...
: Dosan Line (
Asakura)
*
Edagawa Station: Dosan Line
*
Gomenmachi Station
270px, Tosa Kuroshio Railway Gomenmachi Station
is a train and tram station located in the same vicinity in the city of Nankoku, Japan. The train station is operated by the third-sector Tosa Kuroshio Railway with the station number "GN39". T ...
:
Tosa Kuroshio Railway Asa Line
*
Ino-Ekimae Station: Dosan Line (
Ino
Ino or INO may refer to:
Arts and music
*I-No, a character in the ''Guilty Gear'' series of video games
*Ino (Greek mythology), a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology
*INO Records, an American Christian music label
*Ino Yamanaka, a character in th ...
)
*
Kōchi-Ekimae Station: Dosan Line (
Kōchi
Kochi is a city in Kerala, India.
Kochi or Kōchi may also refer to:
People
* Kochi people, a predominantly Pashtun nomadic people of Afghanistan
* , a Japanese surname:
** Arata Kochi (born 1948 or 1949), Japanese physician and World Health Org ...
)
Bus lines
The company operates long-distance buses linking Kōchi City and major cities of Japan, including Tokyo,
Nagoya,
Osaka,
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
, and
Fukuoka. It also operates a local network in/around the city.
See also
*
List of light-rail transit systems
The following is a list of cities that have current tram/streetcar (including heritage trams/heritage streetcars), or light rail systems as part of their regular public transit systems. In other words, this list only includes systems which ...
*
Little Dancer
The Little Dancer is a low-floor tram brand built by Alna Sharyo, a Japanese manufacturer of trams and light rail vehicles.
Overview
The name "Little Dancer" was chosen by Alna Sharyo for two reasons, firstly to evoke an image of a lively dan ...
, one of the LRVs operated on its lines
References
External links
Official website
Official website
Bus companies of Japan
Tram transport in Japan
Companies based in Kōchi Prefecture
{{Bus-company-stub