Japan ministry stops referring to newspapers, magazines to show train congestion levels

TOKYO — Onboard congestion rates are no longer indicated by whether or not train passengers can read newspapers or weekly magazines, as less people nowadays hold newspapers and other magazines open to read them on the go.

The change in the habits of train passengers has prompted the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to revise the guidelines to better reflect current conditions.

According to the MLIT, the standard for portraying train congestion levels with diagrams and texts for easy understanding have been in use since at least 2001. Previously, a 150% congestion rate is defined as having “enough space to comfortably read a newspaper,” 180% as “possible to read a newspaper if one tries hard, for example by folding it,” and 200% as “enough contact between bodies to feel significant pressure, but one can still manage to read a magazine.” These criteria were displayed on the official MLIT website.

But with the widespread use of smartphones in recent years, much fewer people are reading paper editions of newspapers and magazines on trains. The new expressions describe a 150% congestion rate as “no shoulder-to-shoulder contact; increased crowding near doors,” and 180% as “feel shoulder-to-shoulder contact with some pressure; crowding near the doors causes difficulty in changing body position.”

The transport ministry consulted with railway operators and experts to come up with new expressions. They apparently considered using smartphones as a reference, but decided against it due to some concerns about whether it is appropriate to use smartphones on crowded trains.

The ministry aims to limit the average congestion rate during peak hours in the greater Tokyo area to 150%, as overcrowded trains in urban areas have become a social issue. The actual average congestion rate has continued to fall, from 221% in 1975 to 107% in 2020, during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and rose back to 136% in 2023.

(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Harada, Tokyo City News Department)