The Toei Bus (都営バス, Toei Basu?) is a bus service operated by the Bus Service Division, the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (東京都交通局, Tōkyō-to Kōtsū-kyoku?). It is also called To Bus (都バス, To Basu?).
The bureau mainly operates bus routes in the special wards of Tokyo, as well as those in the city of Ōme in the western Tama Area. It creates a virtual monopoly of bus routes in the central Tokyo (the area roughly within Yamanote Line loop), while those in other parts of Tokyo Metropolis and the Greater Tokyo Area are operated by many different companies. TMBT also operates a few other bus services, such as chartered bus, school bus, and community bus. Tokyo is one of the only two Japanese prefectures that directly operate bus routes, the other being Nagasaki Ken-ei Bus by the Transportation Bureau of Nagasaki Prefecture.
As of April 2006, there are 138 routes with the total length of 1,103 km (685 mi). If the sections shared by multiple routes are counted once, the length is 779 km (484 mi). 1,467 bus vehicles serve 1,639 bus stops.
Toei Bus has an official mascot called Minkuru (みんくる?), a bug-like personification of a bus vehicle.
Read more about Toei Bus: History, Bus Depots, List of Regular Routes, Vehicles, Fares, See Also
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