The Land of the Rising Sun is already anticipating a great surge of tourists and sports enthusiasts during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games particularly in Tokyo and other major cities which will serve as venue of said international sports event.
There are several factors that the Japanese government, in cooperation with the Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee, have to deal with. Some of these include the possible shortage of accommodation, concerns related to food and service industry as well as traffic congestion, among others. Each day, there are approximately eight million commuters within Tokyo area alone while the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic events is expected to attract more than six hundred thousand foreign tourists.
In order to address traffic issues, both the national and local governments of Japan work hand in hand with private commercial establishments in Tokyo to begin a trial phase that will help control traffic problems and railway congestion during the course of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
They intend to implement the use of telecommuting and staggered working hour to minimize the number of commuters on the road. To encourage off peak commuting, the Japanese government also seeks to restrict traffic on expressways and offer train services during early morning hours.
Last July 22, 2019, the said trial phase which will continue to run until September 6, 2019, has already begun. It is an opportune time for the metropolitan government of Tokyo to conduct an evaluation to find out if the said measures can effectively address the possible traffic concerns next year.
In response to these government policy, railway companies in Tokyo such as East Japan Railway Co and Tokyo Metro Co., among others, operated extra train service early Monday morning. One of the Olympics minister, Shunichi Suzuki who usually takes his car to the Cabinet Office decided to take a subway instead to serve as a role model to the ordinary commuting public. According to him, “The train was empty and I felt comfortable. We can’t tell people not to use cars if government officials use official cars for commuting.”
Reference: Tokyo begins trial to ease congestion during 2020 Games
