Tokyo holds test to ease highway traffic during Olympics

Toyota Motor Corp. said it will allow 1,600 of its Tokyo-based employees to telecommute during the Summer Games. Office equipment maker Ricoh Co. has said it will close its headquarters in the capital during the period.

SO? The average person does not work for either of these companies! I would also make a bet that the Ricoh employees are going to have to pay for it somewhere down the line as well!

The number of lanes at 11 major tollgates on the Metropolitan Expressway and other highways linked to it will be reduced, while green traffic signals will be of shorter duration at about 120 places on one of the major ring roads for half a day.

I would hate to be a driver on the "other side" of those tollgates when they close! The congestion is going to be a nightmare. I'll bet the media plays it's part and doesnt report about all the bitching and moaning that will be going on as well!

EVERYONE will be putting on a "happy-face" to support Dear Leader for the Olympics!

Oh wonderful(not) Less expressway entrances? Already you have to travel several kilometers out of your way just to fine one. Many times entrances and exits are even not in the same place.

It would have been better to find a way to accommodate 30% more traffic, not less. Such as strictly observing no parking/no stopping restrictions on roads, timing traffic lights for throughput, placing more police at intersections, increasing speed limits where it can be done safely, ticketing anyone who lines up in the roadways for access to full parking lots, etc.   Instead they choose to throttle.

This is sheer idiocy, lets hope the media PROPERLY reports the likely chaos today, hell I have to go to something in Shinagawa around 1600, sure hope these closures don't screw my plans up too badly, will be leaning heavily on Navi-chan today!

Why on earth would they close gates on toll booths SURELY that in itself will GUARANTEE traffic jams...….I just cant wrap my head around this so called "logic".

I GET traffic will be nuts next year, the only sensible thing to do, although people will be steamed, is jack up highway tolls. I would go so far as to say ALL day long, there will be a LOT of 2020 traffic after midnight to & from venues because they sure as hell cant do many deliveries during the day!

They are just moving the traffic jams around. Limiting access to the highways will create huge problems for local roads. Changing the length of time a light stays green will result in more traffic delays and possibly even deaths as more people will run the red lights. Commuting is already a nightmare in Tokyo. These planned changes are only going to make it worse. This was another lie from Abe's Olympic bid. The only way around the transit congestion is to stagger the times of the events to avoid the peak hours, but no! They expect 20 million commuters to turn their lives upside down just for the Olympics. I'm so glad I'll be on school vacation and won't have to go anywhere near Tokyo during the month of hell.

a lot of cost and effort going into a ridiculous even that means nothing, lining the coffers of hotels, taxis and politicians with no benefit to us whatsoever.

I hope the olympics is a complete disaster for them.

Too late now, idiots. Maybe you should have factored that in BEFORE paying your bribes for the Olympic bid.

What a bunch of whiners we have here. Toyota and RIcoh are NOT the only companies taking this opportunity to implement more flexible work arrangements. Every Olympics there's all this news about how nothings ready, it's all going to be a disaster, and then,... it happens, it passes, and life goes on.

If you want to go forward with the Olympics, let all nations pay an agreed upon percentage (for those that participate), let it cycle through a range of continents/countries, and monies paid into it can support the costs, along with sponsorship deals.

Major railway and subway operators in the metropolitan area plan to extend operating hours during the games

Salarymen rejoice, you can avoid your wife's cold indifference even longer.

They should have done that before bidding to have the Olympics in Tokyo.

It was chaotic this afternoon in Yokohama. An obvious non-driving oyajii gave the order and they totally blocked, not restricted, 4 consecutive entrances to the expressway, so no-one could get on it, leading to a mass of cars suddenly turning around, reversing, changing lanes and trying to go to Haneda or Tokyo by local roads.

And that was at a quiet time!

From the reports, the article should be changed to Tokyo Holds Test To Create Highway Traffic Prior To The Olympics.

Update, for me I got into Tokyo, Shinagawa area ok around 1600, but when I was finished doing my job I couldn't get onto the highway where I wanted & it took about 90minutes to go about 3km to the next one......not fun.

If they close many more during 2020 it will likely be INSANE on local roads, even if many stay home!

Yeah so let’s “practice” inconveniencing people for no reason. So that when it happens again people are already used to it. Great.

@GW, That's exactly what I was thinking would happen. Back home in The States it seems like there is the opposite problem. Too many freeway entrances, but it is convenient. Is it because of the toll gates or do they think more entrances cause more congestion?

The Tomei from Yokohama onwards is a nightmare on a good day.... I don't even want to think about the chaos closing gates would bring.

When you have basically 2 lane highways for much of the way in Tokyo, there's almost nothing you can do to eliminate congestion. It's congested now - reducing exits/entrances won't make much of a dent.

Highway system was designed for a third of the cars that use it today. And with little or no improvement made since somehow Japan manages to spend more than the USA on roads, might be a problem somewhere.?

Does anyone know what the average caregiving job pays in Japan?

Zichi,

You might be right about Los Angeles,but that is only because the drivers in Tokyo either are now too old to drive or are too poor to buy a car.