Tokyo begins trial to ease congestion during 2020 Games

All this effort for one event that lasts two months at most. Could they not try to make a lot of these ideas more permanent? Telecommuting, staggered work hours and places at work to keep your lunch cool would go a long way to cut down on wasted time and garbage.

The main take away from the 2020 games should be how to be more efficient in a system that needs to be revamped and updated for the 21st century especially in a country like Japan which for all its technology hasn't quite taken advantage of it and lags behind.

 would go a long way to cut down on wasted time and garbage

Wasting time at work is part of Japan's culture, which is why Japanese workers are some of the most inefficient in the developed world. You should be more culturally sensitive. ;-)

Olympics minister Shunichi Suzuki, who usually commutes by official car, took a subway Monday to the Cabinet Office.

"The train was empty and I felt comfortable," Suzuki told reporters after arriving at his office at 11:30 a.m. under the staggered working hour system. "We can't tell people not to use cars if government officials use official cars" for commuting, the minister added.

Gimmie a break! This had to be staged!

If people are teleworking, how do we know they aren't wasting enough time waiting for their boss to leave?

Olympics minister Suzuki usually commutes by official car - want to know why our children get asthma..

Of course it is staged.

Getting to the office at 11am?

Just for the local government employees, but what of the other millions of private workers?

Having several thousand staff turn up later in the morning will have little effect.

And I can’t really see Shunichi getting the train in August with scorching temps and 100% humidity -it would mean he’d have take his jacket and tie off!

They introduced this staggered working hours a few years ago and it had as much impact as Premium Friday. Zero impact! This joker in the article arrived at work at 11:30am (lunch time) and being a politician he would have walked out of work at 6pm. Most people are working 10-16 hours a day and cannot 'stagger' their starting times. This joker needs to get on a train at 7:30-9:00am and experience the real transit crush. This is the time when most of the Olympic spectators and athletes will be joining the crush, not at lunch time!

The main take away from the 2020 games should be how to be more efficient in a system that needs to be revamped and updated for the 21st century especially in a country like Japan which for all its technology hasn't quite taken advantage of it and lags behind.

My wife gets fed up with me banging on about this. Needs some good old fashioned Time and Motion Studies along with using modern technology. May find there is not such a big labour shortage after all.

Olympics minister Shunichi Suzuki, who usually commutes by official car, took a subway Monday to the Cabinet Office.

"The train was empty and I felt comfortable," Suzuki told reporters after arriving at his office at 11:30 a.m. under the staggered working hour system.

iine, work starting at 11:30. If YOU arrive at the office at 11:30 that is WAY past rush hour. Let him ride a train between 6:30 and 8 am.

Suzuki you moron, you need to try arriving at 0830am to have a hope in hell to see what might transpire!!

These games are going to cause mayhem for locals near venues etc

And getting around Tokyo is going to be extremely painful for many not fortunate enough to be able to somehow avoid the nonsense that will ensue next summer

remind me again why this country wanted the olympics.... hotels, taxis and train companies will love it, but for us who live here we have higher taxes, higher prices and the government telling us not to go to Tokyo. All for a sporting event that will be forgotten the day after its over. smh

How gullible does he think people are?? Empty??? Comfortable?? He must have taken the very first train in the morning.

First train in the AM and he only gets there at 11:30? Just how far away do you think he lives, not to mention no one else getting on or off either, all the way to Kasumigaseki?

How gullible are you to think he left "first thing in the am"?

He gets chauffeured around and has no idea the difference between "crowded" and "empty"

This was all a PR ploy to push the agenda for the Olympics!

Yubaru, please excuse my sarcasm in my last post. No offense or ignorance intended. My post was kind of an extension to your post. As ride my bicycle or jog to work I could only think of AM being less crowded.

The train thing is a joke, but letting people work from home is great!

they should also restrict private car traffic in tokyo and double up bike lanes., or just ban all private vehicles in one clean cut.. , less traffic + cleaner air

Imagine if they did this not just for the Games, but to ease congestion in general. Too much to ask? Why does it always take international reputation for Japan to act?

Olympics minister Shunichi Suzuki, who usually commutes by official car, took a subway Monday to the Cabinet Office.

"The train was empty and I felt comfortable," Suzuki told reporters after arriving at his office at 11:30 a.m. under the staggered working hour system.

Tomorrow, Suzuki will return to his normal routine of arriving at his office by official car at 11:30 a.m., just in time for lunch.

Hilarious, should have been doing this for the last 2 decades, but you’re not working unless you are at your desk. Plus, bring this policy to where it’s really needed. Naha. Slowest traffic in Japan.

Too bad, only a four day trial. Give it at least a week or two. Or a month. Or the whole year

Olympics minister Shunichi Suzuki, who usually commutes by official car, took a subway Monday to the Cabinet Office.

"The train was empty and I felt comfortable," Suzuki told reporters after arriving at his office at 11:30 a.m. under the staggered working hour system. "We can't tell people not to use cars if government officials use official cars" for commuting, the minister added.

How gullible does he think people are?? Empty??? Comfortable?? He must have taken the very first train in the morning.

Most government offices are full of boxes and stacks of paper. Get rid of the chop/inken/hanko and computerize everything and allow digital signatures. Then they can really let people work from home.

The train was empty and I felt comfortable," Suzuki told reporters after arriving at his office at 11:30 a.m. under the staggered working hour system. 

And exactly how many companies are actually going to allow this?

urge its officials to avoid the use of public transportation during peak commuting hours between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Its the only chance for many to go to the bank, dentist, zoo with their family, etc. I doubt they’ll patiently become hikikomori!

Alex Einz: "or just ban all private vehicles in one clean cut.. , less traffic + cleaner air"

Yeah, but the problem is congestion on trains and subways with the commute. Cutting all private vehicles would aggravate that further -- not that I don't agree it would make things cleaner and would result in less traffic on the streets.

Select one or two staffs from each department and lead other staffs under their supervisor.

These one or two staffs of each department will come to office everyday where other staffs of each department will work at home.

Provide all staffs a laptop or data disk so that they can work at home.

May provide web camera to work under skype or business meetings hub

It may rotation if they wants to shift other staffs

Have business meeting after evening or night near some convenient points.

At night if any workers wants to work to complete assignment they may come to office

Lets have a practice

We've decided to scale back to maintenance and emergency only,

Are r you the owner?

*Aren't

When the Olympics came to my metro area, most people telecommuted the entire time.

I happen to be very new at the time (2 week employee), so going into work was needed. I lived about 2 miles from work, normal commute was 20 minutes. Basically, there was zero traffic for my commute, but I wasn't anywhere near any sports. Commute during Olympics was less than 5 minutes.

We've decided to scale back to maintenance and emergency only, to downsize our necessary staffing for the period. Some people will work from home, and we're giving a few discrentionary days off, to be spread out (ensuring someone is in the office), combined with some work-from-home options where possible.

It's a bit of a headache, but actually I don't mind because I'm pretty excited for the Olympics. I've never been anywhere when an Olympics was on before.

Trial ? 2020 is next year, and Tokyo just begins a trial ?