EXCLUSIVE: Tokyo to Test Traffic Control Campaign before 2020 Olympics

Tokyo, Jan. 30 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo metropolitan government is discussing plans to launch a campaign in summer this year to test measures aimed at controlling traffic volumes in the Japanese capital and prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Jiji Press learned Wednesday. Tokyo plans to set a period for the metropolitan government and companies to make voluntary efforts to reduce traffic volumes, informed sources said. After studying the effectiveness of the campaign, the metropolitan government will accelerate its preparations for the 2020 Games. Specifically, the metropolitan government plans to ask companies headquartered in Tokyo to use teleworking, utilize staggered working hours, refrain from using company-owned vehicles and improve logistics efficiency. Details such as the area to be covered by the campaign and the traffic volume survey regions will be decided from now. Dubbing the campaign "smooth biz," the metropolitan government aims for measures to ease traffic jams and work style reform to be a legacy of the 2020 Games, the sources said. The number of companies that have announced intentions to cooperate on curbing traffic volumes during the quadrennial events has topped 400. The metropolitan government plans to seek participation by more companies, mainly through the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren. The Tokyo government is set to compile by the end of March its action plan as a reference for the programs of participating companies for reducing traffic volumes in the capital. It has set a target of reducing traffic volumes on weekdays by 15 pct during the Tokyo Games, hoping to avoid traffic jams while maintaining economic activities without the use of coercive measures. END