Can Tokyo's efficient rail system handle Olympic strain?

[bill937ca]

Can Tokyo's efficient rail system handle Olympic strain?

Organizers to try apps, signs, boats and bots but experts predict chaos

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/08/18/national/can-tokyos-efficient-rail-system-handle-olympic-strain/

 

First, fans planning to attend the Tokyo Olympics will have to find scarce tickets and pay the price. Then there’s the quandary of landing a hotel room with rates that are being inflated due to unprecedented demand. And the summer heat and humidity will be off-putting for some.

 

Then there’s one more hurdle: getting around, or even finding a tiny space to stand on Tokyo’s famously efficient but over-stressed rail system.

 

Professor Azuma Taguchi at Chuo University has researched Tokyo’s system for years and says it’s already running at double its capacity and the Olympic crunch could push it to the breaking point.

Edited August 18, 2019 by railsquid
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[railsquid]

Quote

An officer monitors the flow of public transportation in front of a screen showing Tokyo's web of train lines at the Metropolitan Police Department's traffic control center in July.

 

Cough cough Japan Times, that display is the Tokyo road network. 

 

Personally I plan to be in a different hemisphere while my tax money is being incinerated the Olympic Games are taking place, if only to escape being bombarded about the daily numbers of heat stroke casualties.

[katoftw]

Yes I have seen a few comments about traveling while the Olympics are on.  I believe it will be the first time the most workers from Tokyo actually take their annual leave.

 

I have a mate in Tokyo whom is a ALT.  There is discussion about pausing classes for a week just in an attempt to dodge the craziness.

[chadbag]

While on the Keiyo line this past week, checking out the new Aquatic Center they are building for the Olympics, I thought about how crowded it was going to be for the Olympics.   The Keiyo line sucks in the sense that you have to walk about 300 miles from the main part of Tokyo Station to get to it, going down about 100 levels.  Then the platforms are not overly large and crowd accommodating , and at rush hour the trains are really packed.   Plus all the people going to Disney ride that line as well.  

 

Good luck 

[Kiha66]

In Los Angeles during the 1984 games similar insane traffic was predicted and everyone braced for the end of times.  However all the people avoiding the area out of fear of traffic actually caused the opposite to occur, with mostly unclogged freeways as locals headed out of town or tried to stay home.  This happened again when a bridge was to be demolished leading to a major pass being closed for the weekend and months of worry about the impending "carmageddon", only for everyone to stay home and the crisis to be averted.   Hopefully something similar will happen with the Tokyo games as regular commuters may try to take time off rather than brave the expected hoards of people, leading to a much less stressed system than expected.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Kiha66

[railsquid]

2 hours ago, katoftw said:

Yes I have seen a few comments about traveling while the Olympics are on.  I believe it will be the first time the most workers from Tokyo actually take their annual leave.

 

 

July 24th - August 9th:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Summer_Olympics#Calendar

 

The main O-Bon holiday week in 2020 will be the week after that.

[Kamome]

The same apocalyptic hypothesis was banded around in London before 2012.

 

Its probably strategic anxiety to try and cut down on regular users. I remember using the tube during the London Olympics and it’s the quietest I’d ever seen it.

[bikkuri bahn]

Typical Japan Times hyperbole- always take their reports with a heaping hand of salt.  By the way, the picture caption is wrong, the MPD monitor is of Tokyo's road and expressway system (you can barely see one of the lines labeled as "Kannana Dori"- one of the major peripheral roads in Tokyo).  The police are responsible for monitoring the roads obviously, and the railways are responsible for their own lines- you wouldn't expect the police to know anything about traffic control on railways- it is out of their league.

Edited August 23, 2019 by bikkuri bahn

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, bikkuri bahn said:

Typical Japan Times hyperbole- always take their reports with a heaping hand of salt.  By the way, the picture caption is wrong, the MPD monitor is of Tokyo's road and expressway system (you can barely see one of the lines labeled as "Kannana Dori"- one of the major peripheral roads in Tokyo).  The police are responsible for monitoring the roads obviously, and the railways are responsible for their own lines- you wouldn't expect the police to know anything about traffic control on railways- it is out of their league.

 

Beat you to it 😉

 

On 8/18/2019 at 11:38 PM, railsquid said:

 

Cough cough Japan Times, that display is the Tokyo road network.