Transportation / Mobility

November 7, 2007

 

'Smart Car Use' Project in Kyoto Increases Train Commuters, Reduces Cars

Keywords: Local government Transportation / Mobility 

The Kyoto prefectural government has confirmed that a trend of more commuters using the train and walking instead of driving in cars continued in 2006, according to the monitoring results of its Smart Car Use Project, which was first launched in 2005. A "mobility management" strategy, it promotes more effective commuter behavior through communicating with local residents and providing them with public transport options.

This idea was first carried out as a pilot project in the city of Uji from September 12 to 16, 2005. Kyoto Prefecture distributed information to citizens that reviewed the available means of transportation for commuting while also distributing a survey.

The 3,000 people responding to the first survey were commuters that work in Uji's city center. After the project distributed the commuter information, according to survey results, the number of morning train users grew by 29 percent (the number of people getting off at the JR Uji, Keihan Uji, and Kintetsu Okubo stations without commuter tickets increased from 1,104 to 1,423). It was also found that morning commuter car traffic traveling into the business district decreased, while the number of pedestrian commuters increased. As an example, at the Uji-Ichiban intersection between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning, northbound car traffic diminished by 25 percent (from 665 to 500 cars), while the number of pedestrians traveling in the north-south direction increased from 214 to 290, up by 36 percent.

In 2006, Kyoto stepped-up its activities to promote and educate people on "the smart use of cars" at seminars held for safe-driving administrators by police 40 times a year, which reached 6,000 people. Workshops were also given to local women's organizations and elementary school children. The Kyoto government will be analyzing its latest survey for use in implementing new measures starting in fiscal 2008.



Posted: 2007/11/07 03:22:39 PM
Japanese version

 

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