The Yomiuri Shimbun – March 14, 2016 – Steps are under way to deal with worsening traffic jams in popular tourist destinations in Tokyo, such as Asakusa and the shopping districts of Ginza and Shinjuku, caused by large tourist buses catering to the increase in foreign visitors to this country.
On each side of the Nitenmon-dori street, which runs along the east side of Asakusa’s Sensoji temple and boasts several tourist destinations, 150 to 200 tourist buses per day line up bumper-to-bumper picking up or dropping off passengers. The buses often jut out into the opposite lane, leaving barely enough room for other vehicles to pass.
Nearby are a park and a primary school. A 46-year-old female company employee, whose daughter is a fifth-grade student, grimaced and said, “When we cross the street between the buses, we get taken by surprise by passing cars because we can’t see them coming.”
The Yomiuri Shimbun
According to the Taito Ward government, the number of buses visiting Asakusa has increased every year, from a daily average of 192 in 2014 to 208 in 2015. That figure is expected to grow to 275 by 2020, when the Olympic Games and Paralympics are held in Tokyo.
To deal with the traffic congestion, the ward government will implement an advance registration system for bus platforms and parking lots near Sensoji temple from next month. The ward is considering setting up additional facilities in anticipation of an increase in tourist buses, with one official saying, “We want to allot and manage the number of vehicles and time slots.”
Lack of parking spots
In their search for parking spots, tourist buses make a circuit in the vicinity of Ginza’s Chuo-dori street, which is lined with luxury-brand and duty-free stores and is a major hub for shopping sprees by foreign visitors. Some buses park diagonally, their rear ends jutting out into the neighboring lane.
The Chuo Ward government will set up new parking spaces to coincide with the development of a multicomplex building under construction at the former site of the Matsuzakaya Ginza department store that is scheduled to be completed by the end of January next year. “Putting the buses in one spot should make things better,” a ward official said.
The central government is also taking countermeasures. With the aim of alleviating traffic congestion caused by the buses, a campaign calling for “better parking manners” was conducted from Feb. 4 to 13 by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry’s Kanto District Transport Bureau, the Metropolitan Police Department and other entities. The campaign passed out flyers to bus drivers on the Chuo-dori street, urging them to use parking lots.
However, the reality is that there are no convenient parking lots nearby. Information about the location of parking lots is printed on the reverse side of the flyers, but only 30 of these parking spots can be used near Ginza.
In Shinjuku Ward, the most popular destination among foreign tourists in Tokyo, more than 100 tourist buses can be seen in the vicinity of the big duty-free shops even in the morning, but parking for these buses is limited to only eight spots at the metropolitan government building.
In Chiyoda Ward, home to the bustling Akihabara electric town, there are parking lots with 140 spots for buses in the vicinity of the Imperial Palace and in the Kudan district, but all of them are under the jurisdiction of the Environment Ministry and are limited to those visiting the Imperial Palace and nearby park, not for people going on shopping sprees.
A transport ministry official said: “The administration should respond urgently to the large increase in the number of buses. We have no choice but to review how to use the existing parking lots more effectively.”
“Nobody imagined large tourist buses would be used for shopping in central Tokyo, leading to a battle for parking spaces,” said Toyo University Prof. Hideki Furuya, a tourism traffic planning specialist. “We should make better use of land by allotting spaces for parking and to pick up and drop off passengers, but this would involve a number of wards, so cooperation is essential. The central and metropolitan governments need to take an active role in considering countermeasures.”