Rugby World Cup host Oita hopes to tackle transportation woes

Among the 12 hosts at this 12 months’ Rugby World Cup, Oita will host 5 matches at a venue located in a far-flung part of a southwestern Japanese city, a scenario that has left local delivery operators and the prefectural government scrambling with their arrangements beforehand of rugby’s showcase event.

While Tokyo and Yokohama, a port metropolis near the Japanese capital, to host the finals and semifinals, and have venues within walking distance from the nearest train stations, Oita Stadium is located nearly nine kilometers from its principal station, requiring at least a 20-minute drive. The town will welcome rugby powerhouses, inclusive of Australia and defending champions New Zealand, while it degrees quarterfinals and three pool stages in the course of the tournament, which runs between Sept. 20 and Nov. 2.

Oita Prefecture, which has its airport that connects the metropolis in Japan’s southern mainland of Kyushu to different elements of us, expects its 40,000-capacity venue to be full-on in shape days. About four hundred buses can be chartered to take spectators from specific regions in the prefecture and the stadium, and a taxi stand will be set up for lovers to catch a ride after the game. Fans will now not be allowed into the park that surrounds the venue with their motors.

While the prefectural authorities are convinced the plan will work, a neighborhood taxi operator says arrangements were slow because the city does not often serve such huge crowds, mainly humans from overseas. “We see the World Cup as a massive opportunity, but there may be so much extra we must do in terms of education,” stated Tomokazu Sakuma, an official at a neighborhood taxi operator. “We do not want to allow this threat to slip by. When we appear again on the tournament after it finishes, we would like on the way to highlight all the preparations and steps we took.”

Sakuma, who works at Futaba Taxi Co., says he is pleased to have an element inside the quadrennial event — the first predominant global competition the city has held since the 2002 FIFA World Cup— but it has not been clean. “We’ve been seeking to recruit new drivers so we will meet the big call for throughout the World Cup; however, we have had little good fortune up to now. The loss of drivers has been a problem in the city,” he said. Futaba Taxi has about 60 employees using certified taxis but hopes to hire at least ten more to rotate shifts on match days. The Oita Prefecture Taxi Association also said that securing drivers for the event has been difficult for all 23 operators inside the town.

Among the arrangements the agency has been making is putting in cashless payment devices in all of its taxi cars so it could take delivery of credit score cards, in addition to providing English training to its drivers. Rajitha Sandaruwan, a 28-12 months-old from Sri Lanka, has been giving introductory lessons to his colleagues, most of whom have enjoyed managing English-talking passengers. Rajitha, who has been at the organization for three years after analyzing inside the prefecture, said he began the class two years ago. He started by going over basic greetings, moving directly to asking about locations, and taking guidelines from clients. “There is a huge hole within the English stages, a number of the drivers,” he said. “I try to offer snapshots to give an explanation for English terms as easily as possible and concentrate on what the drivers have to say.”