Rugby World Cup host Oita hopes to tackle transportation woes

Among the 12 hosts at this 12 months’ Rugby World Cup, Oita will level 5 fits at a venue placed in a far-flung a part of the southwestern Japan city, a scenario that has left local delivery operators and the prefectural government scrambling with their arrangements beforehand of rugby’s exhibit occasion.

While Tokyo and Yokohama, a port metropolis near the Japanese capital to host the finals and semifinals, have venues inside on foot distance from the nearest train stations, Oita Stadium is located nearly nine kilometers from its principal station, requiring at the least a 20-minute drive.

The town will welcome rugby powerhouses, inclusive of Australia and -time defending champions New Zealand, while it degrees quarterfinals and three pool suits in the course of the tournament, which runs among 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 the us of a, expects its 40,000-capability venue to be full on in shape days.

About four hundred buses can be chartered to take spectators among specific regions in the prefecture and the stadium, and a taxi stand will be set up for lovers to seize 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 not often serves 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 phrases of education,” stated Tomokazu Sakuma, an official at a neighborhood taxi operator. “We do not want to allow this threat slip by using. When we appearance again on the tournament after it finishes, we would really 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 because 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 during the city,” he said.

Futaba Taxi has about 60 employees using certified taxis but hopes to hire at the least ten more so they can rotate shifts on match days. The Oita Prefecture Taxi Association also said that securing drivers for the event has been a difficulty 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 presenting 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 little 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 using going over basic greetings and moved directly to asking 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 viable and concentrate on what the drivers have to say.”