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TOYOTA TELLS EMPLOYEES NOT TO DRIVE TO WORK
[from Japan=
Today:=3D20
www.japantoday.com/e/?content=3D3Dnews&cat=3D3D3&id=3D3D269=
910]
To alleviate the traffic jam that occurs each day at the company'=
s=3D20
headquarters in Toyota City, Japan, the company is asking the peo=
ple=3D20
who work to develop cars to avoid commuting in them.
"It may s=
eem like a contradiction, but if you think about the=3D20
problems we ar=
e causing to the community around us, it can't be=3D20
helped," said Toy=
ota spokeswoman Monika Fujita. "It's also quite=3D20
meaningless to driv=
e in a traffic jam," she said.
Every weekday morning, a 2-3-km traffic j=
am =3D97 which takes about an=3D20
hour to clear =3D97 builds up in fron=
t of Toyota headquarters in Toyota=3D20
City, Aichi prefecture, some 250=
km from Tokyo, she said.
Since February, Toyota has provided a free bus=
shuttle service=3D20
from two nearby train stations. By July, the numbe=
r of workers taking=3D20
public transit to work had risen to 5,000 from =
3,000, she said.
One 43-year-old company employee told the Asahi newspap=
er he sold=3D20
the car he once used to drive to the office. "It might b=
e a minus for=3D20
the company. But now I can use the time spent commuti=
ng for myself."
