Dozens of buses have been stuck in extremely congested traffic in Japan’s western city of Kyoto as many people drove to a famous shrine for a New Year’s visit. Bus schedules were significantly disrupted.
Municipal transportation officials have usually taken steps to manage heavy traffic near the city’s Kamigamo Jinja during the first three days of each year. The steps include changing the routes of city buses.
But officials say that on Thursday, New Year’s Day, roads were much more crowded than usual for this time of year.
Footage filmed by NHK at around 5 p.m. on the day shows a large number of buses stationary on roads in the ancient capital.
Officials say the chaos disrupted bus operations on some routes that serve lots of passengers, causing delays of up to several hours.
A man in his 60s said he has lived near the shrine for many years, but this is the first time he has seen such a situation. He said buses have been back to back for about five hours since noon.
A city transportation official told NHK that the congestion was much worse this year, triggering an unforeseen impact.
AloJapan.com