A staff member uses a smartphone app for drivers to unlock a Toyota Motor Corp. Prius plug-in hybrid vehicle during a demonstration of the transport operation support system for the personnel at the Tokyo 2020 Games, in Tokyo, on July 1, 2021. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP)
A staff member, right, scans an accreditation card information into a smartphone in a Toyota Motor Corp. Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle after use during a demonstration of the transport operation support system for the personnel at the Tokyo 2020 Games, in Tokyo, on July 1, 2021. (Pool photo)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizers on Thursday revealed their streamlined transport system for this summer's games, a meticulous bus and vehicle operation system developed in conjunction with Toyota Motor Corp.
Tablet devices will aid bus operations carrying athletes, while games staff using transport vehicles will preorder their destinations as they make their bookings with smartphones that are then taken up by the car's navigation systems.
Bus drivers will receive tablets which provide detailed instructions, such as when to depart for destinations and where to park in large depots. Drivers can also be informed of their location and traffic delays in real-time through a GPS system.
The pre-registering of destinations by vehicle users is aimed at reducing incidents where vehicles take the wrong route or go to the incorrect destinations, as has been the case with previous games.
The system manager said it will also help prevent the spread of COVID-19 given it "reduces the amount of conversation between drivers and passengers."
During the games, up to around 2,200 buses and 2,700 vehicles could be in operation on any given day.
"Transport at the Olympics and Paralympics has been analog so far. We've turned to technical innovation to handle complex transport," the manager said.
The organizers have carried out 79 driver training sessions so far.
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