More than 2 million residents in the capital city today start their new
work hours following a Government decision to stagger start times in a
bid to ease traffic congestion during rush hour. But the new daily
routines are causing headaches for many students and workers.
Office
workers, school teachers and students at the kindergartens, elementary,
middle and high schools are subject to the time adjustment.
Students
at high schools and higher education levels start at 6.30am and end at
7.30pm; kindergartens, primary and secondary schools start at 8am and
finish at 5pm; while workers at trade centres start at 9am and end at
7pm.
Nguyen Hiep Thong, deputy director of the city's Education
and Training Department, said teachers might find the new hours
difficult, as their working day has become one to two hours longer.
"Students
also have to form the new habit of concentrating very early in the
morning and late in the afternoon at school. The number of students
coming to school late will increase," he said.
Le Tho, personnel
officer at Dinh Cong Vocational Training School, said the school usually
has three shifts a day: 7am-12am, 12.30pm-5.30pm and 6pm-9pm. "Now with
the time adjustment, the third shift is impossible to maintain because
the second shift will last until 7.30pm and accordingly, the third shift
will go from 7.30pm and 10.30pm, and the school cannot stay open that
late," he stressed.
The school has yet to figure out any solution to this except for temporarily closing classes during the third shift.
"A salary adjustment for teachers also needs to be considered as they now have longer working days.
"The school is struggling to find proper solutions."
Luong
Tuan Anh, an eleventh grade student at Chu Van An High School, said his
new class time from 3pm to 7.30pm will leave him exhausted, and he will
be unable to take part in other activities after class.
The
adjustment to work hours for people employed at offices is also causing
headaches as many now have to find someone to pick up their children
from school.
Nguyen Thi Mai, who lives on Dong Da District's
Truong Chinh Street, said she has had to hire a motorbike driver near
her house to pick up her five-year-old child and feed him while she will
be still at work.
"This is my only solution and I am really worried about my son's safety," she said.
Mai and Anh also do not know how their family members can gather for dinners following the adjustment.
Meanwhile, the city's Transport Department and other relevant agencies have planned to support commuters on their way to work.
Nguyen
Quoc Hung, director of the Transport Department, said the number of
buses during peak hours has been increased, while new express bus
services has also been established to serve students in the early
morning and late evening.
Thong, deputy director of the Education
and Training Department, said that during the next two weeks the
department will allocate inspectors to schools and universities to check
on the implementation of the new schedules. If needed, more adjustments
will be put forward, he said.
The city's police plans to redirect traffic flow and adjust traffic light systems to further improve transport for residents.
Along
with this time adjustment, Hanoi has implemented a project to divide
more streets into separate lanes for cars and motorbikes to ease traffic
jams.
Doan Minh Tam from the Transport Science and Technology
Institute said a shortage of land for traffic infrastructure and poor
public transport systems are the main reasons for traffic congestion, so
easing traffic during rush hour and redistributing flow to other time
slots during the day was necessary as a short-term solution.
According
to the city's Transport Department, nearly 4 million motorbikes, 1
million bikes and more than 500,000 automobiles are on the city's
streets each day, while public transport services meet only 9 percent of
residents' transport demands.
The city's land for traffic
infrastructure now accounts for only 7-8 percent of the total urban area
while according to research, 20-26 percent of the city land is needed
to construct modern traffic infrastructure capable of alleviating the
city's traffic problems./.
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