Because of TSMC... An Entire Japanese City is Experimenting with Staggered Commutes and Remote Work

Experiment for 4,000 Kumamoto Prefecture and City Employees
"Avoid Commuting Peak Time" Mission for Chronic Traffic Congestion
Private Companies Including Kyushu Financial Group Also Participate

The entire Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan, where the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) Taiwan TSMC factory is located, is conducting a new experiment by introducing staggered commuting hours and telecommuting to resolve chronic traffic congestion issues.

According to Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Kumamoto Prefecture and Kumamoto City are implementing staggered commuting hours and telecommuting for about 4,000 employees. Kumamoto City started this system on August 5, and Kumamoto Prefecture began a month later on September 2, continuing the program this month as well.

TSMC's local joint venture JASM semiconductor factory building in Kikuyo Town, Kumamoto, Japan
[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Accordingly, prefectural and city employees who commute to the office must arrive at work by 7:30 a.m. or leave their homes after 8:30 a.m. This decision aims to reduce the crowd during the peak commuting hour from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. City employees who participated in the August experiment responded that "there was less congestion and commuting was comfortable," and "commuting early also served as a measure to avoid the heat."

The reason Kumamoto Prefecture and City introduced this staggered commuting and telecommuting experiment is due to severe traffic congestion problems. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "National Road Traffic Situation Survey," Kumamoto City's average road speed and congestion levels are considered the worst outside the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.

Since TSMC decided to enter Kumamoto Prefecture in 2021, this phenomenon has intensified. Commuters' vehicles combined with construction vehicles for the TSMC factory have flooded the roads, turning the area near Kikuyo Town, the factory construction site in Kumamoto Prefecture, into something akin to a parking lot. At the end of August, Kumamoto Prefecture and City reported 283 major traffic congestion spots within the prefecture, 60% of which occurred within Kumamoto City.

In fact, in May, Kazufumi Onishi, Mayor of Kumamoto, posted on social media about an incident where he was unable to catch his flight due to traffic congestion while traveling to an airport for a road maintenance meeting in Tokyo. Mayor Onishi described it as "a story that is really no laughing matter."

On the 24th of last month, Guo Zhuhui, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, was delayed by 20 minutes due to traffic congestion while traveling to Kumamoto Prefectural Office to meet with Takashi Kimura, Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture. Governor Kimura declared, "There can be no growth for Kumamoto without solving the traffic congestion problem."

Kumamoto City aims to reduce car usage by 10% and double public transportation use to alleviate traffic congestion.

The work system experiment to solve traffic problems is also being adopted by local private companies. Kyushu Financial Group and its subsidiary Higo Bank introduced staggered commuting hours and telecommuting for 820 employees starting last month. They aim to reduce the number of commuters between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. by 30%. The bank stated, "If traffic problems realistically impact factory production, the economic benefits from the semiconductor industry cluster will decrease."

Tokyo Electron Kyushu, a production subsidiary of Tokyo Electron, and Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing, the semiconductor division of Sony Group, also introduced staggered commuting hours last year and are continuing the practice.