This was stated in the case of Daða Baldur Ottósson, transport engineer at Efla, at a conference on transport issues in the capital area today. The conference was entitled Greiðari líð – Ideas wanted.
“If you leave around eight or between eight and eight thirty, this same route takes 50 minutes instead of 16,” said Daði.
It doesn’t matter if you go before eight or after nine
Daði says that the difference depends not only on whether schools have started, but also on when people leave. You can remember dozens of minutes to go before the peak morning traffic hits, or wait until it has subsided after nine o’clock.
“It really matters today; leaving early enough or late enough. It can save you time,” he said.
According to Dadi, the numbers show how vulnerable the traffic system has become when large groups leave at the same time. Then it doesn’t take much for the travel time to increase quickly.
“What we are seeing is that the traffic is slowing down. Between years we see that there is always more traffic, there are more people on the road. This just means that we are traveling longer between places,” said Daði.
The first lesson in the same twenty minutes
One of the ideas that Daði mentioned at the conference relates to the beginning of the school day. He says there is a reason to look into whether it is possible to spread the load better, instead of a large part of students and staff going out into the traffic at the same time.
“Perhaps we need to look at whether we all need to start at the same time. High schools and universities have their first class in the same twenty minutes,” said Daði.
He says that shifting time can be one of the simplest ways to relieve the system without immediately embarking on major construction projects.
“Change how we get to school or work, it can be part of easing the traffic and can save you a significant amount of time,” he said.
Dadi describes the problem so that it will not be solved with one magic solution, but with many actions that work together.
“The common thread is that many small things make one big thing,” he said.
Bus stuck in the same delays
Daði also mentioned homework and carpooling, which leads to a reduction in the number of cars during peak hours. The bus service also needs to be improved, as public transport is often stuck in the same traffic as private cars.
“It is also important to promote a faster bus. It is largely in the same delays,” said Daði.
He says that anything that paves the way for the bus can affect the bigger picture, as the goal is to reduce pressure on the main trunk routes.
“All we can do for the bus is to help in this big road trip to reduce the traffic load,” he said.
More people, more cars
Since 2019, car traffic has steadily increased in the capital area, according to Daða. He says the development goes hand in hand with population growth and points out that for every eighty new residents, up to sixty registered vehicles can be added.
“What we are seeing, there has been a steady and steady increase in car traffic for the last few years, starting in 2019. In reality, as we are measuring the traffic, we are always measuring more vehicles every week,” Daði said.
If nothing changes, traffic will continue to increase as the population increases.
“All things being equal, if we are increasing the population at the same rate, the car traffic will only increase in proportion to that,” he said.
The transport agreement should change the course
Daði says that the transport agreement is designed, among other things, to reverse this trend. It looks both at the construction of public roads and at the fact that more people see benefits in other means of transport than the private car.
“The reason why the transport agreement exists is precisely to try to change course,” said Daði.
He says the change needs to be a combination of better infrastructure and changing habits.
“Both to get more people to use the bus and to cycle and walk more, but also naturally to pay the traffic with basic road constructions,” he said.
Daði says there is hope that when the measures start to pay off, it will be possible to slow down the current development.
“When these constructions start, we can expect that hopefully we will be able to change this course and more people will see the benefit of using a different mode of transportation than the car,” said Daði.
