More than 2 million residents in the capital city start their new work hours on February 1 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.

During the next two weeks the department would allocate inspectors to schools and universities to check on the implementation of the new schedules. If needed, more adjustments would be put forward, he said.

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 had been increased, while new express bus services had also been established to serve students in the early morning and late evening.

The city's police plan to redirect traffic flow and adjust traffic light systems to further improve transport for residents.

Along with this time adjustment, Ha Noi has implemented a project to divide more streets into separate lanes for cars and motorbikes to ease traffic jams.

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 per cent of the total urban area while according to research, 20-26 per cent of the city land is needed to construct modern traffic infrastructure capable of alleviating the city's traffic problems.

VNA