Million cars on Amman’s streets during Monday’s rush hour

AMMAN — Around one million vehicles were on Amman's streets between 9:00am and 10:00am on Monday causing a gridlock that irked motorists, according to an official at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM). 

Working hours on Monday started at 10:00am instead of 8:00am in line to a government decision prompted by expected frost formation in the morning. 

Mohammad Faouri, director of joint management at GAM, told The Jordan Times that all government departments, private companies, schools and universities started work on Monday at 10:00am, which created severe traffic jams in the capital. 

“There were around one million cars on Amman streets at the same time,” he said, adding that tens of thousands of motorists came from outside Amman, mostly because they work in the capital.

On usual working days, some government agencies start work at 8:00am, others at 8:30am while most private sector companies start work at 9:00am, Faouri noted, explaining that this variety helps avoid traffic annoyances like what happened during Monday’s rush hour.

As gridlock after snow has become a familiar scene in Amman, several motorists took to social media to show how bad it was on the roads.

Hiba Issawi posted a photo she took while driving showing long lines of cars in front of hers. 

On his Twitter account, Mahmoud Lattouf (@Lattouf) joked about being caught in the traffic jam by saying “checked my e-mail and read a complete report while stuck in Amman’s traffic.”

Waseem Nuqul (@WaseemNuqul) described traffic in the morning as crazy, saying he was in his car for an hour and 15 minutes. 

“Aah the traffic is crazy in Amman! Drive slow and safe everyone,” tweeted Zeina Abu Orabi (@ZeinaAbuOrabi). 

According to official figures, the number of cars in Jordan exceeds 1.4 million vehicles, while a study released by the Central Traffic Department in 2014 indicated that one in every five Jordanians owns a car, a high rate blamed by many on the lack of a decent public transportation system.