FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY: WE KNOW WHEN YOU SHOULD RATHER NOT HIT THE ROAD DURING THE SUMMER HOLIDAY SUPER WEEKEND

The first summer holiday weekend is among the busiest days on Czech roads
Most Czechs head off on holiday abroad on Saturday, starting from the early morning hours
You will avoid heavy traffic  if you set out on Friday before 2:30 p.m. or late Saturday afternoon

Are you one of those people who believe the best strategy for leaving for the summer holiday “super week” is to wait until Saturday afternoon? You are making a mistake! T-Mobile’s data from last year (and there is no doubt that the same pattern will repeat this year) clearly indicate that most people set out on their holidays abroad on Saturday for this summer holiday week, when probably most of us go on holiday. Forty-four percent of people hit the road on this day of the weekend last year, as compared with 27% and 29% on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Overall, 53% more Czechs leave for their holidays abroad during the first summer holiday weekend than on a normal weekend. Most often, they head for Slovakia or through Austria to Croatia or Italy.

As compared with a normal weekend, the number of people hitting the road on Saturday and Sunday is much larger than on Friday. Specifically, on “super Friday” 23% more people travel abroad than usual, while 64% and 74% more people head out on holiday on Saturday and Sunday as compared with normal Saturdays and Sundays, respectively. Naturally, there are significant differences in departure times – the largest concentration of people on the road on Friday, after schoolchildren receive their grade reports, is between 3:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., with the absolute peak being between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. You should rather avoid the roads at this time. On Saturday, you can expect heavy traffic almost throughout the day – from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., with the peak around noon. Sunday follows a similar pattern as Saturday, with the peak between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.

This means that if you want to drive through the Czech Republic on roads affected by a number of restrictions and lane constrictions without any major trouble, the ideal solution is to take a half day off and set out on Friday by roughly 2:30 p.m. Just pick up your children in front of their school and celebrate the end of the school year with them after you have crossed the border. Another alternative is to wake up early on Saturday and hit the road around 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. Or, conversely, have a good sleep and head out on holiday after 7:00 p.m. or possibly wait and leave on Sunday morning.

T-Mobile obtained the data from a detailed survey of Czechs’ travel abroad conducted last year during the first summer holiday weekend. “The mobility analysis based on anonymised data from the mobile network can provide a great deal of practical information to people,” explains Lukáš Kovárník, ICT Solutions Development Manager at T-Mobile, adding: “Czech cities often use the data to analyse mobility within their territories – a recent example is comprehensive data that were made available to people by the city of Brno in cooperation with T-Mobile at operator.brno.ml/.”

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.