London 2012: Public transport Games “delivered”

Sarah Shaffi, Olympics editor (news) Wednesday, August 15, 2012
11:14 AM

The aim of delivering a public transport Games has been met, with record-breaking numbers of people taken by road and rail to venues across the UK, according to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

Figures from the ODA, which developed the transport plan for the Games, show that more than 900,000 spectators used park-and-ride, shuttle buses, accessible services, direct coaches, and special walking and cycling routes to get to nine venues outside London during the Olympic Games.

The ODA funded Transport for London’s (TfL) extra services, the cost of spectator Games travelcards, and extra and longer National Rail trains, and also ran its own directly-managed services to give spectators a range of options to get to their venues.

The organisation is now gearing up for the Paralympic Games, and wants spectators to start planning their trips, ahead of the start of the Games on August 29.

Hugh Sumner, the ODA’s director of transport, said: “The Olympic Games are a challenge unlike any other – and not just for the athletes. We used a wide range of data to predict the way people would want to travel.

“We were confident the transport system would cope – but we had to plan for every eventuality and build in extra capacity where it might be needed.

“Shuttle services were popular, demand for trains topped expectations and park-and-ride was preferred for some venues.

“London 2012’s commitment to a public transport Olympics has been delivered.

“Now we are learning from our experience as we fine-tune plans for the Paralympic Games. We want them to be just as big a success and spectators to book now to be sure of a stress-free day-out at their Paralympic events.”