APPENDIX 6
Memorandum submitted by Transport for
London
INTRODUCTION
1. Transport for London (TfL) welcomes the opportunity
to submit written evidence to the Committee's inquiry.
2. The following paper is based on the key transport
issues and broad transport strategy needed to support a proposal
to site the Olympics in the Stratford/Lower Lee Valley corridor.
The following information is based on a strategic assessment only
and TfL has yet to undertake detailed modelling and analysis.
Location
- The proposed siting in the Stratford/Lower Lee
Valley corridor is sensible from a transport point of view as
Stratford has very good public transport accessibility.
- The main Olympic zone would be served by the
following public transport infrastructure:
Docklands Light Railway (DLR), North London Line,
Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) domestic services and mainline
services via the Great Eastern route;
London Underground Limited (LUL) services
the Jubilee Line provides a high capacity transit link along the
corridor, while the Central Line is a direct route to Stratford
from the City, West End and west London.
- However, the distance of the venues and facilities
from Stratford station and the other stations in the Lower Lee
Valley corridor is a constraint to efficient visitor movements
within the Olympic zone. The proposed stadium location is around
1.5 km from Stratford regional station.
The Transport Task
- The magnitude of the Olympic demand, its timing
during the day and its distribution across the network will all
influence the extent to which Olympic demands congest the existing
system. A key issue is the extent to which this Olympic travel
would coincide with normal commuting.
- Initial TfL analysis indicates that the 'reference
case' presented by Arup could be accommodated with some additional
transport investment and demand management measures. TfL also
agrees with the Arup report conclusion that the transport network,
without enhancement and demand management measures, would be unable
to cope with the 'worst case' scenario for Olympic transport demand
presented in the Arup report.
Existing transport capacity
- London's transport network is already crowded
and congested for large parts of the day. During the Olympics,
capacity and crowding problems would be greatest where spectator
flows coincide with normal commuter flows on links operating at
or near capacity.
- However, travel demands are generally lower in
August compared to the annual monthly average. In addition, with
Stratford as the destination for the additional trips, journeys
from central London in the morning peak period could utilise spare
capacity in the contrapeak flow direction. However the extent
of this would depend on the origins of trips. A risk would be
that some reverseflow trips could begin as additional withflow
trips, thus exacerbating crowding for part of the trip.
- Crowds travelling to the morning and (early)
afternoon sessions could utilise spare capacity. However, crowds
leaving the afternoon session could, depending upon the exact
timings, coincide with the evening peak. Overall, careful event
scheduling will be needed to ensure that any spare capacity in
the transport network is used to the maximum extent possible.
Planned capacity increases
- Apart from the infrastructure already in place,
additional investment in East London's transport network is planned
to occur by 2012. This includes:
a major upgrade of the Jubilee Line—adding
around 45 per cent to existing capacity;
an upgrade of the Central Line, providing improved
service and increased peak capacity to the City, West End and
west London;
a proposed extension of the DLR to Stratford International—this
would provide a direct link between the Royals, Newham Arc of
Opportunity, Stratford City and the Olympic zone; and
the CTRL between St Pancras and Stratford International—
scheduled for completion in 2007, this will provide a new high
capacity link.
- Although part of this proposed new capacity will
have been utilised by 2012 by the forecast growth in jobs and
population, the investments would assist in supporting Olympic
travel demands.
Transport Strategy
- An integrated transport strategy will be needed
that effectively combines the contribution of each mode—National
Rail, the Underground, DLR, London Buses, coaches, park and ride
and river transport. The transport strategy must be based on providing
reliable and acceptable journey times, with tolerable travel conditions
for all users.
- The strategy would be based on trying to use
spare capacity where possible, for example offpeak periods
and contrapeak services. The strategy should also be designed
to minimise disruption and inconvenience to everyday travel in
London. An effective strategy would not be based on just meeting
the demands if all goes well. Appropriate contingency plans and
risk management strategies need to be built in.
- To achieve this will require actions on the demand
and supply side. On the supply side, investment will be needed
in service enhancements to the public transport network, interchange
improvements, bus priority and significant traffic management
to create a bus priority corridor from central London to the Olympic
zone.
- On the demand side, measures to manage and reduce
overall travel demands would be essential. This includes event
scheduling to avoid normal commuting peaks. The demand management
strategy should also involve measures to reduce normal commuting
into central London. Typical actions to achieve these outcomes
could include more flexible working arrangements, advanced publicity,
additional public holidays and fare incentives.
Rail
- Rail should be the primary focus of the transport
strategy because of its high capacity to move large numbers of
people. The National Rail, Underground and DLR networks need to
support the majority of the transport demand. Service enhancements
and additional rolling stock for rail, LUL and DLR will be needed
to cater for the Olympic timetable. An example would be more late
trains to cater for evening events. In addition, the North London
Line could play an enhanced role with service upgrades.
- The existing layout of Stratford regional station
would be inadequate to deal with the extra demand. LUL has undertaken
an initial appraisal which indicates the need for a new ticket
hall on the northern side of the station, along with other measures
to increase capacity. Options for increasing the capacity of Stratford
station will need further analysis.
- The transport strategy described in this paper
assumes that Crossrail is not in place for the Games. The provision
of Crossrail would provide significant additional capacity across
central London to meet a sizeable proportion of the spectator
demand. However, the transport strategy should not be made contingent
on the successful delivery of Crossrail by 2012. A feasible strategy
without Crossrail that combines investment and demand management
measures can be implemented.
Road transport
- Although the transport strategy should be heavily
focussed on rail, the highway network can play an important role
in transporting officials, participants and spectators. It also
offers flexibility as coaches can be provided within shorter lead
times than rail upgrades.
- The fleet proposed by Arup of 3,000 coaches and
minibuses for the Games represents around half of the existing
London bus fleet. Sourcing and accommodating the fleet and the
4,500 drivers would be a significant task and require early planning.
Sufficient terminal facilities in central London will also have
to be planned and secured.
- A priority bus corridor between central London
and Stratford would be essential to providing reliable quick journey
times by roadbased public transport to the games. This will
require innovative and extensive traffic management measures.
Without this, the risk is that more people will try to drive close
to the site. Achieving this priority running will inevitably cause
some disruption to normal traffic. However, traffic levels in
August are historically lower than the annual average and normal
traffic flows may also be further reduced in response to the Games.
TfL and the London Boroughs would need to look at the following
measures to deliver the level of priority needed:
- Priority lanes
- Intersection priorities and junction closures
- Parking restrictions
- Traffic management
- Bypasses routes and diversions
- Park and ride would be part of the strategy with
the objective of getting people onto public transport as far away
from the venues as possible to minimise traffic congestion near
the venues. Remote park and ride facilities should be provided
far away from the congested parts of London's network.
Additional investment needed
- The main investments needed to support the transport
strategy will be:
- National Rail and LUL services
- DLR infrastructure and services
- Stations, terminals and park and ride facilities
- Bus priority and traffic management
- Development costs — eg organisation, planning,
contingency, information
- The investment strategy would be based on providing
facilities that have a legacy benefit, such as contributing to
regeneration or transport congestion relief. Where significant
investment would be needed purely to support the temporary demands
of the Games, opportunities to change the underlying demands should
be fully considered before committing to investment. A large part
of the proposed transport investment for the Games will have a
legacy benefit in serving East London and the Thames Gateway regeneration.
- The transport element of the Games' costs as
given in the Arup Report is too low and should allow for a larger
contingency. The costs should include greater allowance for extensive
traffic management measures, additional train rolling stock, train
service enhancements, public transport information, improvements
to key interchanges and rail terminals, and bus priority measures.
Further work is needed to provide cost estimates of these enhancements.
FURTHER
WORK
- Detailed work in partnership with the other transport
agencies (London Underground, Strategic Rail Authority and Highways
Agency) will be necessary to develop and refine the transport
strategy. This will draw on the existing extensive experience
of major event planning and transport impact assessment. The planning
and implementation of the transport proposals will have to begin
in advance of the proposed date for the setting up of the proposed
Olympic Transport Agency. TfL intends to initiate modelling and
analysis work to investigate in more detail the demand and capacity
issues.
- The Olympic Transport Agency should be closely
integrated with TfL and not a separate body. Additional executive
powers may be necessary and the Agency will require significant
and dedicated resources. The Olympic Transport Agency should be
established at or around the date when the appointment of London
is confirmed in 2005.
SUMMARY
- An effective integrated transport strategy can
be produced to support the Olympics in London. The proposed location
is good from a transport perspective as Stratford is well served
by public transport.
- The strategy would be based on providing reliable
fast public transport services, with a heavy focus on rail. Bus
and coach services with high priority in the road network, and
remote park and ride facilities would also be required. Demand
management measures will be needed to reduce the risk of peak
flows to the stadium coinciding with normal commuting flows.
- Additional investment in transport infrastructure
and services will be needed to ensure that the transport strategy
is implemented. Further work is now needed to analyse the transport
requirements in more detail and confirm demands, the required
infrastructure and services, and costs.
10 January 2003
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