Examination of Witnesses (Questions 240-259)
MR TIM
O'TOOLE, MR
HUGH SUMNER,
MR KEITH
MILLS AND
MR WILBEN
SHORT
26 OCTOBER 2005
Q240 Chairman: Could you give us a short
note on what you consider are your commitments so we can clearly
differentiate between the two?
Mr Sumner: Our commitments—because
I can answer that right here right now—are to deliver against
table 14.1 of the bid, which details the schemes which are to
be delivered for the Games and are supported by the guarantees
we have given to the IOC.
Q241 Mrs Ellman: And could you tell me
just finally, is the upgrade of the North Circular Road included
in the transport scheme?
Mr Sumner: From my understanding
the North Circular is due to be upgraded by 2010 as part of the
Transport for London five-year capital investment programme.
Q242 Mrs Ellman: So does that mean it
is going to happen?
Mr Sumner: That is my understanding.
Chairman: Mr Stringer?
Q243 Graham Stringer: Just following
those questions first, if I may. Is there a figure which shows
how much extra investment there is in transport because London
won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games as opposed to that
investment which would have taken place anyway?
Mr Mills: Perhaps I could start
that one off for you. The specific transport budget that is being
committed as a result of the Games is £692 million. One would
like to think that some of the recent transport settlements that
have come through from the Government were prompted by the Olympic
Games but in terms of specific budgets that have been created
for specific transport projects £692 million is the number
this sits both within the ODA and the local budgets.
Q244 Graham Stringer: The point I am
trying to get at is some of these schemes and projects would have
taken place anyway; is that right?
Mr Mills: Perhaps Mr Sumner can
answer that.
Mr Sumner: I think there are two
aspects to the funding. Firstly, would Transport for London have
been able to embark on a £10 billion five-year capital investment
programme had we not been trying to win the bid? It is not clear
to me what the outcome would have been. Nevertheless, it has brought
forward and secured the ability to extend the Docklands Light
Railway, and which has upgraded its capacity by 50%, and to move
forward with the East London Line extension, for example, and
that is £800 million alone. I think one can guess whether
that is extra coming off on the back of the bid. Over and above
that we have the specific £692 million Keith referred to,
of which some £500 million is capital money which I think
would have been highly unlikely to be progressed with were it
not for us to have successfully won the bid. Upgrading the North
London Line would be a good example of that and upgrading still
further the capacity of the Docklands Light Railway, so I think
we can reasonably say that.
Q245 Graham Stringer: I am very grateful
for that estimate because I know it is not easy. If I were to
ask you either now or in writing to sum what you believe to be
the extra investment would you be able to do that and give me
a figure? For instance, does the Mayor when he is explaining the
virtues of the Games have a figure for the extra investment in
transport that has come to London because of the right to host
the 2012 Games?
Mr Mills: If I could perhaps answer.
I am sure we can give you some estimates but they are somewhat
subjective. We would like to think all the investment, including
the additional investment of £692 million that is specifically
coming out of Olympic budgets will be of benefit and value to
London. The monies that had been granted to upgrade London transport
systems and other transport systems will clearly be of benefit
to London and the country. I suspect we are talking more about
a timing issue than anything else. I think one of the great things
about the Olympic Games coming to your city is that it acts as
a catalyst to make things happen that would otherwise take several
years, perhaps decades, to complete. I think the issue of what
is specifically generated as Olympic-only spend we can detail
for you. That is rather a small number. The reality is what projects
get accelerated as a result of the Games.
Q246 Graham Stringer: That was the figure
I was really looking for. May I change the subject, Madam Chairman,
to the transport facilities for IOC members and other VIPs. Do
you think you could describe to the Committee how IOC members
(i) will be received when they arrive in London and then (ii)
how they will get around during the Games themselves from facility
to facility? Will they, for instance, have dedicated lanes on
the road and will they be available 24 hours a day?
Mr Mills: Let me start the question
and perhaps I will pass over to my colleagues here to get into
more detail. The Olympic family transport system—and incidentally
there are only about 130 or so IOC members so the actual description
of IOC member is limited to a very small number—
Q247 Graham Stringer: —And their
wives and husbands.
Mr Mills: And wives and husbands,
but the Olympic family transport system, which takes into account
all athletes and all officials, federations and national Olympic
committees, et cetera, does provide a transport system at various
levels depending on the category allocated by the IOC. This is
an IOC allocation and it is something we do not have control over.
By and large, they fall into T1, T2 and T3 categories of transport.
A T1 category of transport does provide you with a driver and
a car and they are people that need to be at events.
Q248 Chairman: And they will know where
they are going.
Mr Mills: I certainly hope so,
ma'am. I would like to think that some of the drivers we have
in London are perhaps a bit more worldly wise. Both in Atlanta
and in Athens the resources of the cities themselves were somewhat
limited and they had to bring people in from all over the country
to provide driving facilities, and if you come from Perth you
probably do not know the roads of Sydney terribly well. I would
like to think in London we have sufficient resources to be able
to have drivers who know where they are going. The different categories
of transport system are laid down by the IOC. In the case of an
IOC member he will have a car and driver and he will use the Olympic-designated
lanes, as would the athletes and other Olympic family members.
The reason the IOC designate different categories of transport
for different individuals is based on need. An IOC member will
typically visit four or five different venues in a day as part
of their responsibilities. All of these individuals do not just
go and watch the sport, they actually have things to do when they
get to the venue. Some of them are presidents of international
sporting federations so they are there wearing their sporting
federation hats. Others run their national Olympic committees.
Some are responsible for broadcasting, et cetera. They all are
involved in giving medals to competitors so they have a very,
very busy schedule every day of places they need to get to quickly
and efficiently. They often need to get to the back of house of
various venues and the only efficient way of getting them there
is by private car. The Olympic family transport system is prescribed
by the IOC, it runs predominantly on the Olympic lanes, and there
are different categories of vehicle used as a result.
Q249 Graham Stringer: And these vehicles
through the three categories will be using the lanes. How extensive
will the lanes be? How many miles, for instance?
Mr Short: The whole network is
240 kilometres but the Olympic lanes will be approximately 100
kilometres. If I could also add to the previous question—
Q250 Chairman: Do you want to give me
those figures in miles, Mr Short so that I can have a vague idea
of what you are taking about?
Mr Short: 240 kilometres would
be approximately 150-odd miles.
Q251 Chairman: Can we agree? 150 miles?
Thank you.
Mr Short: And 100 kilometres will
be 62 miles. With the IOC members and what is described as the
IOC family, including particularly the national Olympic committee
members, the process starts well before the Games where LOCOG
will, in negotiation with these committees, understand where everyone
is coming from, so we will actually work with them to decide the
port of entry so we can provide facilities at the port of entry
that are commensurate with expected loads. There will be dedicated
channels where they come in, predominantly through Heathrow as
the gateway airport but also through the three other airports
we have designated in the candidate file which are Gatwick, City
Airport and Stansted. We are responsible for them from the moment
they become landside throughout the period until they leave.
Q252 Graham Stringer: The 62 miles of
road space that will be taken out from general use for 24 hours
a day during the time of the Olympics and just before; what impact
analysis have you done on that on traffic flows in London?
Mr Sumner: We have completed outline
design of the Olympic route network. Part of that outline design
was to understand the traffic levels that would occur during the
summer. Going back over the history of traffic levels in London
over the last decade, on average, traffic levels decline by some
15% during the first couple of weeks of August. We have then taken
that data and modelled (using the models that Transport for London
use for road traffic across London) to understand what the implications
are not only for effectively moving athletes to competition venues
but also to general road users. Our analysis to date suggests
that the impact on existing traffic within London will be localised
and of a very small nature, in the order of a couple of minutes.
One of the things we have to do now taking the bid forward is
to refine that Olympic route network and understand what other
mitigating tools we can put in place to make those negligible
impacts even smaller still.
Q253 Graham Stringer: Is there a map
of these VIP routes?
Mr Sumner: Yes.
Q254 Graham Stringer: Just on this line
of questioning a final question. Where will the IOC be staying
and will the VIP lanes go to that hotel?
Mr Mills: They will be staying,
we think, in Park Lane. It is their decision but we have recommended
hotels in Park Lane and the lanes will extend to Park Lane, yes.
Q255 Graham Stringer: So the lanes will
come from East London all the way to Park Lane?
Mr Mills: That is correct[1]
Q256 Graham Stringer: And you say that
will only have a minimal impact on traffic in the West End? I
assume you will have to go through the West End?
Mr Sumner: In arriving at that
conclusion we have used the road traffic data that Transport for
London use to drive the Transport for London route network. In
particular, we have got data from 5,000 sets of traffic lights
and control systems. In fact, the world's biggest urban traffic
control system is based within London. We have used that data,
assessed it, and at the minute our analysis shows that the impact
will be minor, of a negligible nature, and localised. What we
will do now is confirm those routes and find secondary routes
in the event of a problem so that we truly understand exactly
where any particular localised hotspots might be so that we can
mitigate those impacts.
Q257 Chairman: I think, Mr Sumner, the
tiny note of disbelief in Mr Stringer's voice is not just natural
Manchester caution, but are you going to genuinely look at all
these other things that Sydney told us about—restriction
of deliveries, the clearance of rubbish, not just in relation
to the site but also in relation to Central London? Frankly, getting
to Park Lane from Stratford is not my ideal journey, not that
I take it very often!
Mr Sumner: I understand the gentleman's
scepticism, however we have done detailed analysis and we have
done detailed proving trials of that particular route. For example,
as part of the evaluation commission we gave them detailed run
times that we have achieved by using vehicles and changed traffic
signal control plans. So, for example, right here right now I
can say our "personal best", as it were, in terms of
the Olympic Village to Hyde Park Corner is 21 minutes 46 seconds
and that is in normal traffic in the middle of the day.
Q258 Chairman: Say again.
Mr Sumner: 21 minutes 46 seconds.
Q259 Graham Stringer: If I may follow
that up. My scepticism was not that if you take out a lane of
the highway and say that only VIP vehicles can travel on this,
you cannot do the journey in a reasonable time. My scepticism
was that you might cause traffic congestion and chaos in the West
End and all the way out to East London.
Mr Mills: I think it probably
is worth pointing out, Mr Stringer, that we obviously have an
extremely comprehensive existing bus lane network in London and
Londoners have been used to working around those bus lanes for
many years. Perhaps Mr Sumner or Mr Short knows.
1 Not all the length of road between the Olympic Park
and Park Lane will have Olympic lanes. Back
| 
