APPENDIX 6
Memorandum submitted by Mr Alan Storkey
PUBLIC TRANSPORT,
CARS AND
COACHES
The present transport plans for the Olympics
focus mainly on train and underground public transport available
within London in relation to the Olympic sites. This submission
looks at another mode and area of transport which may turn out
to be the weakest in the overall plan. Nationally, 85% of journeys
are made by cars, and although immediate Olympic journeys may
tend to be made by public transport, there is likely to be an
increase in car traffic generated by the Olympics, created by
those who give this mode of transport priority and cannot easily
tap into the rail network. In addition there is the regular annual
increase in car motorway traffic. This suggests a level of car
use in 2012 in outer North East London which will be considerable
and will put further strain on the M25, already heavily congested
for substantial proportions of the day.
There is no possibility that road charging will
have been introduced by this time. The widening of the M25 to
four lanes may be completed, though that assumption may not be
fulfilled for a variety of reasons. I cannot locate a clear statement
on the timetable for this widening. If, for any reason this widening
is not complete, the case that will shortly be made becomes irresistible.
Even if the four lanes are finished, the strain on the M25 and
on the key radial motorway links will be considerable, given the
overall weight of traffic which is likely. Especially important
will be the likely road congestion on the Northern segment of
the M25 and other motorways.
The Olympics will involve many of the teams
coming into the Olympic village in coaches from their training
locations, which are likely to be scattered throughout England.
It is important that these journeys do not face serious delays.
THE ORBIT STUDY
COACH RECOMMENDATION
There is a recommendation already on the table
from the ORBIT multimodal study for the introduction of a Quality
M25 Orbital Coach Service with transfers located at the motorway
junctions. It offers the best opportunity for cutting congestion,
since each coach at normal occupancy hoovers up a mile of motorway
traffic moving at 60 mph, and a substantial use of coaches thus
creates road space which would otherwise be congested, not just
on the M25, but on all the feeder motorways and outer London roads.
My suggestion is that an M25 Orbital Coach service
with transfer stations to national coaches travelling on the A1,
M1, M2, M11, M4, M40 be set up to provide a coach public transport
network for those going to the Olympics and for those going about
their normal business. As coaches are five times as fuel efficient
as cars, and as they address congestion so radically, this cannot
but be a good move for London generally and for the Olympics.
It has the further advantage that it requires fewer infrastructural
changes, has low capital costs and a fast implementation time.
I have details of the plan in other documents which can be made
available but only in this way could an effective public transport
system in outer London and round the M25, providing an alternative
to the car, be in place by 2012.
September 2005
|
