Select Committee on Transport Written Evidence


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





 
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