- current trips per day on the London Underground: 3.5 million
- expected additional trips for the duration of the games: 20 million
- expected additional trips on the one busiest day: 3 million
Almost double the number of commuters will travel on the busiest day! We've seen what happens if there is too much or the wrong type of snow, or too much heat, or too much rain, or someone falls on the track or takes ill, or any hundreds of other events: the system virtually grinds to a halt. Other modes of transport then become overburdened making the transportation experience in the capital anything from unbearable to impossible. I imagine that we will see scenes that will echo the exodus from the City the morning of the July 7th bombings in 2005: people queuing for miles for any transportation possible - to anywhere. There will be the helicopter shots from overhead to show this on television.
Roads will also become even more difficult dealing with general overflow, but also thanks to the ORN and PRN (Olympic and Paralympic Road Networks), roads closed to the public to allow speedier transportation through the city for athletes and "officials".
As our business involves consultants going on-site to client offices if we cannot do our work remotely, this is my plan for dealing with issue: I'm going to buy a motor scooter.
At other businesses, however, staff may be able to work from home. And here is my prediction: that we at Stepney Marsh Systems will be working all-out during the month of June installing or upgrading remote access systems to allow employees to work from home this busy summer.
I have a refreshed a very old document (listed below in the resources) I wrote almost ten years ago about remote access methods. There are a few more options now and also a few that have become obsolete. The basic methods remain the same, as do the security considerations.
Resources:
- excellent maps of expected "hot spots" of congestion: www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/2012-games-hotspots.pdf
- Transport for London's resource site: www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/london2012/21677.aspx
- the official London 2012 Olympics web-site: www.london2012.com/get-involved/business-network/travel-advice-for-business
- another good resource: www.getaheadofthegames.com/travel-advice-for-business/support-advice-and-tools.html
- my blog about remote access options: http://blog.stepneymarsh.com/2012/04/remote-access-methods-options.html
- or the same information in a neater PDF document: http://site.stepneymarsh.com/home/RemoteAccess.pdf
Now is the time for London businesses to analyse their upcoming remote access requirements. Are their current solutions sufficient?
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