Ship of Fools: Olympics Traffic

Thread: Olympics Traffic Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=023206

Posted by Hairy Biker (# 12086) on :

Who's stuck in the Olympics Traffic jams?
Coming into work along the A13 this morning, it was solid, stationary cars and vans all the way. Put an extra 10 minutes on my journey, but you car drivers must have been fuming. I couldn't see the point of this deliberately created traffic jam. The organisers must have got stuck in it too, so why on earth are they doing it?

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

Fortunately I neither commute, ride a bike, or do either of them in London. But isn't this on the wrong board? Hell would seem more appropriate.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
But isn't this on the wrong board? Hell would seem more appropriate.

We'll see. It may turn out a fount of sparkling anecdote. Or just a lot of provincial whingeing about some sort of local sports day.

Firenze
Time-biding Host

Posted by Edith (# 16978) on :

Everyone I know is spitting cobs. Greenwich Park is closed, Woolwich Common is despoiled. The roads to the hospital are closed, the buses are diverted. There are Olympic Lanes for the nobs and the people are confined to quarters. Journeys take for ever. There are ground to air missiles on Blackheath and Oxleas Meadow. Every time we travel by tube the ghastly voice of Big Brother Boris assaults our ears. Parking is a nightmare and The usual congregation at church has decamped or can't get there. We're off on hols to escape it all as well. I hate sport.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

They said on the BBC site this morning that there were 2-hour traffic jams and there was a picture of the A40 looking like a three-lane car park.

I'm bracing myself for next week which I think in terms of train travel will be horrendous - every train I catch in either direction will be bound for some Olympic venue or other.

quote:
Originally posted by Edith:
Every time we travel by tube the ghastly voice of Big Brother Boris assaults our ears.

What does he say?

Posted by Edith (# 16978) on :

Some drivel about this being the greatest event London has ever known and to stay away from busy stations. He, of course will be swanning around in his big posh car.

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Edith:
Some drivel about this being the greatest event London has ever known and to stay away from busy stations. He, of course will be swanning around in his big posh car.

Does he do the voice for the "Mind the gap" thing too?

Posted by Hairy Biker (# 12086) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:

I'm bracing myself for next week which I think in terms of train travel will be horrendous - every train I catch in either direction will be bound for some Olympic venue or other.

I had the good fortune to book the next two weeks as holiday - I'll leaving the country. I thought I'd got away with it till this morning.

Compensation is that there are lots of nice yachts to watch out of the offic window this week.

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Hairy Biker:
Compensation is that there are lots of nice yachts to watch out of the offic window this week.

Sweet

! One of my greatest dreams is being rich enough to have one of those [Smile]

Posted by ElaineC (# 12244) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Edith:
Some drivel about this being the greatest event London has ever known and to stay away from busy stations. He, of course will be swanning around in his big posh car.

I heard that twice on the same bus going home yesterday and once, on a different route comming into work this morning.

I'm glad I've only got three more days at work before I'm off for a fortnight.

I might have to find my headphones and listen to the radio on the commute if this continues until the end of the paralympics.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

If I start seeing yachts from my office window I'll be seriously worried, I'm in the heart of the countryside.

It's nice having a posh train in the morning for a change, but am a bit worried that it's going to be crowded to standing room only come Monday.

Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :

... and they've closed the safest cycling route in East London., driving commuter and leisure cyclists onto the notorious Bow roundabout.

[Mad]

Posted by Sir Pellinore (ret'd) (# 12163) on :

I'm glad I'm not there.

It was Hell in Sydney when we had them.

There are lovely, quiet parts of London but I suspect they mostly won't be during the Olympics.

Visit postponed.

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

Actually Sir P, I don't remember that bit at all.

I hated the thought of the Olympics here, we had the same dramas or melodramas about the use of symbols and words etc. Even then I lived between two major access routes. I was not looking forward to travel anywhere, anyhow. One of my cousins had a fairly important role to play and I know he only took the job if he could report to the very top of the line, not the Minister who was theoretically in charge of the whole shebang.

I had no interest in attending events.

I was pleasantly surprised. The weather was good although I really didn't like starting daylight saving in August instead of weeks down the track. That was a big drawback.

Traffic generally worked. Trains were a dream. The Olympics achieved what had not been done before and after, actually. Trains were much more frequent, the whole timetable seemed to work. They were clean and I had no problems getting a seat. I spent a humorous journey trying to help a group of Russians, possibly weightlifters. Between their limited English bar a couple of words and my non-existen Russian we managed with the help of maps in carriages and a lot of pointing to work out where they wanted to get to and how to do it. I was well hugged as I got out before them.

I had wanted to be out of town but we hadn't been able to arrange that. However, everyone seemed to be trying to be helpful and pleasant.

I even saw a day at the Pentathlon, thanks to DIL who bought a hockey final ticket for correct price on eBay, provided she also bought Pentathlon ticket too. I benefited. It was something I had never thought I would see, I wouldn't go again probably, but the day was good. Unfortuntely we were subjected to some very jingoistic TV covereage for several weeks but that would have happened anywhere. It's been going a while already this time.

Hell? If that was hell, then preachers everywhere have been wrong for centuries. [Big Grin]

Posted by Hairy Biker (# 12086) on :

Things were much better this morning. Still all jammed up, but a lot fewer cars about. I think everyone has had enough of trying to drive anywhere already and they just stayed at home. Suppose that's what the organizers of this chaos where trying to encourage. Only one more day of it for me, then holidays. [Yipee]

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :

Does the chaos affect the M25?

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jonah the Whale:
Does the chaos affect the M25?

How would you be able to tell? It's a car park every day.

Posted by yellowroom (# 11690) on :

I think it depends on where you are, what time of day what you're doing. I've been into London both yesterday and today on non-olympics trips. On both days I've wondered whether the zombie invasion has started and no-one told me. Planes, trains and the tube all much quieter than normal. Borough Market was virtually empty compared to a normal Saturday.

Elsewhere friends reported that it was about the same as a normal Saturday. Came to the conclusion the people staying away balanced out the extra visitors.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

The streets round where I work were totally blocked some times last week, due, I think, to so many side-streets being closed to normal traffic that the extra forced on to the main roads tipped them over the edge.

Posted by Evangeline (# 7002) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sir Pellinore (ret'd):
I'm glad I'm not there.

It was Hell in Sydney when we had them.

There are lovely, quiet parts of London but I suspect they mostly won't be during the Olympics.

Visit postponed.

I couldn't disagree more Sir P-were you in Sydney at the time????? Each weekday of the Olympics I travelled across Sydney from the inner west to the east and the traffic was MUCH lighter than normal, it was great. I expected chaos but there was none-I wish Sydney could be like it was at the Olympics all the time, everyone was happy and it was like a 2 week party!

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

The problem in London is not excess traffic caused by Olympics - two or three million people come here every day, London is the most visited city in the world - its the over-reaction of the government. There will probably be fewer cars on the streets than normal, but there will be even fewer roads for them to drive on.

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

I had the journey from Hell today due to the cycle race. Following a a family get together last night in Hemel Hempstead, to the north of London, I attempted to drive home to South East London this morning.

I realised there would be some road closures and disruption in central London, so was pretty nonplussed to find that Park Lane (my usual route) was closed, but a bit disappointed there were no diversion signs and that none of the stewards had any idea what was going on.

After a considerable amount of time experimenting with different routes in an attempt to find a bridge that would take me south of the river, I eventually crossed Hammersmith Bridge, only to find that there were no end of road closures in South London too. It was impossible to travel either south or east - I could only go north or west, which were both in the complete opposite direction to where I wanted to go. Again, after a detailed mystery tour encountering lots of closed roads and stewards who had no idea where they were, let alone where anything else was, and discovering some parts of South West London I had never known existed, I found myself in Richmond. Every road I attempted to drive down in attempt to get out of Richmond either took me back to where I had started or round in a circle back into the town centre. After my third visit through Richmond town centre, I finally tried the only road I'd not been on so far. This took me on to the M3 (the main route out to Southampton) so I thought "sod it, I'm here now" so decided to stay where I was and join the M25 (the London orbital motorway) and approach home from that direction. Of course, the M25 was very busy due to people avoiding Central London!

A journey that would normally take just over an hour took me 4 hours!

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

Question from the far side of the pond:

When I watched the bicycle road race, I noticed some kind of odd traffic sign painted on the streets: a large rectangle, whose long sides are jagged.

What does it signify, please? Thx.

Posted by Think² (# 1984) on :

To be fair Spike, that appears to have happened because you totally ignored the mayor telling you every five minutes for weeks to check the information and plan ahead and tried to wing it.

I traveled to Hither Green and Excel over the weekend, the trains were fantastic. Only time I had to stand was in a tube to London Bridge. All the people the people in various coloured tabards either told you were you needed to go or pointed you at a person in the correct colour tabbard for question.

Posted by Think² (# 1984) on :

You can get the temporary road closures (and predicted traffic problem areas) given by date on this site.

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Think²:
To be fair Spike, that appears to have happened because you totally ignored the mayor telling you every five minutes for weeks to check the information and plan ahead and tried to wing it.

Of course I did. I always ignore that pillock!

Posted by Think² (# 1984) on :

Having looked at that date on the map, I'd have taken a train rather than drive.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

In fact, if you'd signed up for them, you would have had a daily e-mail telling you where the roads were going to be closed or busy, which station were going to have particular problems and where to avoid generally. You can find the same information on Twitter, get it sent to your mobile or use the TFL planner to plan your journey.

They are trying to help.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

In fact, the information from the e-mail for Sunday 29th July says:

quote:
Women’s Olympic Cycling Road Race event is taking place and runs from central London to Box Hill, Surrey and back, via Fulham, Putney, Richmond, Hampton Court, Weybridge, Woking, Dorking, Leatherhead, Esher and Kingston. There will be many bus diversions and stations near The Mall will be busy. There will be road closures and restrictions along the race route which will be put in place from 0500 until late afternoon/early evening or when it is safe to reopen.

and also:

quote:
Please avoid driving into central London, on and around the Olympic Route Network (ORN) and near Games venues. Drivers using the A2, A3, A12, A13 and A40 should be prepared for significant delays

All of those places you complain were causing you issues are listed on that e-mail. It might be worth you signing up. They send the e-mail out about midday the day before so you can plan in advance.

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

I was actually trying very hard to avoid those areas! I had no intention whatsoever of going anywhere near any of those places mentioned. I had attempted to plan an alternative route. I even tried asking stewards and Policemen who I encountered along the way for any suggestions, who all just shrugged. One said that nobody, not even TfL, knew what was going on!

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
When I watched the bicycle road race, I noticed some kind of odd traffic sign painted on the streets: a large rectangle, whose long sides are jagged.

What does it signify, please? Thx.

I'm not sure which one you mean from your description, but if it was a genuine sign (rather than one painted on purely for the race itself) then it'll be described on one of the pdfs linked here.

Posted by Think² (# 1984) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
I was actually trying very hard to avoid those areas! I had no intention whatsoever of going anywhere near any of those places mentioned. I had attempted to plan an alternative route. I even tried asking stewards and Policemen who I encountered along the way for any suggestions, who all just shrugged. One said that nobody, not even TfL, knew what was going on!

It looks from the map as if - if you were driving - you'd have needed to do a C shape round the edge of north west London and then come east when you were well south below the river. But why did you go by car ?

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Think²:
But why did you go by car ?

Because I had too much stuff to carry on public transport.

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

Well, so far the District line is a dream. Totally empty!

Posted by Curious (# 93) on :

Excellent District Line journeys both morning & evening. But it's early days....

Curious

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

I don't know about the Real World but London-based civil servants have been encouraged to take leave and work at home, while those who work elsewhere are implored to avoid London and especially avoid travelling to London. For three months we'll see just how well the public-facing parts of central government gets along without the 'centre' giving direction to its usual extent.

Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :

I went to the Judo today, at the ExCel Centre. Anticipating that traffic would be chaos, I was very pleasantly surprised. Even coming back through London at rush hour went smoothly - in fact much better than normal. Much as I hate to say it, I really have nothing to winge about.

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Robert Armin:
Much as I hate to say it, I really have nothing to winge about.

C'mon. Lift your game. [Disappointed]

Posted by Mark Wuntoo (# 5673) on :

I cycled up
The Greenway
this morning - Newham's safest cycle route to The Olympics. Quite a few cyclists and walkers. The last mile is closed to cycles but it is easy to get to the cycle park where, surprise, surprise, I found it was free! Really!
I have got more and more irritated with the Games. Latest annoying thing - all the G4S stewards and volunteers calling out 'Welcome, have a nice day!' Arrrrrggggghhhhh!

Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :

Call me Pollyanna, but I really liked all the cheerful helpers. The regular travel staff were very helpful too - as were the army, who had every right to be miserable as they'd had their leave cancelled. I chatted to some of the troops and they were remarkably positive.

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

Sioni - do you have to fill in that travel planner too?

We all had to show we were going to alter our route/journey so we could show how we were meeting the target of 50% of journeys being altered (including taking leave or working from home) to ease pressure on transport.

Since I always come in early and get the District Line to St James' Park, it was already the most efficient way anyway, but that doesn't help the box-ticking...

So I'm working 8-4 instead of 9-5, and frankly I would much rather work 8-4 all the time anyway as you get a seat both ways!

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

I work in South Wales and rarely have to travel to London. My travel plan is dated 2006! We use video-conferencing a lot and it saves a fortune.

When I did work in central London I travelled and finished as early as possible. That was in the eighties and things have got worse since, partly because the trains have longer station stops.

Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :

So far any journeys I've done by train or bus seem to be emptier than I would usually expect. Fantastic. Hope it keeps up long after the Games have gone.

(Mind you let's see what happens when I try to get to the Olympic Park on Saturday morning - my local station is only about 3 from Stratford so I am fearful the trains will be full when they get to me.)

Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Qoheleth.:
... and they've closed the safest cycling route in East London., driving commuter and leisure cyclists onto the notorious Bow roundabout.

And now, sadly, a cycling fatality. [Votive]

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0