please empty your brain below
I was highly amused at two of three options London 2012 has given me for travelling to from Hornsey to Stratford... One was bus > Crouch Hill, overground to Woodgrange Park > walk to forgotten name of nearest other National Rail station > then train back to Stratford. That's travelling beyond Stratford for about half my travel distance again, just to avoid - I guess - the main overground! The second options involved zig-zagging bus and tube to Tottenham Hale via Finsbury Park (not the direct bus from my corner) then train. I am still intent on my usual journey of train then overground from Highbury & Islington... I hate to think some of the 'recommended' journeys people will be taking!

Anyway, not grumbling, just amused more than anything...

Thanks for a great week of posts, DG. Already wondering what you'll be counting down to post-Games; you've been counting down to next week ever since I started reading the blog!

EskimoPie | 20.07.12 - 7:15 a.m. | #

Do any of the other events around the city have a significant impact? Or is the main site far and away the largest draw for crowds? I'm going into the office most days, but there's bound to be a few days I'd rather avoid going home via London Bridge.

Chz | 20.07.12 - 7:23 a.m. | #

Capacities of some other London venues:
- ExCel 30000-ish
- Greenwich Park 23000
- North Greenwich Arena 20000
- Earls Court 15000
- Horseguards Parade 15000
- Woolwich Barracks 7500
- Lords 6500
...plus Wembley Stadium
...plus Wimbledon

That's a lot of extra people, all over town.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.07.12 - 7:34 a.m. | #

Worth noting that for the Opening and Closing ceremonies only the Stratford and Greenway gates will be open to the park, so those 80,000 will all be going thro Stratford or West Ham. Ok, those will probably be the main entrances anyway, but for those of us nearer to Hackney Wick it's a bit of a pain to have to get to Stratford...

David | 20.07.12 - 7:45 a.m. | #

I passed Leyton Underground on the central Line a few days ago. There were big signs on both platforms to the Olympic Park (not trains to the Olympic Park that are in other stations but the big signs you get in Startford). I am interested as Leyton is not an official station and there is no signage outside to Eton Manor Gate (which is a bit of a walk). Perhaps it is an emergency congestion station or there are some secret shuttle buses.

KissenMe | 20.07.12 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Interesting, especially the comments about the other arenas in the east London area, which will be surly sharing some of the same transport links as would be used to get tot eh Olympic Park.

One question though, what is the capacity fo the various lines normally (or with the additional Olympic frequency included?). If there are ~4 million extra people travelling to the Olympia Park, and the transport network can only cope with say 6 million normally over this time period, then wow, problem... but if the sysstem is ok for 15, 20+ million then the issue isn't too bad (ok, I guess the big issue is more the bursty nature of the traffic, it isn't spread out over the whole day, but even so, what is the actually capacity at the peaks?).

Mark | 20.07.12 - 8:42 a.m. | #

EskimoPie - the journey recommendations on www.getahedofthegames.com take into account anticipated crowding and congestion on the various routes - so it may be quicker overall to take a less direct route but avoid long waits to board already crowded trains at busy stations.
Chz - if you travel via London Bridge it's going to be very busy for much of the Games as it's on the Jubilee and a key NR station for Greenwich and Woolwich. So check out your options before you get caught out. There are also a number of other hotspots in central London, e.g. Bank.
Mark - the "heat maps" on GAOTG show what may happen if people who already travel don't change their travel patterns. Which is why TfL and the ODA are so keen to encourage existing travellers to plan ahead and reduce, retime, reroute or remode!

Brock | 20.07.12 - 10:04 a.m. | #

I was surprised to see a magenta Olumpix sign for Eton Manor at Ealing Broadway on the District Line platform. Until now I had never heard of Eton Manor and now that I know where it is, I still don't know why it's there.

HoosierSands | 20.07.12 - 12:48 p.m. | #

HoosierSands - just wondering whether the sign you saw at Ealing Broadway might have been for Eton Dorney not Eton Manor?

It's quite confusing having two venues with similar names but Eton Manor is part of the Olympic Park so less likely to have its own signage from further afield. My suspicion is that you saw Eton Manor as that is accessed via Slough or Windsor & Eton Riverside stations, with Ealing Broadway being on the line to Slough.

Stephen Hosking | 20.07.12 - 12:54 p.m. | #

Oops - did it myself! I mean I suspect you saw a sign for Eton DORNEY!

Stephen Hosking | 20.07.12 - 12:55 p.m. | #

I'm not going nowhere until it's all over, except maybe to the local Tesco!

CornishCockney | 20.07.12 - 2:08 p.m. | #

You forgot to include number of athletes that will take part in opening ceremony.

just my 0.02 | 20.07.12 - 2:14 p.m. | #

This is very helpful - may turn out to be a better indicator of overcrowding than those GAOTG "heat maps"

I'd expect the GAOTG prediction for King's Cross (see http://bit.ly/MNZah0) to correlate with your table, which it doesn't really - especially the afternoon/evening peaks.

Will be keeping a close eye on things and have added a page to KXLDN to help people cope with the effect of the games at King's Cross (or find their way if they are going to an event).

James | Homepage | 21.07.12 - 9:05 a.m. | #

@Stephen-yes, I realised my oopsie when I got back home and saw it was Dorney not Manor. I don't know where Eton Dorney is either. (no one needs to tell me, thanks) I'm afraid I shall be very unhelpful if anyone asks me about any Eton.....

And as I work in Docklands, I'm booking 3rd August off. Thanks dg.

HoosierSands | 21.07.12 - 2:40 p.m. | #

I'm duly impressed by the absolute perverseness of the Transport Ministry minions criticism of the threatened strikes by transport unions. They're calling the train drivers "selfish" for putting their threatened pensions ahead of the happiness of the wealthy tourists coming to London for an Olympics holiday.

The nerve of these working class serf! All they care about is whether they be able to buy fancy tuna in tins instead of cat food in their golden years, when there are thousands of people who want to be able to spend £600 a night on their hotel, £150 on dinner, £90 on Rhythm Gymnastics tickets, and £85 on replica Estonia Team Hand Ball Kit without worrying about a disruption in the Tube service subsidised by locals' Council taxes.

It's all about priorities, people!

| 21.07.12 - 5:42 p.m. | #

And how many people will turn up at Kensington Olympia I wonder - indeed I'm surprised the Brand Police haven't insisted it be renamed for the duration.

timbo | 27.07.12 - 10:20 a.m. | #











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