London 2012 Olympic Games: Managing Travel Demand
Detailed work was undertaken to develop Games-time station management plans and travel demand management targets
The London 2012 Travel Demand (TDM) Programme
Video introducing the programme (1 minute)
The full video can be viewed here
Horse and Escalator Olympic Games Poster (2012-08-01) by Transport for LondonTfL Corporate Archives
Keep London Moving
The TDM programme was designed to influence travel behaviour so as to mitigate the high levels of forecast demand.
It was national in scope and covered both public transport and roads. TfL took over the programme in 2011 from the Olympics Delivery Authority (ODA)
Olympic Games Travel Demand Forecaster (2012-08-01) by Transport for LondonTfL Corporate Archives
Information was developed, packaged and cascaded to target audiences - businesses, spectators, and regular travellers. Prior to the Games a series of daily factsheets, covering every day of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was developed
Get Ahead of the Games launch event (2012-01-30)TfL Corporate Archives
Get Ahead of the Games Launch Event January 2012
The campaign was in 3 phases: emphasising the scale of the Games and introducing the website; encouraging people to consider alternative travel behaviour (time of travel, route, home working, walking, cycling, etc); urging people to actually make the changes
Get Ahead of the Games promotional event (2012-07-29)TfL Corporate Archives
Get Ahead of the Games Promotional Event
Additionally a series of PR events were held in key hotspots
Get Ahead of the Games promotional event (2012-03-27)TfL Corporate Archives
Get Ahead of the Games Promotional Event
Image of two weightlifters in kit catching the tube
Avoid the queues, travel a different way (2012-04-11)TfL Corporate Archives
Avoid The Queues
Regular travellers were encouraged to retime, reroute, reduce or revise the mode of their travel
Get Ahead of the Games Promotion Video
Free runners advertise the Get Ahead of the Games website (1.5 minutes)
Get Ahead of the Games website on mobile and laptop (2012-07-02)TfL Corporate Archives
Hotspot Information Available to Travellers Months Ahead
The Get Ahead of the Games website incorporated a model developed by the ODA and TfL called hotspot analysis.
This allowed people to effectively re-plan their travel patterns. It was one of the most effective examples of mass travel demand management undertaken during the Games
Banner advertising the official Olympics Journey Planner (2011-04-12)TfL Corporate Archives
Bespoke Journey Planner
A Spectator Journey Planner (SJP) was developed and was launched in July 2011. A technical innovation was incorporated into the SJP, which forced the planner to return particular journeys that avoided transport hotspots. This was based on a bespoke series of routing strategies
Updating the Modelling
Video explaining one way that journey planner modelling was updated (20 seconds)
Olympic Route Network and Paralympic Route Network (2012-03-01)TfL Corporate Archives
The CORNETO model was developed from existing models to provide a strategic overview of the impact of the Olympic Route Network, road events/management, and the venues themselves on roads in London. The model was used to inform road users of the likely impact on roads
Games Travel Information Roadshows
Roadshows took place in local areas to inform locals about travel changes such as Games lanes
Envelope designed to contain Olympics travel information (2012-07-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Door Drops
Relevant local Olympics travel information was sent to households likely to be severely impacted
Effect of Games on travel in local areas (2012-07-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Borough Profiles
A specific leaflet was produced for each London borough, detailing how travel would be affected in that borough during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Road events, torch relay, driving, affected stations, local buses, walking and cycling, and planning journeys, were all covered
How will you deliver during the Games part 2 (2012-06-19)TfL Corporate Archives
How Will You Deliver? Leaflet
TDM worked with business groups from Spring 2010 onwards. Larger businesses, in hotspot locations such as the City of London, received direct support to develop Games time Transport Action Plans
Action planning workshops were held at venues across London to assist businesses
How will you deliver during the Games (2012-06-19)TfL Corporate Archives
How Will You Deliver? Leaflet
2,979 businesses attended workshops between Summer 2011 and June 2012
Advertisement for business toolkit (2012-03-27)TfL Corporate Archives
Advertisement for Business Toolkit
A toolkit was developed to assist businesses in assessing their vulnerability and enabling them to develop contingency plans
Bespoke emails were sent to customers prior to and during the Games. These were targeted and focussed on information reflecting the usual travel patterns of the individual. During the course of the overall programme, 107.5 million emails were sent directly to affected users of London’s transport networks.
The programme was extremely successful, with c.35% of adults in London modifying their travel behaviour on weekdays during the Games.
Story compiled by TfL using information in records at the Transport for London Corporate Archives. The Corporate Archives seeks to preserve and make accessible records, not to interpret them. A wider range of material is available for physical consultation.
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