Coe: Transport System to Make or Break 2012 Olympics

Lord Sebastien Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG), feels that the successful hosting of the games will rely heavily on the transport system and the London’s ability to overcome the recent issues.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have long held concerns over the transport network which is currently in place with the capital’s roads amongst the most congested in the world. The proposed Olympic Route Network (ORN) scheme put forward by LOCOG has not gone down well with many of the natives who feel that the idea is just a ploy to show preferential treatment to those involved during the Games. The number of peak-time journeys made throughout the course of the event is feared to rise by as much as 12.5 per cent which may cause real problems for the committee.

Coe was quick to deny claims that the ORN scheme is merely their to favour athletes and officials saying: “The Olympic route planning is about functionality it’s not about glamour,” the chairman told London Assembly lawmakers, as quoted by Reuters. “You have a choice, you can have this city remembered as a Barcelona or an Atlanta.”

The comparisons were made after the infamous transport system during the Atlanta Games in 1994 overloaded spectators and athletes in a desperate attempt to get them to venues. In contrast the Barcelona Games just two years earlier have long been touted as a model for all the following games to adhere to from a transport perspective.