London Olympics 2012: Strategies for Managing Passenger Traffic - Essay Example

Prof. A.D.Paul Page 1 LONDON OLYMPICS 2012:STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING PASSENGER TRAFFIC Olympic games, held once in four years, is the greatest sporting event in the world. It is an assembly of people from all continents, ethnic groups, religions, languages and political outlook. The mammoth crowd of athletes, coaches, officials, doctors, journalists and the vast number of spectators that flock from every nook and corner of the world make the event a unique and spectacular jamboree. This study proposes to focus mostly on the managing of passenger traffic that would ensure the smooth and successful conduct and conclusion of the event. The Olympic games belongs to the category called planned special events. They create an increase in travel demand and generate the need for increased flow of vehicles, thus affecting the overall transportation operations. Special events like Olympics impact traffic in all corridors and increase pedestrian flow. Human kind has acquired substantial skill in managing planned special events and more and more reliability and safety is being achieved by the application of science of traffic management. Traffic management has three basic aspects to it. They are institutional, organizational and technical. The Page 2 institutional aspect concentrates on the formation of traffic management team, which has to be multi disciplinary and in fact take control of all the planned events occurring in a region. The organizational side focuses on the establishment of event operations planning process and determines the street use for hassle free traffic flow and evaluates the process when the event is over so a better system for the future could be developed. The technical aspect concentrates on the use of state of the art technology like mobile devices, portable traffic management systems, closed-circuit television, detectors, portable traffic signals and portable traffic management centers. To understand the expected magnitude of traffic challenges in London Olympics 2012, a cursory glance of some of the key data from Athens and the projected transport requirements of the Beijing Olympics will be helpful. The statistical data from Athens 2004 show 5.3 million ticketed spectators watching 10,500 athletes competing in 28 sports in 35 different venues. The proceedings were covered by more than 21,000 media representatives and supervised by more than 40,000 security personnel. According to the projections from the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, the Beijing Games are expected to bring together a total of 200,000 athletes, journalists and officials Page 3 from 200 countries. Among them, there will be more than 20,000 athletes. The number of spectators might be somewhere around 8 million. The event will require a record number of more than 1.2 million pieces of sports equipment. This mind-boggling traffic demands for the Beijing Games will make it a unique event in all sports history. Though preparation for London Olympics 2012, has started it is very difficult to make projections regarding numerical aspects of the event from a distance of some seven years. But if the present trend is an indicator of the unfolding future, there is every reason to believe that 2012 will be a grandiose celebration befitting the illustrious name of the historical city of London. Consequently the traffic management, especially the passenger traffic management of the event would call for advance strategic planning, the absence of which can jeopardize the orderly and successful completion of the most colourful quadrennial pageantry which humanity puts up. Passenger traffic management is only one aspect of the wider issue of transport management. A brief mention of the general transport management implications of game is necessary to understand the specific passenger centered aspects of the event. What will be the magnitude of the transportation challenge of 2012 London Olympics There are two types of Page 4 logistic challenges centered around Olympics, the huge operations related to the smooth conduct of the event proper and the mammoth undertakings to get the infrastructure in place before the start of the event. Since London has a long tradition of hosting various international events including sporting events; much of the infrastructure for accommodation and venues for the actual sports and games are there. 60% of the venues for London Olympics are already in place. This leaves the planners with greater flexibility to focus more on the actual event by going into the minutest details of the actual show. Page 3Apart from the direct transportation demands related to Games, a host of ancillary activities take place in London 2012 Olympics. These may be categorized as indirect London will definitely be the very hub of world tourism facilitating heightened activity in catering and retailing. The Waste disposal activity, that accompanies all human congregations, is usually unnoticed; hence we are unaware of the daunting nature of the task. 85 per cent of the waste will be garbage left over spectators and tourists. The disposal of this is a matter of highest priority and several hundred trucks will have to be pressed into service, for, the disposal of waste cannot wait. Page 5 Page 2 A quantified projection of transport total based on previous Olympics data will be 90000 tons of goods and equipment. 40000 tons of materials will have to be moved to the venues of events. The inventory of ancillary transportation will workout to be 1000 handcarts, 1000 pick-up vans, 200 forklifts, 600 cranes, 200 trucks etc. The storage area for keeping the above equipments should have a total yard area of 200,000 to 250,000 square meters. From the past data of participation statistics it is possible to arrive at a reasonable projection of the number of participants and officials that would come to London Olympics. An expectation of total of 250000, athletes, journalists and officials from 210 countries would be a reasonable. Among them, the number of athletes might exceed 20,000. The spectacle might make use of more than 1.5 million pieces of sports equipment. The figures give an indication of the formidable nature of the transportation challenge of the London Olympics 2012. This indeed is no small challenge and the gateway to success is systematic planning, teamwork and persevering hard work and determination and above all application of passenger and material logistic principals. Page 6 The provision to make decisions and valid authority to implement them without looking for ratification either from a higher body or from the public is essential in large-scale events like the Olympics. The level of autonomy given in times of war for the Central Command to take decisions is a managerial strategy to achieve greater efficiency in times of emergency. Events like Olympics, though are not wars, the approach should be the same as in times of war. In fact the strategic planning body of Olympics, London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), a public sector body which will control work on venues, the athletes' village and transport infrastructure, should work close together. The LOCOG and the ODA should function under one roof. This centralized command structure, as in warfare, will facilitate greater efficiency in routine operations and in emergencies. There has to be a massive provision for emergency reserve transport, though may not be used. One of the chief considerations in granting the privilege of hosting the game is the capability of the city to provide hassle free movement of people. The estimated journey times between venues have to be realistic. The athletes, spectators and VIP's should not be spending any time sitting in traffic jams. This Page 7 calls for improved transport infrastructure. Some parts of London already have traffic limitation measures like, "road congestion fee". Further attempts to limit car use may invite resentment. Infrastructure improvement and building of more rapid mass transport systems are essential. The proposed completion of East London line extension by 2010 would itself make a difference in people's movement by easing traffic load elsewhere. Traffic infrastructure upgrading should not be centered on terrestrial systems alone. Air traffic and ship movement should also get due attention. The history of Olympics is indeed marred by a mean and gruesome instance of blood bath even before terrorism became a universal phenomenon. The ghastly killing of 11 Israeli athletes clouded the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. The dramatic episode in which the Arabs seized the Israeli team's residence in Olympic Village and the shoot out that followed left 16 persons dead. In the passage of thirty-three years terrorism has acquired a global arena and the acts of terrorism are no more stray incidents. An expectation of terrorist onslaught and strategies for counteracting the menace with adequate preparedness is the highest priority in any event any where in the world. In Page 8 London Olympics 2012 also an adequate machinery to combat the hazard of terrorism should be well in place. With the terrorists choosing the whole world as the theatre of war, building the Olympic facilities has become like building a structure in the enemy territory. The Olympic event itself becomes the best of targets for terrorists. In this context evacuations and emergency preparedness related to special events have become a priority. It is necessary to establish an efficient evacuation routes, traffic operations, and signage. In emergencies information and communication are critical. Ensuring inter-operability is essential. Center to center, field-to-center, and field-to-field communication has to be planned. An emergency roster identifying critical personnel will have to be developed. A ready to use pocket guide identifying transportation emergency tasks will have to be brought out and distributed to the concerned personnel. The September 11 attack in New York and the London bombing have shown the vulnerability of the sophisticated defense systems that the developed countries have so painstakingly built at a staggering cost. The terrorists use simple and low cost tactics to Page 9 achieve large-scale destruction. The application of modern technology in most terrorist operations is minimal but there is predominant use of human intelligence. The task force to combat terrorists at the London Olympics should incorporate specialist personnel who use mostly human intelligence in their strategic planning and operations. Moreover, the idea of Pierre de Coubertin, games, as tools to bring down conflicts between nations should be used to combat terrorism also. The experience of UK has shown that the terrorist tactics of IRA did not end by fighting out, but greatly quelled by reaching out. Since Olympics is an occasion where humanity celebrates its togetherness paramount importance should be given in applying the powerful tool of difference reconciliation communication as an effective weapon to fight terrorism. Communication might achieve what combat has failed to do. At the same time all the conventional anti terrorism mechanisms should be in place. One of the central mistakes of Athens Olympics was the undue focus given to car use. There is much to be learned from The Sydney Olympics. In 1993, Sydney had committed to host car-free Games. The number of car parking places was dramatically reduced, and there were complete car-free zones. A network of cycle ways were created to and around the site and many cycle Page 10 parking spaces. In London visitors, athletes and organizers should use foot or cycle to and within the Olympic sites wherever possible. In the recent terrorist bombings, many Londoners reached their homes falling back on the man's earliest means of moving, going on foot. The more walking-friendly or cycle- friendly the games less the terrorist can operate successfully. Logistics is a term from military science, which has received vogue in the science of Management and also in the parlance of common folk. Logistics involves obtaining, maintaining, and transporting personnel, supplies, and equipment. Logistics of Olympics may be viewed in the context of reality of Londoners' present day life. The Olympics has in fact forced a crisis on the already congested London traffic. The crisis has turned out to be an opportunity to address the problem of traffic in and around London. The following facts help to understand the magnitude of the problem. More than one million people reach central London by different systems of transport every morning. Cabbies in central London now spend around one third of their journey time at a complete standstill, and cruising at less than 10 mph for another 50% of their journey. The number of vehicles passing Brampton Road is a mind boggling 63000 a day. There is no doubt traffic is a problem in London. Traffic jam is an instance of Page 11 market failure to strike a balance between supply and demand. The supply of road space does not increase in the short run but increases in the long run. This is due to the government not having the source to build new roads or improve the existing ones. Short term measures like restricting car access and parking restrictions, can be used to bide time till alternatives are in place. It is impossible to think of these solutions as remedies for heightened traffic during the London Olympic days. From the Logistic point view direct solutions, also called supply side solutions, like increasing road and rail space and provision of public transport will be the best. If the recommendations mentioned earlier were implemented, we would manage the mammoth logistic challenges of Olympic days efficiently. After the din and noise of London Olympics had died down when the games remain a memory, London would become one of the least congested metropolises in the world. =========================== Read More