The Olympic ticket no-one wants
Posted by Cags R under Cycling on 17 Jul 2012 at 11:00 PM
If you're a regular cyclist in London; are planning to swap your regular commute for a bike during the Olympics or you are visiting the Capital for the Games, be sure not to get caught out:
The Olympic lanes (see picture below) are specially allocated for competitors, press and Games officials and are out of bound for bikes as well as cars.
95% of the Olympic lanes will be out of bounds to cyclists as the majority of the special lanes are in the centre of the road rather than next to the pavement. Some lanes are still classed as Olympic and Bus so cyclists are welcome in these, however the majority will be off-limits.
Fines of up to £130 will be enforced to those caught riding in the lanes without permission so ride with care! Roads are still open to cyclists though you should take extra caution as there will be an increase in traffic volume as well as more visitors in the city: Sat Navs at the ready, there may be a lot of lost drivers around the place!
Rail restrictions will also be in place during the Games so be sure to check ahead of travel to avoid disappointment, remember that when in doubt 'Keep calm and carry on cycling'! See it as a chance to take to the streets and soak up the Olympic buzz - you can complete, or add to a few Challenges whilst you are at it - perhaps cycle 5 different routes to work or clock some milage towards commuting 100 miles in a year.
Although there will be some disruption on London's roads, what's that in comparison to hosting the world's greatest sporting event? Remeber to share all your Olympic photos and stories in this Challenge!
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@cags I heard that u had 55km long road jam yesterday
Sonu K • • Encourage
Lynne D and Tarjei Ø encouraged this.
where was that Sonu? I am fortunate enough to have 1 road between home and work so generally don't have traffic issues - I am getting a bit tired of the phrase 'imagine what it will be like for the Olympics' which every Londoner seems to use whenever there is traffic or the tube is busy!
Cags R • • Encourage
Sonu K, Lynne D and 1 otherSonu K, Lynne D and Tarjei Ø encouraged this.
Currently I'm counting myself pretty lucky not to be living anywhere near enough to any of the olympic events to really be affected by the traffic. ;-)
Kirstie M • • Encourage
Lynne D and Tarjei Ø encouraged this.
My advice to anyone coming to London for the Olympics would actually be to walk most places - something I that surprised me when I started cycling was how close it all is!
Cags R • • Encourage
Brad N, Jonathan H and 1 otherBrad N, Jonathan H and Lynne D encouraged this.
@cags http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/07/16/links-16-july-london-olympics-start-with-32-mile-traffic-jam/
Sonu K • • Encourage
Lynne D encouraged this.
A £130 fine? So much for the Olympic spirit.
Neil C • • Encourage
Jack A, Lynne D and 1 otherJack A, Lynne D and Kirstin M encouraged this.
In fairness I think there needs to be more responsibility placed on cyclists to obey the rules of the road - I get so fed up of seeing people edge through red lights and do racing stands in the middle of busy cross roads, this article is more a warning to those who may not realise the ban
Cags R • • Encourage
Kirstie M, Jenna A and 2 othersKirstie M, Jenna A, Lisa M and Lynne D encouraged this.
I totally agree with Cags, walking is a great way to get around London, it connects the city for you and distances between places really are not that far once you get an idea how it all fits together!
Brad N • • Encourage
Lisa M and Lynne D encouraged this.
What about those members of the Olympic crew & teams who would prefer to travel around London by bike and have permits to use the Olympic lanes?
Neil C • • Encourage
Lynne D encouraged this.
don't be silly Neil - they're not that into exercise...oh wait
Cags R • • Encourage
Lynne D encouraged this.
Exactement, ma chérie. Blinded by bureaucracy.
Neil C • • Encourage
Lynne D encouraged this.
Apparently there is a group of MPs lobbying for cyclists to be exempt. Might be too late though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18885587
Andrew M • • Encourage
Lynne D encouraged this.
You got to love TfL's conflicting message: "Get on your bike. Just not here. Or here. Or other there."
Neil C • • Encourage
Jonathan H, Lynne D and 1 otherJonathan H, Lynne D and Joost B encouraged this.
London is clearly not the safest city for cycling/running, just look at the number of monthly deaths - And it just sounds like it's going to be more crowded and dangerous for everyone, for lives and wallets... We can know think how great the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, in the middle of nowhere, will be... A traffic-jam-free world cup ! I may buy some tickets XD
Arnaud L • • Encourage
Lynne D encouraged this.
the buzz will be great i am sure, but i tink i am glad i do not have to go to work in the city
Lynne D • • Encourage
if it is anything like the rugby world cup we had last week it will be awesome, we had a lot of negative chit chat beforehand but once it got underway people totally got on board and it was a great time to be here!!
Brad N • • Encourage
haha so true Brad - as soon as there's a Brit on a podium all the negative people turn into avid Olympic supporters anyway!
Cags R • • Encourage
Sonu – that was a typical piece of negative propaganda by the miserable curmudgeoners (there are a lot of them about). There is always traffic in London. And that particular jam had nothing to do with the Olympic lanes as it was nowhere near a designated route. As for the cycling on the Olympic lanes, a lot of them are on the outside lanes of dual carriageways and most cyclist don’t normally cycle on the outside lane of a dual carriageway, so what is the problem? The lanes have been introduced to ensure athletes and official get to their respective venues on time and to avoid the debacle of Atlanta. London is a busy city, TfL have introduced a plan that will be operational only for the duration of the Games to ensure the smooth running of a transport network during the Games. There may be some short term inconvenience but that is it. No one’s civil liberties have been infringed. Remember London is ‘hosting’ the Olympics and the city is simply making it convenient for their ‘guest’ to arrive at the party. It’s called hospitality. Accommodating your guests at your party is simply good manners.
Nick B • • Encourage
Sonu K encouraged this.
@majicmonkey sorry, Nick...I din't mean to offend anybody....I was surprised by the news that a 32 miles long traffic jam can occur on London roads.... interestingly, the news said that Heathrow had very high influx of participants, which led to the inconvenience.....:)
Sonu K • • Encourage
No need to apologies Sonu - I wasn’t having a pop at you – It was the news feed. Monday morning getting into London is always busy. The Monday before was actually worse. The other big story we have been living with is the huge delays at immigration that will occur with all the extra people arriving. Guess what ? No delays even with all the extra people arriving. So they switched their attention to a Monday Morning rush hour traffic jam.
Nick B • • Encourage
Sonu K encouraged this.
@majicmonkey tht's good tht London and Londoners are handling the situation so effectively...i wish London olympics all success
Sonu K • • Encourage
Nick B, Jennifer R and 1 otherNick B, Jennifer R and Kaye D encouraged this.
Thanks Sonu - so do I.
Nick B • • Encourage
Sonu K encouraged this.
Have to say this - Neil C - So much for the Olympic Spirit - they need to pay for it somehow, it's either more taxes, or fines - fines target a small minority, more taxes gets everyone mad. I like the Olympics, but come on, how much debt are we in already as a country, and how much more will we be in afterwards? Yes there will be extra consumers spending money in the short term, but in the long term, we will be in the same state as Athens - 10 Olympic stadiums lying empty because no-one plays the sports they were built for and the country is in so much debt...
Kirstin M • • Encourage
@kirstin200 Let’s assume the final cost for hosting the games is £10 billion that’s 1/10 of 1 % added onto the UK national debt. In the grand scheme of things it is nothing. It is 1/10 of the annual expenditure on welfare. So you could argue that instead of hosting the Olympics all pensioners and the unemployed could get a 10% increase in payments for 1 year only. At the end of the year the money is gone, none of the development has taken place, and there has been no opportunity for any legacy. I can’t see that the country would in any way benefit from such a policy. The majority of the cost of the Olympics has come from lottery funding, after all, that is what it is there for; sports, culture, arts and charity. The remainder has comes from an increase in council tax on Londoners. The rest of the country has not suffered financially. For our investment a large swathe of underused, contaminated, ugly, brown field real estate has been transformed into a state of the art leisure complex, park land and residential units. The Barcelona Olympics demonstrated that there was real benefits in developing a similar type of site to transform part of their city. As for any comparison with the poor Greeks, a lot of the London Olympic venues are temporary installations making use of London’s dramatic landscape and architecture to sell London to the world, or they are existing venues like Lords, Excel or the O2 Arena, which incidentally was another development designed for the people yet was derided by the population as a waste of money. It acted as the catalyst for the re development of the Greenwich Peninsular, another piece of contaminated real estate. Now it is one of the country’s top sporting and concert venues. The short term benefits to London have been the massive amount of construction that has gone on both directly and indirectly as a result of the Olympics coming to town, and as everybody knows construction drives economies, together with the huge retail benefits generated by the influx of tourist leading up to and during the games. However the real benefits will come after the games. The combined cost to the NHS of illnesses associated with obesity and smoking is over £10 billion a year. A change in peoples life style could instantly reduce that burden and pay for the games overnight. I believe that this nation will respond in a positive manner. The way the nation have come out in force to cheer a flame passing through their local town has been inspiring. I believe people realise they are witnessing something special and that a generation will be inspired by not simply the sporting success of the home nation but by the huge diversity of sports that will take place on the doorstep. If however the Olympic fails to inspire this nation to get of its fat arse and become active, to become more healthy, to embrace the beauty and ideals of sport, to try out new things, then frankly it deserves the consequences and London will have another nice bit of parkland, a couple of new stadia and a new pool. The government can only do so much to help a nation.
Nick B • • Encourage
Cags R and Kirstin M encouraged this.
Guess will be like most elections, some for, some against, some stay at homes too. Most of my earlier comment was about all the now lying empty, unused stadiums built in greece for a previous olymgics... your dialogue is eloquent, it changes nothing in greece though. Here's hoping britain has a better outcome, have to wait and see now.
Kirstin M • • Encourage
Nick B encouraged this.
I think the stadia will be put to good use in the UK, although there are examples of other countries not using their Olympic legacy properly I think the UK has enough interest in the wide variety of sports which we are now equipped for. I hope it will result in more people finding sports they like!
Cags R • • Encourage
Nick B encouraged this.
I agree Cags, there is such a huge diversity of sporting tradition in the UK that as long as the venues are well designed, accessible, affordable and available they will get used. As I said early a lot of the Olympic sites are existing venues – some existing sporting venues have had development improvement which will only enhance their appeal moving forward. Some purpose built stadia in the park itself have been designed as temporary structures and will be dismantled and moved to other parts of the country where they can be adapted for specific regional use. The White Water Centre opened to the public before the Olympics and has proved to be a huge success. The Velodrome will be used along with a modified BMX track and a new road cycling circuit to form a Velo Park – there are currently 13 million cyclists in Britain so I doubt if this will be stood vacant, the Handball Arena will be converted into a multi functional adaptable unit, which just leaves the main Athletic stadium and the Aquatic Centre. I doubt if there will be any problem with the aquatic centre so the only question mark is the athletic stadium. Ideally I would like to see this remain as the home of British athletic but if all else fails there are 3 football teams queuing up to fight over it.
Nick B • • Encourage