London 2012 blog

As we sat at 30,000 feet on our flight home from Beijing, Hugh, Paul and I reflected on a fascinating trip and all we learned from those preparing for the 2008 Games.

It was an action-packed five-day trip. Thirty minutes after arriving at our hotel on Saturday afternoon, we were whisked off to the Olympic Green to see the now-famous 'Bird’s Nest' Olympic Stadium (as picture below) and aquatics centre.

Both venues are truly impressive; the Olympic stadium with its inspiring and yet intricate structure and the aquatics centre, clad in lighting panels which will project fabulous images at Games time.

We were in Beijing to build relationships with the wide range of organisations involved in providing transport for the 2008 Games and gather information and guidance from those tackling the very same transport challenge as us – the biggest logistics exercise in peace time.

We exchanged ideas and information with a large number of organisations, spanning BOCOG, transport operators and a range of government agencies.

In a city of 18 million people (roughly three times that of London) and an exploding number of cars on Beijing’s roads, the city has a huge transport challenge.

What was very encouraging from out meetings with the experts in their fields was that our transport planning for the 2012 Games in London is using very similar approaches and methodologies to assess the transport impacts of the Games and, as a result of our trip, we have added confidence in the work we have done to date for the London Games.

After our visits our hosts very kindly took us to some very traditional Chinese restaurants where we sampled some fantastic culinary delights such as Eight-Treasure Tea made from chrysanthemums, goji berries tree bark and other 'treasures'.

I thought we’d become fairly adept with chopsticks by the second or third day, but we were all left wanting when it came to the fish jelly.

We learned a huge amount from our trip and have made several valuable relationships which we hope will help us gather further information and understanding on the road to 2012, but we were particularly struck by one piece of advice from the BOCOG transport team: "Think of the transport plans for the Games as a table. If it has six legs it will be rock solid, if it has four legs it will be fit for purpose, and if the plans are changed to the extent that it only has three legs it is likely to wobble. Therefore, at all costs, make sure you have three legs, but instil in those in charge the importance of transport to the Games, in order to secure four legs and therefore a solid, reliable transport operation to make your city proud."

Hugh, myself and Paul at the 'Birds Nest':