As well as funding Transport for London’s extra services, the cost of spectators' Games Travelcards, and additional and longer National Rail trains, the ODA ran its own directly-managed services to give spectators a range of options to get to their venues. Feedback from users described the services as 'brilliant', 'exceptional' and 'great'.
The ODA’s partner organisations ran more frequent and additional late services, with real-time customer information available from thousands of travel assistants at stations. At least 18 million spectator journeys were made to and from Games events in and around London during the Olympic Games, and millions more trips were made as people attended road events and visited Live Sites.
Now the ODA is gearing up for the world’s second biggest multi-sports event, the Paralympic Games, which starts in two weeks' time. Spectators are being urged to plan and book their trips now so they can enjoy the best deals, avoid a last-minute rush and ensure they don’t miss any of the action.
Hugh Sumner, the Olympic Delivery Authority’s Director of Transport, said: 'The Olympic Games are a challenge unlike any other – and not just for the athletes. We used a wide range of data to predict the way people would want to travel. We were confident the transport system would cope – but we had to plan for every eventuality and build in extra capacity where it might be needed.
'Shuttle services were popular, demand for trains topped expectations and park-and-ride was preferred for some venues. London 2012’s commitment to a public transport Olympics has been delivered. Now we are learning from our experience as we fine-tune plans for the Paralympic Games. We want them to be just as big a success and spectators to book now to be sure of a stress-free day-out at their Paralympic events.'
