Olympic Travel

From MSN (19th January 2012):-

"If everybody seeks to travel the way they always travel every day, the system won't cope. You can't suddenly bring in hundreds of thousands of new people to travel in by train and expect the system to cope so the answer is they have to look at working differently," Norman Baker said.

So, that's how they're going to solve the problems during the Olympics - the people working in London are going to have to travel in less. Like solving the food problem by starving people.

Speaking to MSN, Baker also criticised the demands of the Olympic authorities for dedicated traffic lanes to ensure VIPs don't suffer from the same congestion as ordinary Londoners.
"I think the VIP requirement has been rather overdone - but that's not a government requirement it's a requirement from the IOC," he added.

Which the government could have opposed, or told the IOC that they wouldn't accept that condition and Paris could have the games. And whilst it was Labour that agreed to this, the Lib Dems were right behind the Olympic bid.

To ease the congestion over the three weeks beginning July 27, the government is encouraging commuters to work from home or offices outside London or be flexible about their hours if they do need to travel to the capital.

Yes, I'm sure all those cafe staff, road sweepers and policemen can telecommute. The chorus of Les Mis can just turn up when it suits them.

"The answer is they have to work remotely, they have to work from rural hubs, they have to work from home. They have to come in at different times, they have to use different lines," Mr Baker said. "This is an opportunity to prove to people that working differently can be OK."
However the minister said he was confident that the economy would not suffer as a result.

So, at what point did Norman Baker fully research every business in London to calculate the impact of staff working from home or doing flexitime, or having to travel longer hours?