奧運挑戰倫敦交通極限 三分之一職員須在家上班

Transport bosses say a third of Londoners will have to work from home during next year's Olympic games to avoid chronic overcrowding on the capital's tubes and buses。

Commuters have been told they can expect waits of over half an hour or more for tubes at some of the busiest stations on the Jubilee, Central and Northern lines during the games。

And Transport for London(TfL) claims some of the busiest areas such as Canary Wharf will only be able to cope if 60 percent of workers change their travel plans。

At a presentation last week, TfL urged small and medium-sized businesses to change their working hours or allow staff to work from home to help ease the pressure。

TfL has published a list of the worst hotspots which include Stratford station, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Canada Water and Bank。

And the Olympics are set to cause chaos on the roads too with the creation of special 'games lanes' likely to bring many main routes to gridlock。

The controversial lanes will be reserved purely for the use of competitors and VIPs. Even buses and taxis will be barred from using them。

Around 5.3 million people are expected to turn up for the 16 days of the London Olympics。

August 3 is expected to be the busiest day with around 800,000 people using public transport。

Organisers fear a repetition of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics which became known as the 'Glitch Games' after transport chaos caused many competitors to miss their events。

London transport commissioner Peter Hendy said he hopes London will copy the Sydney Olympics of 2000 when 27 percent of workers took leave from their jobs。

He told the Observer: 'I am not going to be responsible for a transport mess like Atlanta.'

Earlier this month the Mail reported how tube and train drivers will pocket up to £1,800 in return for promising not to go on strike during next summer's event。

MPs condemned the payments as a ‘bribe’ and accused the unions of holding the public to ransom。英國交通部負責人稱，爲避免倫敦地鐵和巴士長期擁堵的狀況，明年奧運會期間三分之一的倫敦人將不得不在家上班。

乘車上下班的人被告知，奧運會期間，在銀禧延長線、中線和北線最繁忙的一些車站，他們要做好半個多小時等一班地鐵的準備。

倫敦交通部稱，交通最繁忙的一些地區，如倫敦金融中心金絲雀碼頭，只有在60%的英國職員都改變出行計劃的情況下才能應對奧運期間的人流。

在上週的一次演講中，交通部敦促中小型企業改變它們的工作時間，或允許員工在家工作，以幫助減輕交通壓力。

交通部還發布了一個最擁堵重點路段清單，包括斯特拉福德車站、倫敦橋、金絲雀碼頭、加拿大水和銀行區。

隨着奧運會的到來，英國將在路面上設置奧運特別車道，這也會造成交通混亂，讓許多主幹道陷入阻塞。

這些備受爭議的特別車道將專門讓競賽者和重要人物使用，甚至連巴士和出租車也不準走這些車道。

在爲期16天的倫敦奧運會期間，將有530萬人涌入倫敦。

預計8月3日將是交通最繁忙的日子，那天將有約80萬人使用公共交通工具。

組織者擔心會重演1996年亞特蘭大奧運會的失敗歷史，那屆奧運會由於交通混亂導致許多競賽者都錯過了比賽，被稱爲“失誤奧運會”。

倫敦交通委員會委員皮特•亨迪說，他希望倫敦能仿效2000年悉尼奧運會的做法，當時悉尼有27%的職員休假。

他告訴《觀察者報》說：“我不想爲像亞特蘭大奧運會那樣的交通混亂負責。”

據本月早些時候《每日郵報》報道，地鐵和火車司機如果承諾在明年夏天奧運會期間不罷工，將獲得1800英鎊的回報。

國會議員譴責這一行爲，稱這種報償是“賄賂”，並指責工會讓公衆買單。