London's transport system 'could struggle during 2012 Olympics'

Date: 23/2/2010

London's transport system could struggle to cope with the rush of visitors to the 2012 Olympics, the mayor of Vancouver has warned London mayor Boris Johnson, London's Evening Standard has reported.

Gregor Robertson, whose city is currently hosting the 2010 Winter Games, said he was concerned London did not have the capacity to tackle the challenge of the predicted surge in travellers.

"Public transport has been the huge gain but we had capacity to work with and we've added more for the Games. But it will be a challenge to London to add more capacity to such a big system," he said.

More than 1.5 million visitors a day have been using Vancouver's underground and bus system, and Mr Robertson said that without the new rail link between the airport and the city centre, the city would have suffered.

He dismissed claims that the Vancouver Games had been poorly organised and said the negativity from the press seemed to be "absurd and irresponsible".

This week London Olympics advisor Neale Coleman will be leading a fact finding mission in the Canadian city to find out more about the challenges and problems London could face in the next two years.