I am sure that like me, many of my constituents will be sorry to see a fantastic Summer of Olympic and Paralympic sport draw to a close. Both competitions have provided great entertainment and a real boost for London. We have shown that we can successfully host the two biggest sporting events in the world with great style and success.
The transport chaos that some predicted thankfully did not materialise. There is no doubt that London’s public transport network dealt successfully with the huge challenges thrown at it by the Olympics. Over 60 million people travelled on the London Underground during the Olympics and the tube had its busiest day ever on 7th August with 4.52 million journeys made. This was 30% up on the same time last year. West End stations were also busier than usual showing the London life was as lively and busy as ever.The success of our transport system during the Games was the result of years of preparation and hard work, including around £6b spent on improvements which will provide a lasting legacy for the capital. 97% of services were operated reliably during the Olympics and thousands of transport workers and volunteers helped people get to their destinations on time.
But the general public in London also played a key role in making the Olympics so successful – not just by providing a massive roar of support for GB athletes at the venues – but also by changing their travel behaviour by, for example, travelling at different times and avoiding the busiest hotspots on the road and public transport network. I would like to thank everyone who did this and followed the advice from TfL about planning their journeys in advance. This was an essential part of our efforts to deliver a successful London 2012 Games. I would appeal to people to continue those efforts for just a few more days until the Paralympics comes to an end.I would also like to pay tribute to all the athletes from Team GB and Paralympics GB and encourage as many people as possible to turn up to support them during their parade on Monday.