Britain consults Korea on easing Olympic traffic

By Yun Suh-young

London’s transportation system is long established but congestion is still a big issue ahead of the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics.

On his visit to Seoul on Monday, Mike Penning, the British parliamentary under-secretary of state for transport, said London is seeking ways to ease the traffic congestion to greet millions of visitors.

“We expect millions for the Olympics. London is a big tourist capital. Legal commitments must be made for accessibility particularly in transport. All the roads will be closed off during the Olympics. It’s an interesting time to be a transport minister,” he said.

He was in Seoul on a four-day trip to explore the Korean transportation system and to seek partnership with Korean firms on transportation-related technology.

“Korea’s expertise lies in high speed routes which we’re taking to our next stage. We’re looking for investment in Korea. It will be a two-way deal. We’re looking for financial investment in high speed routes in terms of money as well as technical investment,” said Penning.

The strength of London’s transportation system is choice, he said.

“Londoners have the choice of moving above ground or below ground. They have the opportunity to choose which way to travel. Wherever you are in the country the heart will be London. Our transportation system is very much integrated,” said the minister.

London is also moving toward an environmentally friendly transportation system.

“We have to move to a more environmentally friendly transportation system. But at the same time we need to keep our city working. We can’t shut half the city off to fix the underground (subway). That’s hard and it takes a lot of planning and skill,” he said.

London’s transportation system is very old and the city is moving to modernize it but faces many difficulties as there are considerable financial issues as well as congestion.

“Our transport system has been quite traditional for many years. Especially our underground (subway). If we start to fix them, it would cost a lot of money,” said Penning.

“The more electrification you have, the more efficient and environmentally friendly it will be but it’s expensive. We’ve now got dual system trains that switch from diesel to electric hybrid diesel. But even if we switch all the cars to electric ones tomorrow there will still be congestion so how we address the congestion is the issue.”

Because of the congestion, other forms of transport other than the road transport are also becoming important.

“We’re taking passengers off of roads onto rail and by sea to travel around the coast not just along. The use of rivers has become much more important than before. The 10 million people in London use rivers more and more,” said Penning.

As for Seoul’s move to adopt the free bicycle lending system and two-story buses, he said they have been well received in London.

“The free bicycles are working well. Not many of the bicycles vanish because we can track them down. Also, the double-deckers have always worked for us. We’ve tried the longer ones that bend but we scrapped them. The double-deckers work because we’ve got narrow roads,” said Penning.