London 2012 Olympics: pessimism grows around journey times during Games

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A quick 20-minute dash from Soho to Stratford? Or how about zipping from Wembley to the Olympic Park in under 35 minutes? These were some of the fanciful transport times being suggested to the International Olympic Committee by London 2012 organisers in the early stages of their transport planning, using of course, the controversial Olympic Route Network.

But the latest figures released to the media at the World Press Briefing show that even the most pessimistic travel times were way too conservative, even though 100 miles of roads will be dedicated solely for official Olympic Games traffic.

VIP might end up standing for 'Very Impatient People' as the journey times using the Olympic Lanes have been increased by 50 to 100 per cent.

In most cases, athletes might be advised to jump on a bike as it will get them to their destination infinitely quicker.

For badminton players and officials, who were promised a 30-minute commute from the Olympic Village to the re-located venue at Wembley, the journey could be more than twice as long with the estimated journey time for that route set at 70-80 minutes.

London 2012 Olympic officials say the new estimated journey times are realistic, but admit they are on the conservative side. They say athletes, officials and the media need to be able to plan their journeys and the times are a worst case scenario at peak times, rather than the times the journeys may take.

Here are the latest estimated journey times from the Olympic Park:

Hyde Park for triathlon  (55 minutes)

Horse Guards Parade for beach volleyball  (45 minutes)

Earls Court for volleyball  (70 minutes)

Eton Dorney for rowing (100 minutes)

Greenwich Park for equestrian (35 minutes)

Hampton Court for road cycling time trial (110 minutes)

Lord's cricket ground for archery (55 minutes)

Wimbledon for the tennis (80 minutes)

The Mall for road cycling (60 minutes)

Lee Valley White Water Centre for canoeing (40 minutes)

Hadleigh Farm for mountain biking (80 minutes)

ExCeL for  table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting, wrestling and boxing (30 minutes)

North Greenwich Arena for basketball finals and gymnastics (25 minutes).

Spectators, of course, will have to use public transport and the guidelines on transport times between venues is suitably vague.

According to the official Locog journey time finder, travelling between Olympic Park at Stratford to Wembley Stadium will take between one to two hours from station to station.

Officials advise adding on an extra 30 minutes for security checks and walking to the venue.