Transport for London is warning us not to get complacent about travelling during the Paralympics. We were all very sensible and good, and worked from home, took holiday or changed our journey patterns during the Olympics, but the timing of the Paralympics throws up challenges of its own.
We've not heard as much about the Paralympics, possibly because traditionally it's not as busy. But because Londoners are amazing, ticket sales have broken all records, many events are already sold out and the entire Games could follow. That's going to put an unexpected strain on the transport system just as people are coming back from holiday and the kids go back to school. There are also two huge events – Proms in the Park and the Thames Festival – on the final weekend.
The busiest spots will be in East London as up to 215,000 people a day head for the Olympic Park (Horse Guards Parade and Lord's aren't Paralympic venues), with the DLR, Jubilee line between Stratford and Waterloo and Central line between Stratford and Holborn expected to take most of the strain. The main national rail stations will also be busy. Could be time to break out the excuse of 'but TfL told us to go to the pub after work' again. There will also be Paralympic Games Lanes.
On the plus side, the tube, DLR and Overground will run an hour later than normal.
As before, check out Get Ahead of the Games to plan your travel.
Photo by HartwellPhotography from the Londonist Flickr pool
