18 November 2012

How TfL supported a great 2012 Games and kept London moving

Stuart Ross

Director of News, TfL

How TfL supported a great 2012 Gamesand kept London moving

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• Games transport and comms challenge

• Get Ahead of the Games campaign

• Use of Social Media:• Ahead of the Games

• During the Games

• In legacy

• Excellent customer experience

• Success & Legacy

• Q&A

Challenge 1: Scale

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Olympic Games17,800 athletes and team officials

5,000 Olympic Family officials

22,000 media

7.4 million ticketed spectators

Paralympic Games4,000 athletes and team officials

1,000 Paralympic Family officials

4,000 media

2.7 million tickets

Challenge 2: Location

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Wembley ArenaWembley Stadium

WimbledonCENTRAL ZONEEarls CourtLord’s Cricket GroundHyde ParkHorse Guards Parade

OLYMPIC PARKOlympic StadiumAquatic CentreOther Park venues

RIVER ZONENorth Greenwich ArenaGreenwich ParkRoyal Artillery BarracksExCel

Greater London

Challenge 3: Daily Variability

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Challenge 4: Diverse audiences to reach, communicate and engage with

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Games Family Spectators

Tube users

Businesses

Drivers Walkers and cyclists

Bus users

Mobility impaired people

Challenge 5: Media and public perception

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Partners working together to meet challenge

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• Throughout, we had twin objectives:• Deliver a great 2012 Games• Keep London and the UK moving

• London 2012 Games transport strategy had four main elements:• Invest in public transport capacity, reliability and

accessibility• Enhanced public transport – more and later

services• Manage the road network effectively for all road

users• Manage travel demand patterns to keep

London and the UK moving

The Transport Demand challenge

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On a normal day, 12 million public transport trips per

day in London

An additional 3 million public transport trips on the busiest days of the Olympics

• Reductions in the volume of normal travel, due to school holidays and travel demand management, offset by increases associated with Games and cultural events

• So congestion likely at hotspots at certain days, times and locations – not across the entire network

• That’s why re-timing, re-routing and changing the way people travelled was so important

Impact ‘at certain times and in certain locations’ – The Hotspots

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Roads Tube stations

Unaffected Unaffected

70%

65%

The ‘Get Ahead of the Games’ campaign

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• ‘Get Ahead of the Games’ campaign to communicate directly with Londoners, commuters and people right across the UK

• Information, tips and advice via ads, posters, emails and a new website, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook channels

• Explain how those who live and work in travel hotspots can:

• Reduce• Reroute• Retime• Remode their journeys

Get Ahead of the Games – Campaign Phases

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S t a g e 4:

T r a n s i t - i o n

S t a g e 1:

R a i s ea w a r e n e s

s

Phase 3:

Activate

options

Olympic GamesDay 1

S t a g e 2:

E x p l o r e

o p t i o n s

S t a g e 3 :

A c t i v a t e

o p t i o n s

S t a g e 3:

A c t i v a t e

o p t i o n s

Paralympic GamesDay 1

Jan-Mar Apr-Jun July

GAOTG website – The campaign hub

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@GAOTG Twitter and other social

media channels

integrated with campaign website

Detailed info on public transport hotspots...

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Public transport ‘hotspots’

identified for each day of Olympic and Paralympic

Games. Click for more info

and travel advice

...and on the road network

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Road transport hotspot areas also identified

with ‘avoid’ and ‘expect delay’ message to encourage

people to plan ahead

GAOTG Social Media Channels

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• GAOTG Facebook Page:– Simple presence to provide GAOTG news and info

• GAOTG YouTube channel:– To amplify video content, ads and engage audience– Boost PR campaign and provide easily accessible content

for media

• @GAOTG:– Key campaign tool – distribution of messages, news and

campaign content– Ahead of the Games – Continuous stream of information on

how to plan ahead and links to website, YouTube– During the Games – information on key ‘hotspots’ to avoid

each day and real-time travel info and advice

TfL Social Media Channel Summary

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• TfL Facebook Page – News and information about TfL and current campaigns

• TfL YouTube channel – Repository for campaign videos, information films and ads

• TfL Twitter channels:– @TfLOfficial: PR and news management

– @TfLTravelAlerts: Real-time Tube, DLR, London Overground

– @Centralline... Line-based channels for all TfL rail lines

– @TfLTrafficNews: Real-time road travel info

– @BarclaysCycle: News and info – eg suspended docking stations – for Barclays Cycle and Superhighways

– @TfLTPH: Taxi and Private Hire – stakeholder comms

Get Ahead of the Games PR – Pre Games (1)

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Get Ahead of the Games PR – Pre-Games (2)

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TfL Games-time Communications

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Games-time communications: Twice daily press notices (7am & 2pm) Daily Metro content (5am) Daily customer emails (2pm)

Public transport users (approx. 2m recipients)

Roads users (approx. 1m recipients) Daily station posters (3.30pm) Daily business bulletin (5pm) Twice daily stakeholder bulletins (11am &

4pm) Regular Tweets (TfL & GAOTG) Ongoing online content and Journey

Planner updates

4. Exceptional customer experience

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London 2012 Games Transport Success

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• Tube and DLR carried record numbers – up 35% on normal summer levels

• Tuesday Aug 7 busiest in Tube history – 4.57m in one day

• Record Barclays Cycle Hire figures – 1m hires in July, 47k on 26 July

• West End Tube station footfall up by average 7% year-on-year

• Around one third changed their travel

• Central London traffic down 15%

• Huge crowds for road events

From chaos to commendation...

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London 2012 – Transport & Comms Legacy

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Transport Legacy:• £6.5bn in improved transport links• Fast, frequent & reliable service• Fully integrated communications

=

Excellent customer experience

Communications Legacy:• GAOTG demonstrated potential to change

travel behaviour, with operational benefits• Step change in digital and social media –

PR and customer comms• New approach to Wayfinding & Signage

=

Reputation boost for TfL, London and UK

London 2012 Games – Social Media Legacy

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• Get Ahead of the Games campaign ended following Paralympics

• Website remains ‘in legacy’ until end 2012• But don’t want to lose the 60k Twitter

followers who benefited from travel advice• So @GAOTG sought to migrate them to

@TfL... channels and other operators

TfL Twitter Channel Summary

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Followers:

@TfLOfficial: 55.3k

@TfLOyster: 6.7k

@TfLTravelAlerts: 18.5k

Line Feeds: Circa 80k

@TfLTrafficNews: 23.2k

@TfLBusAlerts: 6.5k

@BarclaysCycle: 8.6k

@EmiratesAirLDN: 3.2k

All Feeds: Over 200k

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Questions

@stuartross73