Up to 40% of Whitehall staff will be asked to work from home to help ease congestion on London’s transport network during the seven weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.
According to the Telegraph, other employees may also be asked to change their working times or take annual leave from 21 July 21 to 9 September – plans that have been sniped at by some commentators who feel that central government should take a more imaginative approach to the problem of keeping London moving over our busy summer of fun.
In response, the government said that it was keen to be seen as a flagship example of support for flexible working and telecommuting.
The “40%” figure, which comes from the official estimate of peak-time journeys that need to be taken out of the system in order for it to cope with Games’ spectators, is based on the experience of other cities in hosting them.
On top of the 3.5 million journeys per day that are already taken on the London Underground, there could be an additional 20 million journeys made on public transport during the event.
One Response
Civil service encouraging home working during olympics
I would like to know what other imaginative solutions the sniping commentators have. I thinks its sensible to use combination of home-working and flexible hours plus most people with young families will be taking leave during July and August anyway. I have no doubt the civil service will also be encouraging greater use of cycles and walking (if only going a single tube stop or two) to further ease pressure on underground and bus networks but then its always easier for some people to criticise.