HIGH PERFORMANCE PUBLIC TRANSPORT: A MUST FOR VERY LARGE EVENTS

This article focuses on 'very large events' and defines them as an event that generates crowds of more than 250,000 spectators a day, or 5 to 10 million ticketed spectators in a game or championship period of 2 to 3 weeks. Summer Olympic Games are used as an example, as they are arguably the world's largest sporting event. Reviewed is the transport development process, which recognizes the difficulty of adjusting urban transport systems for 'short duration large event traffic demands'. The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games are described as a successful example of outstanding transport and mobility management. These five outstanding features of Sydney Transport Plan were: provision of 100% Olympic venue accessibility by public transport; free use of Olympic public transport by ticketed spectators; a strict spectator parking ban around all venue perimeters; an extensive travel demand management to reduce vehicular traffic by 20%; and an effective transport and traffic communication strategy to diffuse Olympic transport and travel information on-line with the media and internet.