£2.5 million to show Tube Staff Olympic Park

30,000 London Underground staff are having site visits of the Olympic Park over the next six months in a bid to familiarise them with the games. Heart.fm have reported that this will cost £2.5 million pounds and transport critics are already doubting the value.

Image by Jon Justice

One does wonder what sort of a tour they are getting that will cost two and half million quid. Will Seb Coe be personally leading the guided tour? Is Chris Hoy showing them the best way to carry Brompton bikes onto the Tube? The mind boggles.

Update - TfL's press office have emailed me with some more information about the visits:

"London’s Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy said: "This is a big year for London and TfL, with the Diamond Jubilee, 2012 Games and a huge programme of investment, while also continuing to improve the journeys of millions of customers every day. Every member of our 30,000 staff will play an important role in achieving the significant and unique challenges ahead. It is vital that we train all of our staff and explain what is expected of them in 2012, and beyond, to deliver the best possible service to our customers."

Additional information:

- All 30,000 TfL employees will attend

- The entire programme cost is £2.5m, of which TfL is funding £1m. The ODA (Olympic Development Authority) is contributing the remainder of the cost. This works out to £33 per head of TfL money.

- The six month programme, which will be complete by the end of March, includes a 60 minute tour of the Olympic Park to see first hand the scale of the Games and the transport challenges it raises, followed by presentations from senior management and films from our customers and Olympic athletes on what they expect from us

- More than half of the cost is towards the hire and running of the venue for six months – 3 sessions a day to enable TfL to reach all 30,000 members of staff.

A number of staff who read my blog have already said their dates have been allocated and some have promised to report back to me on what the visits are like. I'll be most interested to see.

Related Posts
30 minute wait for Tube trains during 2012 Olympics
Olympics chiefs say avoid Tube
Can the Tube cope with the Olympics?
Olympics Tube Map Cover we'd like to see 
London's Transport & the 1948 London Olympics  

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2012/01/millions-spent-to-show-tube-staff.html