London: An online postcode data check has been released by Transport for London to help firms plan and manage deliveries during the games. Companies can use the data to check whether individual postcodes in London will be affected by the Olympic Route Network, Central London Zone or road events.
By entering the data into their routing software companies are able to highlight the postcodes that contain both the Olympic Route Network, for example, and one or more of their delivery locations. That will allow them to produce a list of clients and locations that will be effected, and save time when planning deliveries.
The information, which Transport for London has produced in conjunction with Royal Mail, is now available online at www.tfl.gov.uk/developers. The postcode data is one of the first parts of a series of detailed information that will be provided to the freight industry to help companies plan for the Olympics.
A timetable detailing what additional information will become available, along with timescales for their release, will be published later this month, alongside an improved and updated freight web portal for the industry to use. In addition, Transport for London is working on the development of a freight journey-planning tool.
The release of the postcode data was announced at the inaugural 2012 Freight Forum at Transport for London chaired by Graham Inglis, chief executive of DHL Supply Chain. Traffic commissioners, freight organisations and operators – including the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association – the Federation of Small Businesses, DHL, UPS, and Sainsbury’s, as well as London councils, attended the Forum.
The forum included presentations and workshops on the 2012 freight programme and sought the views and suggestions group members had for dealing with the transport challenges and opportunities the freight industry will face next summer. Key issues discussed and identified at the meeting were:
- How best to adapt the regulatory framework for the freight industry to deal with the challenges thrown up by the 2012 Games
- The most effective way of communicating with the industry and its customers
- The critical importance of the timing and quality of the information provided to the industry.
Deliveries and collections make up 17% of all traffic in London, with 281,000 freight journeys made in the London between Monday and Friday each week. During the 2012 Games, temporary changes to parts of the road network in central and other parts of London will affect routes, parking and loading bays in those areas, which will affect freight deliveries.
