EVER since Atlanta's ill-starred Olympics of 1996, it has been accepted that good transport is the key to every major sporting event.

The southern US city which beat Manchester's first Olympic bid appeared to be riding high after Los Angeles had showed the world how to do it.

But from the opening ceremony, it was obvious that Atlanta's public transport was not up to the job.

Railway platforms were often overcrowded and dangerous, buses showed up four hours late, and sports fans were left stranded in the hot Georgian sun unable to get to venues in time to see events they had planned for years to attend.

British rowing hero Steve Redgrave moved out of the Olympic Village in disgust. Bus drivers were often given buses - brought in from as far away as California - that they had never driven. Sydney - committed itself to a car-free Olympic games in 2000 and spent £144m on its transportation plans which included a new rail line direct to the stadium, 24-hour public transport, and car-free zones.

Before the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur was in a mess. The city centre was gridlocked most days and even suburban roads were jammed at peak hours. There were daily reports of road rage, often involving weapons like car jacks or knives.

Private cash

More than £600m of private finance was used to build an extension to the city's tram system to serve the National Sports Complex and Games Village.

A full year before the successful Malaysian games, transport officials here were busy persuading a government planning inspector to give permission for the six-mile Ashton-under-Lyne Metrolink extension which runs past the Games stadium's front door.

No money was forthcoming until after the M.E.N. launched its "Metrolink for the Millennium" campaign and won the promise of £250m of government cash towards a massive extension of the network.

But eventually it dawned that it was already too late for Metrolink to reach the stadium in time. The contract will probably not even be awarded until after the games in late autumn.

PTE bosses asked the government for permission to spend up to £6m to build a special busway along the route trams will eventually travel.

But they had to accept eventually that there was not even enough time left for that. Manchester's transport spending on the Games will be around £2.2m.

Tweet