Author:
ROBIN ROBERTS
Major temporary changes to London’s road network to cope with the Olympics will begin this week.
And it means small businesses that operate in the capital will be severely impacted.
Restricted lanes throughout the city come into force and on Saturday there will be 9000 alterations alone between Westminster and Guildford to the south west for the London 2012 event.
The next most congested day is anticipated to be Wednesday 1 August when 3,000 road restrictions will be brought in and further disruptions will occur on the Sundays 5 and 12 August to manage traffic during the Olympics.
To cope with these and ease traffic jams as much as possible, sat nav firm TomTom has fielded its own Olympic team of technology athletes to keep an eye on traffic flows and pinch points, and then send out details.
It’s an ideal opportunity for small businesses and their company car drivers to keep mobile when London could be clogging up, since TomTom is extending its Map Share service in real time every day and free of charge to users.
After 6pm every single day, company car driver sat nav users will be able to download the following day’s road changes to their navigation device in their company car.
Then they can reset any changes no longer required from the previous day.
“We released our latest map update in May which included structural road changes in London and surrounding areas and points of interest relevant to the summer,” said Tom Brown, TomTom’s UK Country Manager.
“Now we are going one step further. We want to ensure that our company car driving customers drive with the most up to date map available, taking into account the dynamic road changes resulting from upcoming events in the capital. Our aim is to do all we can to give business drivers in London the best navigation experience possible,” he added.
In general, apart from specific road closures on certain days, some restrictions will be in force until mid-August, which will affect routing in London throughout the period.
Map Share is available free of charge to TomTom customers, including users of their iPhone app.
Planning your London journeys over the next three weeks will be vital for business car users while our company car driving advice is always worthwhile taking.
