You're right, Mr Smith, London's not fit for the Olympics

CHRIS Smith probably by now regrets saying London's transport system is so dire that Britain could not sensibly bid for the Olympic Games. But surely he has a point?

Under-investment and poor management have created a system of trains, Tubes and buses that ensure commuting is most people's worst daily experience. Holding the Olympic Games here would visit such appalling services on athletes from all corners of the globe. For a month or more, national disgrace would be only a hair's breadth away.

Holding the Olympic Games in the capital would, for an intense period, require the trains, Tubes and buses to perform effectively enough to get, say, rowers from Docklands to Wembley. In theory this would be an easy 45-minute shuttle along the state-of-the-art Jubilee Line. But as the Prime Minister discovered recently, the new line is so plagued by signal and train failures that Sir Steven Redgrave's successors would end up baling out somewhere in south London to finish their journeys by cab or on foot.

No amount of training could prepare the world's athletes for perilous climbs up broken escalators, rugby scrum practice on the Central Line or sprinting along platforms to catch once-an-hour Connex South Central services. The truth is, London's commuters have come to accept provision so poor by world city standards that they can no longer tell just how bad the services really are. Tens of thousands of Olympic athletes, officials and the world's media attempting to get around London would soon expose just how shambolic our city's public transport really is.

SYDNEY, by all accounts, put on the best Olympics ever. An essential part of this success was the city's brilliantly-run transport system (interestingly, a man who used to work for the borough of Kingston-upon-Thames was responsible for the exercise). Vast crowds were able to travel to events without facing service breakdowns and station closures.

It is not necessary to look to a hypothetical future to see just how badly London now performs. The French government built the Stade de France in the Parisian suburbs to house the country's main football matches.

The result was an architectural triumph, linked to the centre of Paris by the excellent RER suburban railway.

The whole exercise was undertaken with precision and in - by London standards - a remarkably short period.

Now consider Wembley, which has degenerated into a classic British planning and development farce. Should the twin towers stay or go?

Should it be for football only, or football and athletics?

Should hotels and property development help pay for the new stadium? And so on. The project is apparently stalled, with the Government, the Football Association, the athletics authorities, London Underground, private developers and a range of other bodies locked in a magic roundabout of fruitless negotiations. The way things are going, it is not even possible to be sure that Wembley would be ready for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Chris Smith has put his finger on the real issue. Successive governments have been prepared to let London's transport system degenerate to the point it where it has become a national disgrace.

Underground users think themselves well-served if they see 25 trains an hour on most lines. Yet on the Paris metro they would enjoy 40 and in Moscow up to 45 trains an hour. Paris, Moscow and other European cities generally have both subways and suburban rail systems that would easily allow an Olympic bid to be contemplated. London's crumbling system is just too risky, too potentially embarrassing.

Perhaps the London public must take some of the blame for their city's plight. The capital's commuters, doubtless feeling helpless to know who to complain to, simply stand with cow-like resignation on platforms and at bus stops. However long the intervals between trains, they stand there, barely grumbling. The politicians, both Labour and Conservative, who have let the transport system get into this mess have been able to get away without punishment.

AS far as the Olympics is concerned, things are even worse than they look New York is also intending to bid for the 2012 Games. That city has a much-improved subway system (largely thanks to London's new Transport Commissioner, Robert Kiley) and also has the advantage of a mayor who can command vast resources to achieve particular ends.

Ken Livingstone is probably the only person who could force the changes needed to allow London to make an Olympics bid. But, as he admitted during last week's visit to the Big Apple, his powers are far fewer than those of his New York counterpart.

For a number of years, commentators have argued that London would inevitably lose out as a business capital if the transport system were not improved.

Chris Smith has unwittingly provided a key piece of evidence. If an Olympics bid proves impossible, then surely other ventures, including banks and business services, will read the writing on the wall: London is too difficult to travel about, too stressful for their employees.

It would be amazing indeed if London's 150 billion economy had to rely on an Olympics bid finally to focus ministerial minds on the nightmare of travelling in and around the capital.

Sadly, no one outside government knows whether John Prescott's proposed public-private partnership will offer any improvement before 2012. The contents of the PPP bids are secret, so no one can guess what might change as and when the Prescott scheme starts to be implemented.

Chris Smith is now the only London MP in Tony Blair's Cabinet. This is itself a pretty grim signal about the esteem in which the capital is held by the Government. Only Mr Smith is likely to use the trains, Tubes and buses every day of the week. Only he can articulate his constituents' aggravation directly at the Cabinet table. He may regret the impact of his honesty, but surely he has done London a service by telling the truth?

* Tony Travers is director of the London School of Economics Greater London Group.

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