400,000 more daily car trips expected for 2010 Games

[mr.x]

400,000 extra car trips a day expected for 2010 Games
That's the number of additional car trips Metro Vancouver will see each day during the 2010 Games. It's a 15% increase over the usual, and planners are looking at ways to get your car off the road

Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008

The 2010 Winter Games will generate an extra 400,000 trips a day in Metro Vancouver, and planners are trying to find ways to keep residents off the roads to accommodate them.

City of Vancouver assistant engineer Jerry Dobrovolny said Wednesday the extra trips will increase traffic by roughly 15 per cent in Vancouver, which normally sees three million trips a day.

In all of Metro, with six million trips a day, the percentage increase will be smaller.

A draft of the Olympic traffic plan won't be released until fall, but Dobrovolny said these measures are on the drawing board:

- There will be no parking at Olympic venues. Everyone attending will have to travel by bus.

- The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will operate an almost parallel bus system that will essentially double TransLink's bus fleet on Vancouver roads.

- There will be dedicated bus services from downtown Vancouver to ski venues such as Cypress Mountain and Whistler.

- At certain hours, the Sea-to-Sky Highway will be a bus-only route, although the road will not be completely closed to local traffic.

- Vancouver will clamp down on residents of the Hastings Park area who usually rent out their yards for parking during big events.

- Some traffic arteries in the city will have Olympics-only traffic lanes.

- Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C. will shift and extend their spring breaks to coincide with the Games, reducing traffic and freeing up capacity on TransLink buses and SkyTrain.

"It is a different transportation system that we will be working with during the Games," Dobrovolny told a seminar at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region conference.

He would not reveal some details of the plan, such as which major arteries will have dedicated Olympic lanes, and what street closures will be required to accommodate security zones around Olympic venues.

Dobrovolny said transportation planners have formed a committee of business groups to encourage downtown firms to explore telecommuting options for workers or shift work schedules and deliveries around the evening rush hour in particular, which will be prime time for many Olympic events.

The challenge, however, is to minimize the impact of the Olympics on residents and keep businesses, such as the Port of Vancouver, running as usual.

"We need to operate the Olympics within the confines of a fully functioning urban centre," Dobrovolny said. "So business needs to continue on through the Olympic Games, and residents -- we've got a very large resident population in downtown -- need to be able to go about their days."

Dobrovolny said information will be a key tool. The city and Olympic organizers will make it clear to visitors that driving to events will not be an option, and that there will be no public parking at venues.

TransLink is a key partner of the plan, Dobrovolny said, and will operate its system at rush-hour levels for longer hours during the Games and is working to make its fleet expansion plans coincide with the event.

In Whistler, visitors and village residents are being warned that the parking at their homes or hotels will be virtually the only parking available to them during the Olympics, and driving to events will be impossible.

"[Transportation] won't be business as usual, given the scale of the event," Dobrovolny said, "but it is important we minimize the impact on residents and business to every extent possible."

depenner@png.canwest.com








Don't be fooled about the article's "15% figure for Metro Vancouver" because that 15% increase is going to be focused along the North Shore-Downtown Vancouver-Vancouver/UBC-Richmond corridor (there are no venues outside of Vancouver, Richmond, and West Van). That's 400,000 more daily car trips a day in the City of Vancouver.....which should be equivalent to having two Celebration of Light traffic backups throughout each day and everyday during the Games.

The traffic problems on the Lions Gate Bridge will be epic.

[deasine]

LMAO... do you think TransLink might be considering looking at borrowing buses from other operating companies like from Victoria or Abbotsford or even Seattle perhaps? I have a feeling we need way more >_<

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by deasine

LMAO... do you think TransLink might be considering looking at borrowing buses from other operating companies like from Victoria or Abbotsford or even Seattle perhaps? I have a feeling we need way more >_<

I recall that Abbottsford was recently expanded to the realm of Translink's jurisdiction.

I could definitely see all unused buses in the Lower Mainland, Okanagan, and the Island going to Metro Vancouver during the Games. As well, they might use only the nice/newer buses for Vancouver and send off the old buses to the suburbs for the duration of the Games.

I recall awhile ago that VANOC's preliminary plan was to have its own fleet of 1,200-1,500 transit and coach buses.....which would be as large or if not bigger than Translink's bus fleet. The VANOC fleet would be used to shuttle media, athletes, the Olympic Family, and spectators. And the 2010 security force will also be having a huge bus fleet of their own to shuttle security personnel.

[twoNeurons]

- Vancouver will clamp down on residents of the Hastings Park area who usually rent out their yards for parking during big events.

There will be blood... get out the tazers.

[squeezied]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

[B][SIZE="4"]- Some traffic arteries in the city will have Olympics-only traffic lanes.

oh thats gotta be cambie street i bet

Originally Posted by mr.x2

[B][SIZE="4"]
Don't be fooled about the article's "15% figure for Metro Vancouver" because that 15% increase is going to be focused along the North Shore-Downtown Vancouver-Vancouver/UBC-Richmond corridor (there are no venues outside of Vancouver, Richmond, and West Van). That's 400,000 more daily car trips a day in the City of Vancouver.....which should be equivalent to having two Celebration of Light traffic backups throughout each day and everyday during the Games.

oh yea that's a good point. i went to the celebration of lights on wednesday. after it ended, i was walking along broadway and it was hella jammed, practically a stand still. i was waiting for the oak bus and, as i should've known, it was full. i got too impatient waiting so i called my dad to pick me up. turns out he also watched the fireworks and was at burrard and broadway. i ended up waiting 20 mins for him to arrive at oak and broadway which would have otherwise taken less than 5 mins on regular traffic.

[Yume-sama]

Jesus. I will either avoid the city or become a shut-in and not leave my apartment or venture across the Lions Gate... I can't even imagine how lined up that will be with its genius 3 lane solution.

[borgo100]

here is a fun idea, Vancouver should get/rent/lease buses from every transit network in the country, that'd be fun to see

[deasine]

Basically I think Vancouver should just close down the lions gate bridge and ship in as many transit vehicles as they possibly can. Actually VANOC should be conducting some sort of traffic control plan for the 2010 (nothing structured yet...)