Transit runs smoothly despite influx of travellers on busiest Games day yet
By Tiffany Crawford, Vancouver SunFebruary 17, 2010
Olympic spectators by the tens of thousands poured into downtown Vancouver on public transit Tuesday -- the first day that all city venues had a full slate of events -- but there were no major problems.
TransLink, which had predicted the busiest Winter Games day yet, said it was evidence that its plans are working.
In addition to live music at the two downtown LiveCity events, there were three hockey games at Canada Hockey Place -- including Canada's 8-0 trouncing of Norway -- curling at the Olympic Centre, figure skating at the Pacific Coliseum and a victory ceremony at BC Place.
With all those extra bodies cramming the buses, SeaBus and SkyTrain, TransLink officials were braced for heavy congestion and delays. But the dinner rush hour on SkyTrain heading into Stadium-Chinatown Station was surprisingly quiet. There were even some empty seats heading an hour before the medal ceremony was to begin.
"It was dead," said Ryan Mc-Fain, 58, of Vancouver, as he stepped off the SkyTrain at Stadium-Chinatown. "I thought it was going to be crazy on there but it was like normal."
TransLink officials said they were prepared for at least 30 per cent more riders on SkyTrain than normal.
"On Saturday, we had 157,000 people on the Canada Line alone," media relations manager Judy Rudin said.
On Sunday, TransLink reported 650,000 people travelled by rail -- the three SkyTrain lines and the West Coast Express -- while another 800,000 rode the buses and SeaBus. In total, about 1.5 million people used transit that day.
Rudin expected Tuesday's final numbers would be even higher. "There will be 22,000 coming out of BC Place for the nightly medal ceremony and then you have more than 16,000 out of Canada Hockey Place. And there will be a lot of people at Stadium and Yaletown. Yes, we'll see some heavy numbers."
Rudin attributed the empty seats at rush hour to the success of a public-relations campaign urging transit users to stagger their travel times and use alternative stations to the Stadium-Chinatown, the closest station to BC Place and Canada Hockey Place.
Earlier Tuesday, TransLink asked travellers who were attending events downtown and heading westbound on SkyTrain to get off one stop earlier at Main Street and walk the rest of the way to the stadium, about a 10-minute walk. The transportation authority warned passengers to expect some delays and leave themselves enough time to get to venues and events.
TransLink provided an incentive to ease lineups at transit ticket machines by offering a free full-day pass to anyone with a ticket to an event.
By mid-evening Tuesday, Rudin said, there were no reported problems on any of the transit routes. But the Canada Line was running at full rush-hour capacity with 20 trains to accommodate the crowds.
"I think that the message of, leave your car and travel off-peak times seems to be working and people are leaving earlier or later to get home," Rudin said. "It is a great success for us and the city and we're all hoping people will just keep it up."
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http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest...vellers+busiest+Games/2574863/story.html
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