Can't get there from here either.

The transportation plan for the 2010 Olympics was released yesterday. A few observations:

-The public is being advised to take public transit throughout the Olympic, but Translink has no actual plans to increase capacity. The additional 200 buses added between 2007 and 2009 mentioned in the plan were actually purchased to make up a shortage within the existing fleet. Increasing capacity during the Olympics means going out and getting more buses. By contrast, Calgary Transit borrowed dozens of buses and LRT cars from neighbouring Edmonton during the 1988 Games.

-Notice to anyone who purchased tickets for events in Whistler but has accommodations in Vancouver: you will miss your events. The restriction on non-resident private vehicles along the Sea-to-Sky Highway has been downgraded to a traffic patrol in Squamish who will try to "discourage unnecessary vehicle traffic". For those of you who have never been to Vancouver, there are a lot of people who here who consider driving absolutely necessary because they are convinced they will be somehow diminished if they're seen riding public transit.

-Almost 20% of Vancouver's population walks or bicycles to work, which makes shutting down bike lanes and pedestrian corridors (such as Southeast False Creek at Science World) unfair, if not counterintuitive - make it hardest for the people who make the fewest traffic problems by giving them the biggest detours.

-This page has always held the opinion that there is far too much free public parking in Vancouver. However, I would not want to be the traffic control officer who has to ticket people parked near a hospital under the Olympic parking restrictions. Having experienced the blowback from physicians who can't find a convenient space near a hospital, I'd be worried that some officers may find themselves parked in the hospital as a result.

Screeching Halt

Why is it that people will freak out about somebody firing a gun on a crowded street, but nobody seems to mind when somebody makes a sweeping turn in their SUV through a dozen pedestrians trying to cross the street?

Just askin'.....Look out!!

Can't get there from here

VANOC's security plans for the 2010 Olympics will ground regional air travel throughout B.C.

If there was any doubt that the '250' part of the province (i.e. the geographical bulk of it) is being regarded as an afterthought in the run-up to the Games, this would should remove it. Every day floatplanes touch down in Vancouver's Coal Harbour from places that are readily accessible only by those floatplanes. These are also places where VANOC won't pay for state-of-the-art security screening. What, there's no money left after all the tasers have been handed out? On any given day, the passengers on these planes may be coming to town on business, to do a little shopping. They could also be coming to Vancouver General or B.C. Children's for a complex and urgent operation. Hopefully, any given day doesn't fall between January and March of next year.