Olympic Streetcar Line - Free Transportation to Granville Island (Jan 21 to Mar 21)

[slammer111]

Looks pretty cool, and will be way faster than buses for a given route if they run on their own tracks. Can't believe this is just a 60-day demo. Europe always gets the cool stuff.

[K-Dub]

Originally Posted by goo3

This is an excellent way to spend money.

Fixed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwCCWGYOGg

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Volvo-brickster

I'm waiting for the olympic fans to say this is an excellent way to spend money.

$8.5 million for 1.8km of track and a 60 day rental.

FANTASTIC way to spend money.

Oh yea...prince george has to close 11 schools and vancouver school board may lay off close to 300 people. But thats ok, $8.5 million wouldn't help their cause.

Those layoffs are due to less kids in Vancouver schools and most young families not being able to afford to live in Vancouver anymore. Next up, Olympics responsible for H1N1 the Earthquake in Haiti and Aids.

[ivanz]

$8 million was not only for the tracks, it was for a full infrastructure replacement (overhead wires, storage, etc). It would have needed to be done either way, since the DHR built everything on a shoestring budget in the 90s using old rails and trolley bus wires/parts. Bombardier also kicked in a bunch of money so that we will have 2 old Vancouver interurban cars running along with an old Brussels tram which has been sitting in their shed for years due to lack of funds to get it running.

Also, CMHC (Granville Island owners) and others paid part of the money, and not just the city. I think it is a great investment, and will bring a huge amount of tourist dollars during AND after the Olympics for Granville Island, as we will have 3 trams left for tourists along with stations and full infrastructure. Not to mention the DHR operates it at cost using volunteers, so nobody needs to be paid to drive/maintain them.

So this was a good bargain IMO, and it is shortsighted to say this is a waste of money without looking at what was gained and what infrastructure we will retains for at least a decade or two.