Olympic Line Up and Running

Yesterday was an exciting day for residents of Vancouver. It was the opening of the brand new Olympic Line, which is a line of 2 streetcars that runs between the Olympic Village and Granville Island. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the grand opening, it was quite an event!

We got there at about 9:00am in hopes of getting on the first ride which was at 9:30. We were probably about 30th in line, I was expecting more people to be there already, however some of the people had been lined up since 4:30 that morning; crazy! It was a really nice atmosphere at the event, everyone was wearing their Olympic Mittens, and their Canada wear. And everyone was sporting a huge smile which was great to see. The weather was just perfect, it was nice and warm, and not a drop of rain. They had live music, the Olympic and Paralympic Mascots, 15 ex-Olympic and Paralymic athletes, and many other important people such as the Mayor and a representative from Bombardier.

We were given a certificate for being the first riders on the streetcar, which made me feel pretty special. But what was even better was when we got on the streetcar; it was absolutely gorgeous! It was such a quiet and smooth ride. The inside and outside of the streetcar looks just fabulous. And you have such a gorgeous view, with windows from the roof to the floor. Vancouver is such a beautiful city, and the Olympic Line really demonstrates it.

The Olympic Line is just a trial, with the streetcars being lent to us from Brussels, Belgium. It plans on running for 60 days, but there is a lot of debate over whether is should remain here afterwards. I suggest that you go and check it out, it is completely free, and runs from 6:30am to 12:30am 7 days a week. If you enjoyed your ride and want the streetcars to stay, then you can send a letter to the City of Vancouver letting them know that you think it is a positive change for our city. If we get enough interest, we might be able to keep them.

I think the Olympic Line just fabulous for our city. It is really Eco-friendly running on a natural source of electricity. It is going to help clear up the roads in such a high density area. It will cause less cars to have to park in the very busy Granville Island where there is so little parking space. It will save people time and money. And it will be one step closer to creating a green Vancouver!


Here I am with the 2010 Mascots!