It may have been for purely selfish reasons that some of us who rely on public transit daily to get in and out of downtown Vancouver didn't embrace the idea of the Olympics. You know how VANOC describes Cypress Bowl as its "special child"?  Well, Skytrain is ours.

The region's transit system has a bit of a rep of letting us down when we need it most. It's not
unusual for the Skytrain system to go down when have our first snowfall.  And the line-ups are longer than the ride if you're coming out of an event at GM Place (now Canada Hockey Place), BC Place stadium or going home after the fireworks in the summer. 

So, closing bridges, viaducts and main downtown streets to force spectators, tourists and residents to rely on public transit for the two weeks of the Olympics?  OMG!

At the start of these Games, an official with knowledge of such things, warned about the
traffic patterns in Salt Lake City when it hosted the 2002 Winter Games.  That host city tried hard to reduce vehicular traffic but the result was less than steller.  Residents initially left their cars at home but after a few days, got back behind the wheel for their daily commutes.  The result was traffic gridlock.  

However, that's not the trend in Vancouver.  We're almost halfway through the 2010 Winter Olympics and pedestrian traffic has soared.  Yes, it could be the weather and yup, many people have left town to escape the pandemonium.  But it could also be that our transit has worked.  

Every night is a perfect storm for Skytrain with downtown events ending simultaneously. Visitors probably think that those six-car trains that arrive every two minutes is the norm.  They should try a regular commute that often sees two-car trains six minutes apart and packed with bodies.  

We now can see that while the system is the busiest it's ever been, it can, apparently, handle
the load.  

Who knew?