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Transit and Olympic officials have dubbed this the “rehearsal week” for expanded transit services, increased parking restrictions and traffic changes in Whistler and the Sea to Sky.
Based on some transit experiences in the first couple of days after Whistler’s day skier parking lots closed to the public, it’s a good thing there was time for a rehearsal before the Games begin.
Perhaps the most common story for commuters on Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 1 and 2) was bus drivers who didn’t know their routes, with regular transit riders having to provide directions. Whistlerite Geoff Bate said one of his drivers said she didn’t know where the Village was, and another needed a heads up on where to turn into Alpine Meadows.
Manuel Achadinha, the president of B.C. Transit who was out riding buses and talking to drivers and passengers on Monday and Tuesday, said more than 250 drivers have arrived from across Canada to help provide expanded transit service in the corridor during the Games. Some had never been to Whistler before, and Monday was only their fifth or sixth day of training, he said.
There was also confusion about changes to bus stop locations. Bate said he had been waiting for almost an hour at his usual Village stop on Monday (Feb. 1) to catch the bus home to Alpine when someone came by and told him and others that the stop had changed. There was no sign posted at the stop, he said. Bate then waited another half hour for the bus at the new stop on Main Street.
“Yesterday was pretty horrible,” Bate said Tuesday.
B.C. Transit staff members were out in full force at Whistler’s Gondola Transit Exchange at the base of Whistler Mountain on Tuesday afternoon, walking around to various shelters and groups of people asking if anyone needed help. They helped direct people who were looking to catch the bus to Alpine or Emerald onto the Village Shuttle to get to Main Street — buses heading north of the Village are no longer stopping at Gondola Transit Exchange.
Pemberton resident Lisa Fernandez usually drives to Whistler for work, but said the first two days of taking the bus were “good.” She’s able to walk to the bus stop from home, and because she travels during peak times, the Pemberton commuter bus comes every 12 minutes. With a “simple route” on the commuter bus, she hasn’t run into any drivers who don’t know where they’re going, she said.
Fernandez said if transit service between Whistler and Pemberton always ran so regularly she’d probably take the bus more and she thinks others would, too.
Squamish resident Ellen Gobin’s commute this week hasn’t been as smooth. She said she used to catch the bus at a stop just outside her apartment, but the new routes in Squamish drop her off two blocks away.
“What is the use of the bus stop sign?” she said.
What’s more, when Gobin’s shift starts at 6 a.m. in Whistler she has to walk half an hour along the highway to the Wal-Mart transit hub to catch a bus to the resort. The connector route in her neighbourhood doesn’t run between 2 and 5 a.m., she said.
Achadinha encouraged people to be patient and plan ahead. The first day is always the toughest, he said.
“This is different. Let’s not kid ourselves — there’s more routes, expanded service,” he said.
People who choose to drive in Whistler should be aware that Main Street is now one-way only, and vehicles will require local permits to get into Creekside and other venue areas starting today (Thursday, Feb. 4).
Whistler Blackcomb is offering 1,400 pay parking stalls for skiers and others at $20 for a 24-hour period. The lot at the Whistler Golf Course Driving Range, a short walk from the Village Gondola, is available until Sunday (Feb. 7). On Tuesday afternoon only about 40 cars were parked in the lot.
Another parking lot 2.5 kilometres north of the Village is available until Feb. 10. Spots can be reserved online at www.whistlerblackcomb.com/olympics.
