As of the morning of Feb. 1, Vancouverites officially became the commuters in Olympic traffic patterns, which include 18 bus reroutes and three new road closures.
Seven of these 18 bus routes are main arteries into the University of British Columbia, the host Olympic venue, and one of university’s main roads is closed, severely inconveniencing many UBC transit users.
In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Michelle Aucoin, UBC’s director of 2010 Olympic and Paralympics, said information about the closure had been available since August, but that some people may not have seen it. She was right.
“I had no idea about the coming road closures and change of the bus schedules,” said Jenny Hsieh, a first-year arts student at UBC who lives off-campus.
She said that although the bus fare remains the same, the change in schedule for the Olympics costs students precious time.
“For example, the bus that used to come every 10 minutes now comes in 30-minute intervals, and the same buses come at the same time, which prolongs the waiting time for the bus,” Hseih said.
Hsieh said she finds getting to class on time very difficult with bus rerouting and its delays.
Others have been luckier. Ji Won Yoon, a fourth-year nursing student at UBC takes the bus each day and said she has not experienced significant delays.
“The bus rerouting hasn’t affected me that much since it didn’t change much of the bus route I usually take. However, I heard many complaints from other students who live in downtown area about taking too long to get to school,” she said.
Jun Lee a first-year science student said putting posters, posting the information on the first page of the school websites or announcing the change of plans in lectures would have saved many students from frustration and missing class.
Although Lee lives in residence and is not as affected by the bus rerouting and road closures as off-campus students, he said going back home for the weekend was very long, inconvenient and stressful.
Not only bus users like Hsieh are affected by the new traffic pattern, but student drivers are inconvenienced as well.
“By driving in the morning, it usually took about an hour to get to UBC from Coquitlam, where I live. But for these couple of days, the closing down of roads caused severe traffic which took me about 1.5 to two hours to get to school,” said Min Park, a first-year forestry student at UBC.
Park said UBC’s closing down of its roads for Olympic has caused trouble for students, especially in over-crowded parking lots.
“I literally see cops everywhere because of the coming Olympic Games, but they are not doing anything,” Park said. “They just sit and talk with each other. I hope they take an action in organizing the traffic that is causing so much trouble.”
Despite the apparent problems, the UBC Planning Student Association said there have been no formal complaints regarding the rerouting or traffic issue.
“We are getting an exceptional venue from hosting the Games,” said Aucoin in the Vancouver Sun interview. “It has extraordinary opportunities associated with hosting the Games. But it does come with some inconveniences.”
Some students are not sure the positives outweigh the problems.
“I am not willing to trade my convenience for such an opportunity. I would prefer lying back in my couch and watch the Games with my friends,” Lee said.