FIFA-accredited vehicles will be allowed to travel in Vancouver’s bus lanes for over a month when the city hosts the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament.
Vancouver councillors passed a city staff motion allowing FIFA vehicles to drive in, but not stop in, the city’s bus lanes between June 11 and July 19.
B.C. Place stadium in downtown Vancouver is set to host seven games as part of the continent-wide competition, and the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) Amphitheatre will host a fan festival for the duration of the event.
As part of a number of changes mandated by its hosting agreement with FIFA — which include everything from temporary surveillance cameras to extended noise allowances — city staff said allowing FIFA vehicles to use bus lanes would reduce pressure on other lanes.
“This change is expected to result in limited impacts to current users, as the number of FIFA-accredited vehicles is relatively small and the designation is temporary,” staff say in the report.
A number of streets around B.C. Place and the PNE will be closed or restricted for the duration of the event, with the city’s host committee saying more details on road impacts will be shared closer to the World Cup itself.
Among the changes is a closure for a stretch of Pacific Boulevard, between the Canada Line’s Yaletown-Roundhouse station and the Expo Line’s Main Street-Science World station.
(City of Vancouver)
Denis Agar, the executive director of transit advocacy organization Movement, told CBC News that allowing FIFA-accredited vehicles to use bus lanes demonstrated how valuable they are.
“During the Olympics in 2010, the city put a huge network of temporary Olympic lanes across the city. This time we’re just repurposing the few bus lanes that we already have,” he said.
“I think this really shows that we need more lanes, as opposed to just splitting the ones we have across more and more vehicles.”
FIFA vehicles will be allowed to use special-use lanes, like those used by RapidBuses, for the duration of the World Cup. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Agar said he’s interested to see the city’s plans for Hastings Street specifically, which is the arterial road that connects downtown Vancouver to Hastings Park where the PNE Amphitheatre is.
He says the city should create a convenient way for fans to get to and from Hastings Park, especially with the potential addition of FIFA vehicles in bus lanes.
“If it’s not competitive, if it’s not fast enough, everyone’s going to hop into an Uber and Hastings is going to be a parking lot,” Agar argued.
A spokesperson for TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transit authority, said that it was comfortable sharing bus lanes with dedicated FIFA vehicles.
“This motion does not change where customers should board buses,” they wrote in a statement.
“TransLink is planning to share more on FIFA-related service plans next week.”