TransLink has laid out a comprehensive plan to welcome the world to Vancouver as the city hosts seven FIFA World Cup matches this summer at BC Place, with added security, more buses, longer and more frequent transit services in the works.<\/p>\n
Sixteen cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States will host the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association Men\u2019s 2026 World Cup from June 11 to July 19, featuring 48 teams from five continents in 104 matches.<\/p>\n
As can well be imagined, TransLink\u2019s chief operating officer Jeffrey Busby notes this region will face \u201csignificant surges\u201d in travel demand as a result, especially on match days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s activity occurring across the enterprise,\u201d he told the board, adding the FIFA World Cup is the world\u2019s largest, most-watched sporting event. \u201cWe really want to stress that transit is the best way to access the FIFA events as well as events that will be occuring across the region during the tournament, making sure that visitors and residents and commuters have information about the status of the transportation system, including specific information about accessing the games.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of Vancouver\u2019s seven matches \u2013 for which attendance is expected to be roughly 350,000 all told \u2013 an official 28-day FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver at the PNE is expected to draw 25,000 people a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransit will be promoted as the preferred mode of travel, supporting both event mobility and the continued movement of residents and workers,\u201d Busby told the TransLink board at its quarterly meeting. \u201cWith temporary road closures, controlled areas, and traffic management measures near venues, transit will be the fastest and most reliable way to access event sites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busby said there will be \u201cvery limited provision for parking, if at all, at any of these venues.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTransLink will deliver significant service increases across bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus, and West Coast Express to respond to anticipated demand. Service plans are designed to ensure fans can count on frequent, reliable options to get to and from events while other customers can still seamlessly carry out their regular commutes and daily activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vancouver\u2019s lineup features Australia versus the winner of play-off C on Saturday, June 13 at 9 p.m.; Canada versus Qatar on Thursday, June 18 at 3 p.m.; New Zealand versus Egypt on Sunday, June 21 at 6 p.m.; Switzerland versus Canada on Wednesday June 24 at noon; New Zealand versus Belgium on Friday, June 26 at 8 p.m.; Group B winner versus Group e\/F\/G\/I\/J third place on Thursday, July 2 at 8 p.m.; and the winner of match 85 versus the winner of match 87 on Tuesday, July 7 at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n
Coast Mountain Bus Company president Mike McDaniel told the board that additional service will be added to Vancouver\u2019s downtown core with modified routes during game days on specific routes to help crowd flow at the site entrance near Main Street and Terminal.<\/p>\n
More bus service and shuttles will be added to get riders to and from the Fan Fest site with loading and unloading of shuttles in the Pacific Coliseum staff parking lot off Renfrew Street.<\/p>\n
\u201dTo test our plans, CMBC is running mock exercises for bus, SeaBus, and HandyDART with partners including SkyTrain, Emergency Medical Services, and the City of Vancouver. Adjustments will be made as needed,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n
Metro Vancouver Transit Police Chief Suzanne Muir told the board there will be more \u201chigh visibility\u201d police and security on patrol downtown and across the region, and safety information is being translated into multiple languages, \u201cwith the international visitors that we\u2019re having. We want to make sure that people are aware of the different safety features that we have.\u2019<\/p>\n
The police force\u2019s detection dogs, she said, are qualified to do vapour scent deployment. \u201cVery important when they\u2019re out in the crowds to have that ability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Transit Police will be part of a broad \u201cFIFI security framework\u201d involving municipal, provincial, and federal authorities stationed at transit hubs and host venues.<\/p>\n
Busby said the TransLink Emergency Coordination Centre will be operating from June 8 to July 22, \u201cproviding centralized oversight and coordination throughout the tournament period.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese preparations reflect TransLink\u2019s experience supporting global events and position the region\u2019s transit system to be ready for the world\u2019s biggest sporting event,\u201d he noted. \u201cPreparations are being tested and refined through ongoing coordination, training, and exercises in advance of the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preparations include a \u201ccross\u2011functional\u201d taskforce represented by TransLink Corporate, Coast Mountain Bus Company, BC Rapid Transit Company. There will be a dedicated shuttle between SkyTrain\u2019s Expo and Millennium lines and FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver at the PNE, and about 600 more bus trips per day with extra service on routes serving the Fan Festival.<\/p>\n
Further, Busby noted, there will be more transit service throughout the downtown core with additional buses on standby \u201cto respond to crowd surges and changing conditions, with crews monitoring crowding in real time and deploying service as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
All told, there will be 12,000 more bus service hours and dedicated HandyDART drop-off zones at BC Place and the Fan Festival. The HandyDART drop-off and pick-up will be outside the stadium at Expo Boulevard and Carrall Street and on Nelson Street between Pacific and Expo Boulevards. Also, drop-off and pick-up will be outside of FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver at Gate 2, Parking Lot 1 and Gate 10 Parking Lot 9.<\/p>\n
People can expect extra and more frequent SkyTrain service before and after matches with the trains running every two minutes at downtown stations. During those nights when Vancouver\u2019s matches start at 8 p.m. or later, SkyTrain service will be extended by one hour and after local matches, empty trains will be waiting for riders at Main Street\u2013Science World Station \u201cso fans can board and get home quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busby said the Main Street\u2013Science World Station will be the \u201cpreferred station access\u201d for customers heading to BC Place on local match days. This station will be the primary way fans with tickets are expected to access BC Place.<\/p>\n
\u201cImportant to note that Stadium-Chinatown Station will remain open, and that\u2019s to serve the immediate surrounding neighbourhood but for those fans with tickets, they will be directed to use Main Street-Science World as the major access and egress point to BC Place,\u201d he told the board. \u201cThere will be activations along the walkway and special provisions for accessibility for those who are using a conventional system to arrive at BC Place but may need assistance with the walk.\u201d<\/p>\n
People can also expect more SeaBus sailings, with SeaBus will operating with 15-minute service or better \u201call day, every day for the duration of the tournament,\u201d improving to 10-minute frequencies before and after local matches. The Seabus hours will also be extended by an hour when local matches begin at 8 p.m. or later, to align with SkyTrain\u2019s hours.<\/p>\n
Also, there will be West Coast Express train round-trip service on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 21 with one locomotive operating westbound before both games and one eastbound train after them.<\/p>\n
\u201cClear, proactive, and accessible communications are central to TransLink\u2019s FIFA readiness,\u201d Busby said. \u201cPublic messaging will emphasize travel planning, service availability, and customer expectations during match days and FIFA Fan Festival operations. Communications will use simple language, strong visuals, and digital tools to support trip planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo support international audiences, transit information is offered in six languages online, plus customer information is available in 300-plus languages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busby told the board TransLink and its partners have been working on all this \u201cfor many, many months and we are very advanced in our preparations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing this with a mind towards making this experience excellent for those who are visiting our region as well as providing sufficient transit capacity to keep the region moving during the tournament period and making sure that our day to day riders are not left behind as we host this important global event.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three key destinations that are the focus of TransLink\u2019s anticipated increase in transit ridership are Vancouver International Airport, BC Place and the Fan Festival at the PNE along Hastings Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TransLink has laid out a comprehensive plan to welcome the world to Vancouver as the city hosts seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-571721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}