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Will the 2010 Games make commuting more sustainable?

Olympics transportation patterns could be the blueprint for long-term green legacies, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declared today.

“What we have achieved in such a short time is remarkable,” he said in a prepared statement. “Our next task is to encourage people to stay out of their cars when the Games end, and continue to choose better ways of getting around.”

Transportation planners wanted a 30 per cent reduction in vehicle traffic downtown. Early test runs were shaky, but they achieved their goal during the opening ceremonies.

In addition, about 5,000 cyclists are pedaling in and out of downtown each day. Those numbers almost rival “summertime levels", the city said.

Nearly 290,000 people took the Canada Line last Friday. Over 20,000 ride the Vancouver 2010 Streetcar each day.

"The moves citizens have made to sustainable transportation are ones we hope will be lasting legacies after the Games,” Robertson said.

Of course, there’s a big difference between an Olympics period and normal routine. Vancouver citizens were told for months to leave their cars behind. Games organizers pitched the transportation plan as “business as unusual”.

Many commuters are staying home during the Olympics period, or have left the city altogether. Public transit numbers are being bolstered by thousands of Games visitors.

Last year, prominent sustainable cities thinker Patrick Condon told the Tyee transit only accounts for 12 per cent of Metro Vancouver trips. Personal vehicles are the preferred mode of travel at 80 per cent.

Much of the Vancouver region consists of sprawling suburbs without good public transit, he said.

"We have a much deeper set of problems than what would be influenced by the Olympics," Condon explained at the time.

Geoff Dembicki reports for the Tyee.

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