Cap U parking lots can handle 2010 crowds: VANOC
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Updated: August 05, 2009 1:35 PM
Olympic organizers are expecting approximately 1,000 vehicles to pack Capilano University parking lots as ticket holders catch buses to 2010 Winter Olympic events.
“We have got space for 1,200 vehicles,” VANOC spokeswoman Lizette Parson Bell said.
The North Vancouver university is the only announced departure hub on the North Shore from which viewers can catch buses to Olympic venues.
But just because you live on the North Shore doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be getting a bus from Capilano, she said.
Details need to be ironed out, as different locations may transport people to different events, Parsons Bell explained.
Although organizers expect to have enough parking, Parsons Bell wants to encourage people to carpool and use public transportation.
No unauthorized vehicles will be allowed past the highway exit to Cypress Mountain, the freestyle skiing and snowboard venue.
Stonecliff and Deer Ridge residents, as well as people staying at the Hollyburn Cabins, will have special passes to cross the check point, she said.
District of West Vancouver staff will also have access to its operations centre on Cypress Bowl Road, she said.
Access to the operations centre is critical to the municipality, roads and transportation manager Brent Dozzi told The Outlook.
“Our concern is to make sure that access to our operations centre is maintained so we can conduct our day to day business,” he said.
North Vancouver and West Vancouver police detachments will also be busy.
The two departments are sending members to join the 2010 Olympic security force, Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit spokeswoman Maria Edwards said.
She would not say how many officers West and North Van were volunteering and noted the North Shore officers could serve outside of their community.
“When planning for deployment individual communities have to consider their own policing needs, so that is not jeopardized as far as the Olympics are concerned,” Edwards said.
Overall the force will consist of 7,000 officers, including provincial and municipal RCMP forces from across Canada.
VANOC will hold an open house in North Vancouver this fall, Parsons Bell said.
“We will be able to provide people with more specific details at that time to ensure they can develop their Games times travel plan,” she said.
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