User:Geo Swan/Friends of the Olympic Line



The Friends of the Olympic Line is a group of transit enthusiasts who are advocating Vancouver running a regular streetcar service along an old railway right of way between Main Street–Science World Station on the SkyTrain and Granville Island, a neighbourhood home to upscale boutiques, restaurants and condominiums.

From 1998 through 2012 a group of hobbyists ran heritage streetcars along the 1.1 mile route, during the summer. That service was aimed at tourists.

As a demonstration the improvements were made to the track and route prior to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Those improvements cost $8.5 million CAD. Two borrowed modern streetcars provided service on the line for two months, carrying 550,000 riders. They ran every 6 minutes, for 18 hours a day. During this period the route was called "Olympic Line".

2012 was the last summer volunteers ran heritage streetcars, and the most recent Vancouver budget contained $400,000 to decommission the line at some time between 2015 and 2018.

On October 13, 2014, Metro Vancouver, reported that Friends of the Olympic Line called on Vancouver City Council to commit $5 million to incorporate a refurbished line into Vancouver's transit authority. The organization has called for the line to be extended to Main Street–Science World Station.

The group has announced plans to make the expansion of the line an election issue. News Radio 1130 asserted Mayor Gregor Robertson opposed restoration of the service during his last election. However, CBC News and the Globe and Mail have quoted Robertson supporting restoring streetcars to Vancouver's transit solutions in 2010, when he opened the Olympic Line.