Vancouver — Flexity Cars Arrive

Rail Transit Online, December 2009

Two borrowed Bombardier Flexity streetcars are being prepared for service during the 2010 Winter Olympics, having arrived in Vancouver on Dec. 7 from Bremerhaven, Germany. The cars will operate a free service along a 1.1-mi. (1.8 km) demonstration line between Athlete's Village and Granville Island. They will run 18 hours a day, seven days a week, from Jan. 21 to Mar. 21.

The cars, loaned by the transit authority in Brussels, Belgium, made the 9,090-nautical mile trip (16,835 km) to North America by ship, transiting the Panama Canal before arriving in Tacoma, Washington; the last leg was covered by truck. Streetcar advocates hope to expand the Olympics line to other areas of the city such as Chinatown and Gastown.