CANADA: Mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson launched 60 days of free travel on the 1·8 km Olympic tram line on January 21. The temporary service between Granville Island and the Olympic Village will run every 6 to 10 min between 06.30 and 00.30 for the period around the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and will act as demonstrator for the Downtown Streetcar proposal to return trams to a city where they last ran in 1958.

The service uses a tourist tram route on a segregated alignment parallelling False Creek between Anderson Street and West 2nd Avenue. The infrastructure has been upgraded at cost of C$8·5m, funded by the city and a C$0·5m contribution from Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp, owner of the Granville Island entertainment area.

Services are co -sponsored by the city and by Bombardier Transportation. Two Flexity trams have been loaned by Brussels transport operator STIB, and Raymond Bachant, President of Bombardier Transportation North America, said they 'will demonstrate the potential role that streetcars could play in the future of transportation in Metro Vancouver.'

The service could become permanent after the Games, depending on studies during the demonstration and a suitable funding agreement. The Downtown Streetcar proposals could see the route extended to serve Stanley Park, Chinatown, Gastown, Yaletown and the Stadium district.