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by Michelle Ng @ Fully Managed™ We are soon to have the world’s attention turn to Vancouver as the city is set to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The enthusiasm is brewing across the city as we prepare to welcome athletes, sponsors, media and tourists from around the globe. The question of how the Olympics will affect Vancouver businesses is no doubt on many people's minds.
Many of our clients, as well as the Fully Managed™ office, are located in areas of the city that will experience street closures, lane closures, parking restrictions and a significant increase in traffic in just a few short weeks. To give you an idea on the magnitude of the games, there will be an estimated 135,000 spectators in Vancouver and 60,000+ participants at celebration sites on a daily basis. We will have an additional 4500 vehicles on the streets of Vancouver, 6100 athletes and officials during the entire Olympic Games period.
Traffic is expected to be like rush hour throughout the day. To ensure that people can continue to move efficiently throughout the region, we need to reduce vehicle traffic by at least 30 per cent particularly in key areas including downtown Vancouver, the North Shore crossings, Sea to Sky Corridor and Whistler. Fantastic information on getting around the city during the Olympics, including a "Where are you going to?" and "Where are you leaving from?" wizard-based application, is available at www.travelsmart2010.ca.
Most of our Vancouver clients have indicated that they will be allowing staff to work from home during this period, while staff who must work from the office will be encouraged to use public transit. The need for additional user capacity for secure remote access will be greatly increased during the next couple months. Rather than charge for this service on a temporary basis, we have leveraged our partnership with Juniper Networks to secure an increased service for no charge to our clients. During the months of February and March, we are increasing the number of allowed concurrent users for all clients who are setup with the Fully Managed™ secure access service to promote letting staff work from home during this busy time.
Cam McLeod (VP, Angel Restoration) put it very well at a presentation we attended on transportation during the 2010 Olympics: "It will be business as UN-usual". As a restoration company, Angel Restoration relies on being able to get around the city to attend loss sites, assess and restore. While they expect to incur delays and certainly increased cost of delivering services, business must carry on - VANOC and the other stakeholders are committed to this.
If you have the ability to take advantage of a condensed work week, flexible hours or have unused vacation time, it might be a good time to take it. Let's all contribute to the success of the Games and be part of an amazing legacy for our city.
