A recent trip to Calgary has Utah Transit Authority officials even more convinced public transit will play a vital role in the 2002 Winter Games.
And, they are confident, UTA and its transportation partners can be just as successful as Calgary Transit was in moving 6.7 million passengers in 16 days during the 1988 Winter Olympics."When they had the Games 11 years ago, you didn't hear anything about their transportation -- which is a good sign in our business," said Mike Allegra, UTA's director of transit development.
"It was very, very helpful. We had a very good session with them on what their plans were, what lessons they learned."
Allegra took key staffers and board members to see and hear about Calgary's effort first-hand, and during the same time period the Games were held there.
Last weekend, Allegra toured Calgary with board members Curt Bramble, Steve Hawker and Richard Kuchinsky, general manager John Inglish, rail operations director Paul O'Brien and bus operations director Dave Huber.
"I think we were able to convey to them that ours was perhaps a more positive experience than what was experienced in Atlanta" during the 1996 Summer Games, said Fred Wong, superintendent of service planning and marketing for Calgary Transit and one of the Utah visitors' hosts for the weekend.
"When we have retirement banquets and we have people who have worked for Calgary Transit for 30 years, very often what they will cite as being the highlight of their career is their memories from the '88 Olympics, so that says a lot about how pleased people were with the way things went."
Calgary enjoyed particular success with its 18-mile, light-rail mass transit system, which features three legs -- to the northeast, northwest and southern sectors of the metropolitan area.
In Calgary, light rail offered direct access to the opening and closing ceremonies, the nightly medal award celebrations and the main ice skating and hockey venue, the Saddle Dome.
Likewise, in Salt Lake City, UTA's TRAX system will transport spectators to the main ice skating and hockey site, the Delta Center, and the nightly awards ceremonies -- to be held downtown at a to-be-determined location.
If UTA gets state and local funding assistance to operate a west-east light rail extension, TRAX also would take people to the opening and closing ceremonies at Rice Eccles Stadium as well as Salt Lake International Airport. The fate of the west-east line may hinge on what state lawmakers do -- or don't do -- in the last three days of the 1999 legislative session.
Calgary Transit carried more passengers on light rail than anticipated. Three-car trains ran at six-minute intervals from 6:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. and carried as many as 262,000 riders per day during the Games.
If both the north-south and west-east lines are in operation in 2002, UTA will have at least 49 cars to use on a 25.9-mile system. If only the north-south line has been constructed by then, UTA will have 23 cars and a 15-mile line. Calgary, by contrast, had 83 cars for its 18-mile network.
It's possible UTA will buy a few more cars than planned, but O'Brien figures he will have at least two dozen fewer light-rail vehicles at his disposal than Calgary did when it welcomed the world.
O'Brien was particularly impressed that Calgary Transit kept 81 of those 83 C-Train cars in operation throughout the Olympics. To achieve that feat, Wong said, Calgary Transit crews worked feverishly for months to make sure all equipment was in top shape before the Games began. O'Brien knows his staff will have to do the same.
"To have all but two cars running 18 hours a day for two weeks is a substantial effort," O'Brien said.
UTA will have one light-rail advantage over Calgary. The UTA system will be capable of supporting four-car trains. Calgary's was limited to three-car trains. With a seating capacity of 64 and a standing-room-only capacity of 150 per car, UTA could move up to 600 people per train.
What Inglish took from the visit had more to do with how the spectator transportation plan was organized and carried out. It was centralized under one umbrella -- Calgary Transit.
In Utah, "we've struggled through this whole issue of an organizational structure with a lot of different entities, none of whom are really part of the other," Inglish said.
Tom Halleran, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's transportation director, did not join the UTA group but is well aware of Calgary's 1988 success.
"It was very productive," he said of Calgary's light rail. "They had a good system in place. It had been around for a while (seven years) and performed very well."