Metro Vancouver transit braces for Swift impact as cost of parking, ride-hailing spike on show nights
TransLink to provide extra bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus service as around 300,000 people expected in stadium district
Metro Vancouver's transit operator is rolling out expanded and extended services to cope with the impact of Taylor Swift fans during the superstar's three-night run at B.C. Place, as parking and ride-hailing costs soar.
Parking fees next to the stadium have rocketed to more than $150 on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, while the cost of a short ride to B.C. Place with Uber has quadrupled on concert nights.
Transport operator TransLink says it will provide extra bus, SkyTrain, and SeaBus services on concert nights, to cope with the demands of an expected 160,000 Swift fans attending the sold-out final shows of her record-breaking Eras Tour.
SkyTrain frequency will increase on concert nights, with last trains departing Waterfront Station at 1:15 a.m. on the Canada Line and 1:16 a.m. on the Expo Line. The West Coast Express commuter train will also run a special service on Saturday, leaving Mission, B.C., at 4 p.m. and returning from Vancouver at midnight.
The SeaBus across Burrard Inlet will sail every 10 minutes from 3 p.m. until last sailing at 1:22 a.m. from Waterfront on all three nights, while extra buses will be deployed as needed.
TransLink says shuttle buses outside B.C. Place after the concerts will help get customers to Waterfront Station.
TransLink spokesperson Tina Lovgreen said friendship bracelets will be handed out to riders.
"We're going to maximize frequency and maximize capacity to get customers to and from the concerts as safely and swiftly as possible," she said on Monday.
Parking, ride-hailing prices surge
Transit demand is expected to be high, in part due to the sheer cost of alternatives.
Reserving a single space at the Indigo parking lot at Rogers Arena costs $151.90 from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. the next day on show nights.
Hourly parking nearby can cost as little as $7 an hour on a non-performance night.
A customer service employee at Indigo said the fee hike "is necessary to ensure a smooth and convenient parking experience," with the Vancouver Canucks playing and Cirque du Soleil also performing on show nights.
The worker said she didn't know how many of the parking spots had been reserved.
The cost of a short Uber ride to B.C. Place is also ballooning, even for organized Swifties who want to pre-book.
For a trip on Monday afternoon, the ride share's app showed the 1.3-kilometre trip from the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre to B.C. Place costing less than $10.
Scheduling an Uber for the same trip a few hours before the first concert on Friday already comes in at more than $41.
Police say they are expecting more than 300,000 people in the stadium district on the nights of the shows.
Officials are actively discouraging fans without tickets to avoid the area on those nights.
In a media briefing last week, Chris May, general manager of B.C. Place, confirmed that areas around the stadium will be strictly limited to ticket holders for Swift's shows.
In the briefing about Vancouver's preparations for the concerts, officials said overnight camping outside the stadium would be banned, roads around the stadium closed from noon to midnight on show days, and a fence erected around the stadium perimeter this week.