With less than three weeks to go before the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, many local cab drivers are still unaware of key venues or how to get to them, a CTV News investigation has found.
Posing as out-of-town visitors, four CTV News staffers hailed cabs and asked to be taken to one of four major Olympic venues: the Main Media Centre (at Canada Place), Canada Hockey Place (at GM Place), the Vancouver Olympic Centre (the curling facility near Queen Elizabeth Park), and the Richmond Oval (the speed-skating facility in Richmond).
All locations have been widely published and advertised to the general public.
Here were the results:
- Four out of five knew how to get to Canada Hockey Place.
- Two out of eight knew how to get to the media centre.
- Two out of five knew how to get to the Oval.
- One out of six knew how to get to the curling facility.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said taxi companies can do better.
“It’s important taxi drivers are good hosts, know where to take people,” he said. “There’s some new destinations here, so cut them a little slack. But hopefully they’re all ready and they know where all these venues are when people arrive.”
The Passenger Transportation Board, which approves licenses for taxis and limousines in the province, has done a couple of things to expand taxi service during the Games.
It has relaxed the boundaries for 35 per cent of the taxi fleet, meaning those taxis can operate anywhere in the Lower Mainland instead of being limited to a specific geographic area.
And it is issuing temporary 60- to 90-day operating permits for new cabs.
So far, 49 temporary permits have been issued for taxis, and applications are coming in daily, a board spokeswoman said.
On Tuesday, hear how cab companies and Vancouver tourism officials are responding to the findings of the CTV News investigation.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Stephen Smart
