An Olympic-Sized Car Pool

"Vancouver residents may be pressed to leave their cars at home for the two weeks of the 2010 Winter Olympics, says the chief executive officer of the organizing committee.

John Furlong, who seemed bullish about Vancouverites buying into the idea, said yesterday the push for limited car use will be further refined as organizers begin to focus on transportation planning for the 21st Winter Games.

"Is it possible that we would ask people to work with us and leave their cars at home and go to [public transit]? Yes it is," Mr. Furlong told reporters, after a wide-ranging speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade in which he touched frequently on what the public will be able to do to participate in the event. "It's possible we could ask them."

He also said organizers may approach businesses in Canada's third-largest city - already traffic-challenged by the lack of major roads in its confining geography of mountains and water - to rework their hours of operation to ease transportation issues.

Much of the transportation discussion has focused on moving people between Vancouver and Whistler, including issues related to a $600-million upgrade to the Sea to Sky Highway linking the two communities central to the Games.

However, Mr. Furlong's comments focused more on how things might work within the already-congested core of the city."