What happened to the notion that attracting the Olympic Games is supposed to provide long-term benefits for the host city? At least as far as transportation, there isn’t much there for New York, according to the latest version of NYC 2012 bid.

Where the original "Olympic X" plan spoke glowingly of trains connecting the Meadowlands and central Queens and new ferry routes (see MTR #414), the scheme now smacks more of Atlanta, 1996 — rented buses and reserved highway lanes.

Olympic cities frequently try to leverage national-level investments in Olympic "legacy" projects like new transit lines. It’s unclear whether the Bloomberg Administration has gone to Washington or Albany to get additional transit funding commitments to help make the city’s Olympic case. To be fair, our federal system makes such an appeal more difficult than it may be in a strong central government system.

In New York, the proposed extension of the #7 subway line is in part bound up with the plan to build a new stadium on the West Side, but the subway and stadium projects are separate from any public or private financing directed at the Olympic bid itself, and rely on shaky financing schemes. Rather than offering tangible long-term benefits for New York, the Olympics bid seems to have another function here — as a club for flogging opponents of the controversial stadium plan.

Competing 2012 bids seem to promise more in the way of lasting transportation benefits.

London 2012 would construct a new transit hub and links at the Stratford Olympic Centre. The Paris bid boasts that "The Games’ legacy in terms of public transport infrastructures will be significant, including complete overhaul of the RER B line, extensions to a number of Metro and Tramway lines and the construction of the Eole-Evangile station."

Meanwhile, Madrid’s 2012 bid asserts the aggressive promise to organize the "first car-free games." In preparation, the bid says the city and nation are expanding inter-city and suburban rail systems, extending the subway with new lines and stations, trains and even creating a bikeway system that will serve the city and connect most of the Olympic venues. Madrid will also build the cost of public transit tickets into Olympic venue tickets to promote bus and train use during the events.

The Institute for Transportation & Development Policy reports Beijing will implement 100 kilometers of new bus rapid transit lines prior to the 2008 Olympics. The city is also at work on major subway system expansion, in addition to constructing a specific subway system to serve Olympic venues.

MTR back issues:

Go to index of all Mobilizing the Region back issues.