Two items from Today\'s Times Colonist (Victoria)

City hall touts green commuting

Canwest News Service

Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver City Hall has decided to replace free employee parking with incentives for sustainable commuting. The incentives include a 35- to 50-per-cent discount on transit passes, subsidized parking for car pools, and free bike tune-ups. They will be paid for by converting the free parking spaces into pay spots.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

Games visitors face Chinese culture shock
Cam Macmurchy, Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008

One day this week I arrived at Beijing Railway Station around 9 p.m. to find mayhem: Pouring rain, thunder and lightning, thousands of people and no taxis.

I left the station and made my way toward the taxi line-up, which resembled a swarm of bees around a hive. Sadly, I was without an umbrella and the rain was pouring down the back of my shirt as throngs of people pushed me aside to grab whatever taxis might be available.

There weren't very many. There were no security guards in the area and no one was taking charge to ensure the scene was orderly. People skipped the queue to grab taxis or walked further into the taxi parking area to catch a new driver as he entered the lot. Taxi drivers selected the passengers they wanted, scoffing at passengers who weren't going far enough.

The area is fenced and taxis aren't permitted to pick up passengers on streets near the train station, so walking somewhere to catch a cab was out.

My last hope was the subway, which has a stop conveniently located at the train station. But sadly, the stop, a key link between Beijing's largest railway station and the subway, has been entirely closed weeks before the Olympics -- and nobody is quite sure why.

This is Beijing in June 2008, weeks before it throws open its doors to the world. The taxi chaos at the station is typical of problems the city is facing. Services and preparations for the Games just aren't up to the standards westerners are used to.

I say this with some cultural sensitivity. Many Chinese would rightly ask why they should line up for a taxi just to please western visitors. It's hard to point fingers at a country and culture that have endured for 5,000 years.

As a long-term resident of China, I've become used to the daily quirks that come with living here. But while I roll my eyes and think, "that's China," when somebody lights up a cigarette in an elevator or loudly coughs phlegm onto the sidewalk, I wonder how visitors will handle it when they're here in August for the Games.

Beijing Airport's Terminal 3 opened to much fanfare in February, but critics have begun picking it apart. Many complain there is not one bookstore in the international departures area, for example.

James Fallows, a writer for The Atlantic, agrees the building is impressive at first glance. "But on each of my dozen trips in or out, there has been a significant flow problem -- a Sahara-size concourse with super-jammed choke points in varying areas," he writes. "The baggage stand, the passport lines, the trains going from one part of the terminal to another."

Foreign journalists are already complaining about the lack of preparation at some Olympic venues and the unhelpful volunteers. A journalist with an Italian organization ended up screaming at a volunteer at the China Aquatics Centre after she was sent running around to get approvals to enter areas of the site for which she was already accredited.

Or consider my experience a few months ago, when I walked into a travel agency to buy a train ticket. The two young men seated behind the metal bars (and I now understand why those bars are there) told me they were having "computer problems" and would be with me shortly.

I waited. And waited. And noticed they were pounding awfully quickly on the spacebar. On a hunch, I stepped quietly down a hallway and peeked at their computer screens. They were playing a shoot-'em-up video game. Even after I found out, they waited another five minutes before selling me a ticket.

CBC Sports, along with other international broadcasters, has run into problems getting proper broadcast approvals from Olympic organizers. CBC Sports head Scott Moore said, "For us to potentially not be able to do live reports from Tiananmen -- the most iconic place in China -- is a disgrace. I've been told that to do business in China, you have to have patience. We don't have time to have patience. The Games have begun for us already."

Fortunately, foreign TV stations recently received permission to broadcast live from Tiananmen Square.

Finally, as many news stories have pointed out, Beijing has cracked down hard on visas for foreigners. One of my friends has already had to pack up and head home and others will follow. At the precise moment China is supposed to be welcoming the world, it has decided to erect giant hurdles that discourage visitors and hurt tourism.

Yes, that's China. Those who choose to come for the Games will have a memorable time. But if you're making the trek, there's one thing that you must be sure to pack -- patience.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008