By Cybele Negris

I was asked a few months ago by someone whether our office was shutting down for the Olympics.  I was surprised by the question.  In our business, we track every minute of phone calls and emails that come into our contact centre. We serve customers across Canada and globally. We couldn’t shut down for a day!

I started to wonder about businesses that could close down for a day, or for the entire Olympics for that matter, and what kind of business impact it might have. I started to think about why anyone would want to do that when we have hundreds of thousands of new people in the city to expose our businesses to? In upcoming posts I will discuss how local businesses are taking advantage of the Olympics. In the meantime, what the question did was get me thinking about how to maintain 100% productivity. 

There was a lot of talk about road closures, the inability for people to get to work or for deliveries to be completed. So I asked our office administrator Meryll to help us put a plan together to ensure that we have no down time and full productivity at Webnames.ca. She has graciously shared some of what she has found out below in hopes that it will help other businesses.

Getting To and From Work & Meetings

1. It's helpful to determine which transportation routes each employee takes to work ahead of time. There are road closures all over Vancouver and understanding where employees are located will make your research more targeted and effective.

2. Once you have determined everyone’s mode of transportation (eg. bus, seabus, skytrain, etc.), call TransLink and ask if the busses used by your employees are going to be re-routed. This information will help your staff plan alternate routes.

We asked about key dates and what procedures they (Translink) are taking during the Olympics to ensure that all passengers get to their destination in a timely manner.  We found out that bus detours will be in effect between Feb. 1-28. Extra busses to accommodate more passengers will be available Feb. 12-28 and there will be night busses on all major bus routes till 3:00 AM.  Seabus will be departing every 15 minutes during 6 – 10 AM and every 10 minutes during 10 AM to 12:30 AM. Skytrain will arrive every 108 seconds and the West Coast Express will add 8 more trains a day.

Here are a few helpful links for your planning:
Official TransLink Website and phone number: 604 953 3333
Translink Extended Services
Travel Smart 2010 Website
West Coast Express Olympic Schedule

3. All Olympic venue areas will have high traffic during scheduled events, so identify where all the venues are and avoid them during event times. Refer to the Olympic Venue Map as well as the Games Schedule to help plan.

4. Finding out where all road closures and Olympic lanes are can help avoid delays. Olympic lanes will have one lane of traffic transporting Olympic accredited vehicles only (media, athletes, etc.). Keep pedestrian only areas in mind and identify which places have parking and stopping restrictions as well. It is highly recommended that you don’t drive, especially in and around downtown. Make an effort to start work early and leave your home an hour before you typically would.

To establish where the road restrictions are, refer to the following pages on the City of Vancouver 's website: Venue Road Closures , Olympic Lanes, Pedestrian Only Corridors  and Parking Restrictions.

I also suggest that you visit and/or bookmark  the following TransLink pages so you can keep up to date with real time schedules and alerts:
Transit Alerts
Updates on delays, station closures and re-routing
Next Bus - Text messages the next bus arrival at your stop
Mobile transit schedules - Access bus schedules on your phone
Trip planner - Maps out your route and provides several options

Work from Home as a Backup Measure

For some staff it will not be easy to get into the office. At the very least, adjust work schedules as necessary. Prepare a contingency plan for each employee in the event they cannot get into work.

If you can, secure VPN connections for staff to work from home and ensure remote access to any important data and systems. Remember that staff will be using their home computers so make sure they have access to updated contact details like phone numbers and emails for co-workers, clients and suppliers.

Schedule conference calls or use web conferencing technology to meet rather than fight the traffic when you can. If staff are using their own phones, be prepared to reimburse for long-distance expenses, or make sure they have a Skype account set up and how to use it.

Deliveries to your Office

Contact all your suppliers and make sure that deliveries will proceed as scheduled. Ask about what steps they are taking to ensure all goods are delivered to your office in a timely manner. It will probably be best if supplies are ordered ahead of time. Keep in mind, if you have stopping or parking restriction around your area, it can be difficult to make deliveries around those zones. Here is more information relating to deliveries from the City of Vancouver.

Related Posts:

Bonnie Sainsbury’s Survival Guide to Transit in Vancouver

Marc Smith’s Tips & Tricks to getting around Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics

Follow Cybele on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cybelenegris
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