Building Transit for the Olympic Games 

I just wish the Vancouver Olympic streetcar wasn't removed after the games. That's the very definition of performative public transit.

One of the best transport related things about London 2012 was they gave you a free one day travelcard with every ticket, reinforcing the fact that they wanted you to travel by public transport to the venues.

I cannot wait for Utah to be awarded the 2034 Olympics so we can finally get the Rio Grande Plan and Link Utah (state wide passenger rail)

So what you're saying is if Toronto hosted the Olympics, the Eglington LRT would actually get finished alot quicker

L.A.'s 28 by 28 would probably be wrapped sooner if not for construction costs and NIMBY interference

The importance of public transit at major sporting events can currently be seen in germany at the euros. Literally thousands of fans stuck at the stadion deep into the night because transit agencies are unable to handle the load of the events.

Love the unique design of the Olympiastadion in Munich at 1:53 and how much it stands out! The park was developed by Günter Behnisch, and the stadium's tensile structure was developed in cooperation with architect and engineer Frei Otto. Otto was a pioneer in fabric architecture. Besides the Olympiastadion, he also did the West German pavilion at Montreal's Expo 67 as the "Floating Tent". His passion for nature and dedication to employing basic materials to build effective and sustainable structures were the defining characteristics of Frei Otto’s revolutionary design methodology. He thought architects should study nature and incorporate its adaptability and survival mechanisms into their designs. Frei Otto's freeform tent was intended as a loose-fit counterpoint to the rigid order of the marching classical colonnade. His floating canopies were intended to stand as “a real revolution in architecture, remaking Germany as a peaceful country". Behnisch also worked on the Plenary Complex of the German Parliament in Bonn when Bonn was the capital of West Germany, though it wasn't completed until 1992, two years after German reunification, and the Bundestag moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1999. Other Olympic venue designs I love are the Bird's Nest/Beijing National Stadium and Water Cube in Beijing! Despite the nickname, the Bird's Nest or Beijing National Stadium wasn't meant to be a nest but based off Chinese ceramics! They implemented steel beams in order to hide supports for the retractable roof, but after a collapse of a roof at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, they decided to eliminate the retractable roof! But the chief architect Li Xinggang said one can perceive it as how a bird's nest is special in China, and only eaten on special occasions. The Water Cube was designed to capture and recycle 80% of water that falls on the roof or lost from pools! Its cool exterior bubble cladding is made of 4,000 ETFE bubbles! Its steel frame is the largest ETFE-clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows! The Chinese partners felt a square was more symbolic to Chinese culture and its relationship to the Bird's Nest stadium while the Sydney-based partners came up with the idea of covering the 'cube' with bubbles. Contextually, the Cube symbolizes Earth, while the circle (represented by the elliptic stadium) represents heaven, a common motif in ancient Chinese art. The ETFE cladding, supplied and installed by the firm Vector Foiltec, allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs

TRAX ended up borrowing 29 Kinki Sharyo LRVs from Dallas to handle overcrowding during the Olympics! Worth mentioning that UTA has seasonal Ski Buses that go to the ski resorts that started in the 1970s, and for the 2002 Winter Olympics, while the TRAX system didn't go to the mountain venues, for those heading to Soldier Hollow (for biathlon, Nordic combined, and cross-country) that the Heber Valley Railroad offered a special train service to Wasatch Mountain State Park on steam locomotives, and then horse-drawn sleighs took spectators to the venue! And for the 2022 Winter Olympics, China built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou HSR, the world's first fully driverless HSR, which connected the different venue clusters, connecting Beijing North with the venue clusters in Beijing's Yanqing District and Zhangjiakou. It also serves Badaling's popular section of the Great Wall as the underground Badaling Great Wall station. While NYC wasn't awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics, the failed bid still reshaped the area! Like the Barclays Center, Citi Field, the MetLife Stadium being built in NJ as a 50/50 partnership between the Giants and Jets after the Jets's stadium plan in Manhattan failed, Flushing Meadows still building an aquatics center in 2008, and of course the Hudson Yards redevelopment with the High Line, Javits Center renovations, the construction of multiple buildings and mixed-used developments and 34th Street-Hudson Yards station! Some mascot facts: The 2016 Olympic and Paralympic mascots, Vinicius and Tom respectively, are named after Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, the co-writers of the 1962 bossa nova "The Girl from Ipanema". Athens 2004 Olympics's Athena and Phevos were loosely modeled after an archaic Greek terra cotta daidala from the 7th century BC, which was recommended by curators at the National Archaeological Museum! Pyeongchang 2018's Soohorang is the continuity of Hodori from the 1988 Summer Olympics. Soohorang's name is derived from sooho which means protection in Korean, and Rang derives from "Ho-rang-i", the Korean word for tiger. Rang also references to Arirang, a cherished traditional Korean folk song from Gangwon. Tigers are important in Korean culture. Baekho, the white tiger, is described in myths and narratives as a divine imaginary animal that watches over the mountains and nature. Korea is known as the land of tigers because Korea was historically inhabited by many and Korea is said to resemble one! In the myth of Dangun, the founder of Gojoseon, a bear and a tiger wished to become human beings. The bear turned into a woman by observing the commandments to eat only mugwort and garlic for 100 days in a cave, but the tiger could not endure the ordeal and ran off, failing to realize its wish. The bear gave birth to Dangun.

Another transit project built for the Sydney 2000 Olympics was the airport rail link, making Sydney the first Australian city to have an airport rail line.

The Athens 2004 Olympics also brought the suburban rail network into the city to connect with the airport, as well as new buses of all types. The infrastructure of the city really skyrocketed at that period, it's insane!

Great video! I’m a proud resident of the Sydney athletes’ village and the conscious urbanism in the houses and apartments developed there - not just solar on all houses, but the positioning of apartments in all premium locations, leaving the houses (normally more expensive) in the central positions with no scenic views. The recent light rail announcement is part of a long-running saga going back the Olympics bid in 1993 and the original assets made even if the bid failed. We’ve got a weird “busway” with no purpose obvious to a non-transit-geek and a weird historic bus route that betrays 30 years of stalled planning. Anyway - this video skipped the best benefit of Sydney 2000! The airport train line was decades overdue but the 2000 Olympics finally gave them a deadline. It’s now been 25 years of lovely easy access to the airport in 15 minutes, and we’re already building our second airport rail line before the second airport opens. Meanwhile, our friends in Melbourne have ZERO airport rail links, just a crummy bus.

You didn't talk about Torino 2006 Winter Games which brought in Turin's first metro line. Other than that really cool video as always!

Yes, it is bad. Way too often nowadays we see major issues within a community get political attention only when something "big" happens, making enough noise in the news and on social media. It shouldn't take that. Things like public transit, especially in places like LA that desperately need improvements in that department, should *not* need the Olympic Games to get political attention and funding.

Reminder that Boston wanted bid for the 2024 Olympics and look how bad the MBTA is.

Regarding Brisbane, the Cross River Rail project's new station at Woolloongabba had been (and still is in some places) marketed as directly servicing the Olympic stadium. However, recently a review into the required maintenance and rebuilding of the Gabba stadium showed it was not feasible, and so it was decided that it will no longer be part of the Olympics, and likely will be demolished by 2032; instead the main athletics events will be held at a stadium which is 3x as far from the city centre and currently very poorly supported by public transport. Imo it seems a very short-sighted decision by the state government.

Too bad this is often what it takes to get metropolitan areas to build good transit.

Like the Ending line. Its these Global events / Olympics where cities neglect of transit that embarrasses politicians. They just tend to react to Global shame and indifferent to everyday people who's transit options are limited or unfriendly. that outlook needs to changes. thanks for your advocacy in this video.

For Sydney 2000 I'd also add the four new station AirportLink alternate to the now T8. Unfortunately due to the funding method, regular users are still paying for it (PPP concession to pay for the stations expires in 2030). Brisbane 2032 is still in the midst of stadium wars. Not clear what will be the main stadium, and what will host the Opening Ceremony.

Rio de Janeiro also built a couple of BRT lines for the Olympics. Unfortunately, due to political changes in the city, some of them (including one called literally TransOLIMPICA) were only delivered years after the games. Actually, one was just opened like last month, 7 years after the games lol (and we got a very small subway extension also, like a couple of stations)

On the topic of cities that built something originally meant for the Olympics which never arrived: Prague C line extension to Letnany. The station is literally in the middle of an empty field.

I pray the LA projects will go mostly as intended, but it seems like the projects set for 2027 are already behind schedule. Sigh.

1952 Winter Olympics : Oslo , Norway 1952 Summer Olympics: , Helsinki, FInland 1956 Winter Olympics : Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italia 1956 Summer Olympics: Melbourne, Australia 1960 Winter Olympics : Squaw Valley, California, USA 1960 Summer Olympics : Roma, Italia 1964 Winter Olympics : Insbruck, Austria 1964 Summer Olympics : Tokyo, Japan 1968 Winter Olympic : Mexico City, Mexico 1972 Summer Olympics : Munich, Germany 1976 Summer Olympics : Montréal, Qc, Canada 1980 Summer Olympics : Moscou, Moscou, Russia 1984 Winter Olympics : Sarajevo, Yougoslavia 1984 Summer Olympics : Los Angeles, California, USA 1988 Winter Olympics : Calgary, Alberta, Canada 1998 Summer Olympics : Seoul, South Korea 1992 Winter Olympics : Albertville,Savoie, France 1992 Summer Olympics : Barcelona, Cataluna, Spain 1994 Winter Olympics : Lillehammer, Norway 1996 Summer Olympics : Atlanta, Georgia, USA 1998 Winter lympics : Nagano, Nagano, Japan 2000 Summer Olymics : Sydney, New South Wales, 2002 Winter Olympics : Salt Lake City, UT, USA 2004 Summer Olympics : Athèns, Greece 2006 Winter Olympics : Torino, Piemont, Italia 2008 Summer Olympics : Beijing, National Capital Region, China 2010 Winter Olympics : Vancouver, BC, Canada 2012 Summer Olympics : London, UK 2014 Winter Olympics : Sochi, Russia 2016 Summer Olympics : Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2018 Winter Olympics : Pyeong Chang, South Korea 2020 Summer Olympics : Tokyo, Japan 2022 Winter Olympics : Beijing, National Capital Region, China 2024 Summer Olympics :Paris, IDF, France 2026 Winter Olympics : Milano - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italia 2028 Summer Olympics : Los Angeles , California, USA 2030 Winter Olympics : TBD 2032 Summer Olympics : TBD 2034 Winter Olympics : TBD

Ironically, the BIGGEST transportation infrastructure change to Atlanta in '96 WAS FOR CARS. They ran express lanes down the insides of both I-75 and I-85 that opened like the day before the Games... No T-ramps to bridges over the freeway downtown, nothing to help anything but cars and even that was bonkers, crossing a huge sea of asphalt to get from express lane to exit was a several-mile white-knuckle proposition.. It's funny. Atlanta got Seattle's tranche of transit-building money in ~1970 and built ... something halfway decent; at least they finally ran it to the airport in 1988. Now Sound Transit is the one laying track like crazy.... if only they hadn't punted West Seattle to the bottom of the list... *sigh*

It's not just the Olympics. Atlanta is racing to complete lots of projects before the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There are 2 BRT lines that should be completed and there is a ton of construction downtown that will bring a lot more housing units to downtown.

Train very important. Olympic games can boost the tourism industry.

I have to say as an official at the London games the tube/dlr was far superior to the officials' bus service that was on offer (it was both significantly quicker and more frequent), they genuinely would have been better not offering the officials' bus service at all given Custom House dlr station was seconds away from the officials' hotels. Those unlimited oster cards we had got a lot of usage. I went on a tour of London in my downtime, and given I was at both Olympics and Paralympics (which we were in the village for, aka heaven on earth, seriously, the athletes' village is the closest thing to heaven on earth! Free, unlimited, McDonald's, I got fat!!) Going back home to Manchester and waiting 6 minutes+ for trams took some getting used to afterwards, as the tube was every 2. 😂

the Tokyo Olympics 2020 being a closed village system actually prevented massive overcrowding on the system. The japanese govenment being the japanese government.

I predict 100,000 people flooding into Los Angeles for the whatever year Olympic games (sorry, I don't keep track) will all just rent a used Cybertruck at Hertz, after Tesla has to unload them all because no sane person would ever buy them, and get to experience LA culture at its finest: massive traffic jam on massive highways.

Subways haven't been related & for remotely The Olympics in possibly 15 yrs.

Why do you skip Turin 2006? Turin open the first branch of metro line and the first section of Turin Milan high speed railway line for winter olympics game.

Brisbane, for 2032, they will probably still be building the cross river rail when the games start. Gold Coast, they need to finish the tram connection to the airport will probably still be building that. Once you get above Brisbane the public transport networks don't really exist despite the population growth in the regional cities. The Brisbane Olympics will be a disgrace for Australia and will lose a lot of money

Very minor error on the Paris metro map : the line 11 extension (already open) only goes to Rosny-Bois-Perrier, not all the way to Noisy-Champs. This last portion has been ditched for the time being...

French people: lets poop on the Seine to protest politicians, even if it jeopardizes the olympic games even more. Transit nerds: it's transit expansion time! Well, almost, kind of.

The Olympics in a way are a positive scapegoat on which savvy politicians can get public infrastructure built without much blowback because of the massive albeit chronologically tiny justification of a global event for 16 days... Like a G7 meeting for jocks... "Of course we need to buy tanks and gun turrets for the local cops, we have fascist PM of ITALY coming next Month!" ;-) A conversation Alberta will sadly be having right now for the next G7 meeting at Kananaskis Village, another OLYMPIC legacy project from Calgary '88!

I am thinking, should Munich host the Olympics again to make sure the 2. Stammstrecke is completed? Munich 2040 anyone?

I hope SLC electrifies the Front Runner and massively expands both the LRT and Streetcar by the 2030s Winter Olympics (and also build the Rio Grande plan)

Los Angeles 2028 just announced they’re moving softball and canoe events to Oklahoma City… that’s a long Metrolink ride. 😂

What did Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 do for public transport? Those were pretty big years for me growing up watching it on TV.

I would literally protest outside city hall if my city (Ottawa) tried to host the olympics (I know it's unlikely).

Detroit has been denied the chance to host the Olympics at least 7 times last I checked, with a lack of mass rapid transit being cited as one of the main reasons. I've heard talk of a joint Detroit-Windsor games in online circles and I can't even imagine all the opportunities that could bring: heavy rail in Detroit, high speed rail between Chicago and Toronto, and much needed affordable housing in the urban core. I cant imagine this will ever happen, but maybe the Olympics as a development tool for sustainable cities isn't a bad framework.

I think Salt Lake City is a good testament to how Olympics are beneficial to their host-cities in the long-run, even if the benefits aren't immediate. It's hard to think of another event that would've prompted a small/mid-sized red state city to build such an extensive LRT/regional rail system. The urban planning around SLC's transit may not be perfect, but in the US, it's arguably one of the best cities for a middle-income person to live in without a car.

Having lived close to Vancouver in the 1980s, I saw how the Expo 86 World's Fair in that city galvanized the politicians to finally get off their asses and build the first SkyTrain line. It worked amazingly, and the automated design allowed it to provide Fair-goer only trains between the main site and the Canada Pier on the Harbour, interspersed amongst the regular trains. Major events are great for spurred much needed rapid transit improvements, that in the long term are much more important civically that the short term event and sports stadiums built for it.

Heads up that the Brisbane Olympic venue has moved and will not be above the train station anymore

Another winter games served by high speed rail was Beijing 2022, where they opened the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high speed line to connect the three venue clusters northwest of Beijing to the city. It is also the first fully driverless high speed rail line in the world and has a cool underground station under the Badaling Great Wall. The special livery also looks quite cool.

Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics are only a year and half aprart, and NOTHING has been opened for them, except for ROADS. Line M4 is not meant to be an olympic infrastructure, despite is due to be completed this year, because it's more than 5 year late. Plus a rail link toward Milan-Bergamo airport , known as BGY, has not started construction yet! That was supposed to be an Olympic transit project, but now is delayed after 2026. Turin DID even Better by opening the metro line between Fermi and XXIII Dicembre. I'm so ashamed to live near a city that received a huge boost thanks to EXPO 2015, and now is not doing anything at all for the Olympics, a city that pretend's to be better at everything but fails miserably at every aspect. Milan l'è 'n gran Milan

For the next Winter Olympics in Italy they're going to complete the high speed rail line between Milan and Venice, and also some cities around this region are upgrading their public transit like Verona that is building 4 trolleybus lines aiming to start operating in 2026.

I was hoping to see my city of Sydney mentioned and sure enough you did at 3:01, noting the way Olympic Park has kept on growing since the Games. There was SO much fretting beforehand over NOT creating yet another Olympic Park & Athletes' Village that rusted into disuse afterwards, and thankfully all those preparations did pay off. The site was geographically central to the wider suburban sprawl but also a poisoned ex-industrial no-man's-land that truly needed an Olympics to justify the decontamination of the entire place along with a couple billion dollar$ worth of construction. I enjoy going out there today- it was a very happy story of spending a fortune to make a fortune which included, yes, a rail loop from the main suburban network in and out.

Reece, Brisbanes Olympic stadium is no longer near the new underground, its now in the middle of nowhere with no public transit. F*cking insane due to nimbies and dithering.

Reece, your map has an error, Line 11 to Noisy Champs will not open before 2039 at best given latest inside sources news. The extension to Rosny (halfway through on the map) opened last week and you really should come and check that out once the heat of the Olympics has come and gone. Line 14 extensions are due to open in two days ! And, I hope you'll check those out as well. RER E extention will remained a limited shuttle service until November at best. As for T12 and T13 express trams, Region has changed the contract for the lines to be operated by an offshoot of RATP rather than one from SNCF which showed utter incompetence in the matter. The contract is for 100 months (a little bit more than 8 years). One of the main problem was that SCNF exploits trams like trains, with a driver dedicated to given service, unit and time when RATP approaches RERs and trams like metros, you take control of the next train and do the worktime and don't give a damn about if you must take the 1135 or the 1158 service which is much more flexible. Let's hope that changing operator will improve things. (Unions are currently happy with the job that RATP CEO, Jean Castex, former Prime Minister, is doing) Regarding the Grand Paris Express, they had to make priorities because they couldn't do everything in time. So even just before the Pandemic hit, they decided to prioritize the most advanced works and the most necessary, Line 14 serving an airport and the Olympic venues was a no brainer; Lines 16 and 17 were late so they decided to delay them even further to transfer workforce and tools to Line 14 instead. Consequently, they have been pushed to 2026 instead of 2025. However, Line 16 won't open entirely and be limited to Montfermeil at first. At the same time, Line 18 also had poriotization on the Saclay/Massy section which will open in 2026 one year earlier than initially expected, the Massy/Orly section will remain a 2027 ETA and the exention to Versailles stays on 2030. Line 15 is the big piece. Gustave Roussy station was scheduled to be opened later than Line 14 in 2025 along with Line 15 but they finally decided to accelerate things a bit, however the station will still open later than Line 14 but in December 2024, one year earlier than initially planned but they couldn't do better. St Maur station on the other hand, being quite difficult to build given the very constrained vicinity and the big depth and change of plans early on won't open along with Line 15 but one year later, in late 2026. Further extensions are due to open in 2027 for Line 16 and 17 respectively to Noisy and Villepinte (Line 17 to CDG airport won't happen until 2030). Line 15 will be complete not before 2031 at best. Further extensions that were planned or would be added in the meatime won't see the light of day before 2035 or 2040 as of now. Worth noting; back in 1900, Paris opened its first metro line not just for the Universal Fair but also for the Olympics !!! (Paris also had Olympics in 1924 and it was the last in the city until the next ones) The Games or other such important events often serve as an accelerator for politicians who stop whining and discussing endlessly to actually do something.

not only olympic, the regional olympic (Asian Games) really helped public transportation Palembang, Indonesia. they literally are 3rd tier city and got the first LRT in the country just for the sake of the Asian Games, it still run till today and even expanding it's buffer bus system.

OKC will be hosting a couple of events for '28, the transit contrast with LA will be interesting. The good news is we'll finally be getting public transit to the airport, probably a BRT lite. Yes, OKC currently does not have any public transit to the airport.

I don't think Lillehammer (1994 Winter Olympics) did any moderate or major transport improvements. Except maybe 1 or 2 new bypass loops on the railway line (which was single track until recent) btw Oslo and Lillehammer I think they just used existing transport infrastructure. Well there was some temporary parking lots outside of Lillehammer where shuttle buses took the spectators to the arenas but all this was removed after the games.

Salt Lake City is likely for 2034 and I am hopeful for transit funding 🤞

Any global party will do - Expo Skytrain.... I volunteered at the BC or Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, BC. I guess there was some increase in tourism in an area already known for tourism. As a local, I don't remember venue transportation or change in infrastructure.

Wait, it sounds like Olympic games are amazing for transit enthusiasts, finally can get stuff built. It is only the car faction that's complaining about "waste of money"

Sad? Adding a transit line and then not getting the Olympics is the best case scenario!

SkyTrain was a number (1) and explored metro system for traveling to the Olympics when it was a Vancouver and BC alliance partnership in 2010. 스카이트레인은 2010년 밴쿠버와 BC의 제휴 때 올림픽을 여행하기 위한 지하철 시스템을 탐구했다.

I worked for Transport For London during the games and the thing I remember most was that, in order to reduce overcrowding, the signage at large stations like Kings Cross and Bank would send tourists one way along less used corridors while locals who knew better would ignore the signs and go the quicker route.

it would be really funny if a city leaned into the exercise theme of the olympics and made everyone bike. imagine the chaos of visitors around the world all following different traffic rules! Cities definitely need a transition plan to repurpose stadiums, so that any infrastructure expansion can continue to be used even if they don't quite have the organic demand for this many sporting events. I wonder how hard would it be to convert a stadium into a walled city - like Diamond City in fallout but with a good quality of life

Can't wait for Brightline West!

This is why I wish my home town of Dublin got the rights to host more events - might be the kick in the arse we need to get much-needed projects like Metrolink and DART Underground built

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics started my lifetime passion in this.

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I feel you almoast skiped over Rio de Janeiro 2016, not mentioning the most important investmentes and shortfalls. Besides the VLT, which is arguably the least important for the Olympics, rio invested in the extention of metro line 1 (which is called Line 4 despite being an de fact extention) and in 4 BRT corridors. However, Metro Line 1 (or 4 if you will) was plagued with corruption and thelast statio (Gávea) which is actually not needed and by itself is a terrible investment, is half build and has been flooded to avoid soild movement and colaps risk since 2017ish. Of the 4 BRT´s only 3 where completed. The 4th being compleded only in 2024. And the other 3 also had structural problems. For instance a lot of the corridors wherte constructed using asphalt instead of reinforced Concrete. And given the High heat and weight of the busses the Asphalt just turned into a very expensive offroad rally adventure. Most of it has recently been upgraded. But all in all the investmentes due to the Olympic where important, but executed way bellow acceptable quality and very much abovereasonable cost.

Asian games 2018 also bring LRT to Palembang, probably the first metro outside Java island in Indonesia. Even though it's just 1 line people still use it daily.

Indonesia also built Jakarta LRT and Palembang LRT for the 2018 Asian games.

It should be noted that Munich had decided to build U and S bahn before being awarded the Olympics, and some work had already started. But it did change some priorities in what was built first.

Beijing transit explainer please!

Stay tuned for the 2030 football world cup in Portugal, Spain and Morocco... Mixed feelings here, tbh.

If Toronto opened a new subway line, it was for the Olympics, now you know why they take so long

South Korea's winter Pyeongchang olympic game made a country to construct new direct railway line from Seoul to Gangneung (Korea's vacation beach city-for example, like Napoli or Nice or Hawai.

The '72 Munich Olympic Games changed the whole region for the better - S- and U-Bahns were built and public transport was prioritized. Munich w/o the Olympic Games would look totally different and far more car centric today. The same counts for GER hosting the (Soccer) World Cup in 1974 - I can only speak for Frankfurt, my hometown) - public transport (locally referred to as "Öffis") became more and more popular since then. Most of the pedestrianized zones in the city center is owed to this event. Currently, during the ongoing EURO 2024, authorities discourage visitors from using cars for transport to the staduims by limiting/elimating parking spots at the venues. They want the people to walk or use Öffis - and yes, stadiums are walkable to in GER, nobody needs a car here. Hi from Frankfurt, GER!

I think the Metro Line 4 in Rio de Janeiro would not have been built without the Olympics. That line was necessary for connecting the city to the main Olympic ground. The line opened days before the Olympics. Unfortunately the line still has not been extended any further. So you have to switch to the BRT at the final stop "Jardim Oceânico". So they built the most expensive part through the hills, but not the part where it could go overground.

They also did this in Melbourne Australia for the 1956 Olympics which saw the entire metro train system get overhauled with many stations rebuilt, new trains introduced and the signalling system being overhauled on top of the construction of a new underground pedestrian passageway at Flinders Street station. Even Richmond station was rebuilt for the Olympics. The signalling overhaul also involved the original mechanical cable operated signals being replaced with electrically operated ones and the installation of electronically controlled points motors.

Salt Lake 2034 could be interesting, as there are pressures to build the Rio Grande project, and possibly a rail link along I-80 to Park City. Frontrunner, which didn't exist for the 2002 games, is having more double track installed in increase service, and electrification is also being considered. There's also the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola: a 3S system like the Peak 2 Peak at Whistler-Blackcomb that would connect Snowbird and Alta with outside connections: currently proposed to be a massive parking facility, but it could also link to a TRAX extension if UTA decides to.

The BRT system in Rio 2016 was a watershed in rio de janeiro's west zone transit. The Line 4 of Rio de Janeiro, even though still incomplete, improved a lot the conexion in South Zone turistic zone (Ipanema, Jardim de Alah and Leblon) and Barra da Tijuca 😌

Well, at least with the LA 2028 Olympics, he got it mostly WRONG! LA didn't build or is currently building any transit rail project specifically for the 2028 Olympics. All the projects were already in the pipeline before LA was awarded the games. The 28 by 28 program is not even an official thing anymore. And that was just an attempt to rebrand already approved projects to possibly get more federal funding sooner to speed up the projects. They fell far short, and most of the bigger projects will be built as originally planned. Let's not forget that LA actually wanted the 2024 Olympics, but they lost out to France for political reasons. LA was awarded the 2028 games as a consolation prize basically at the same time. I don't think any games had been awarded that way. Most people would agree after Montreal's financial Olympic disaster that the 1984 LA Olympics saved the modern games from irrelevancy. It was the first games in a very, very long time to actually make a profit. LA completed the biggest expansion to LAX for those games, including building the upper deck of the horseshoe and the TBIT.

I don’t even know what’s happening in Brisbane tbf. I’m not even entirely sure if the Gabba will be the main Olympic stadium, despite the fact it is getting a new station on Cross-River Rail. Either way, the station will be really good for Aussie Football and Cricket season moving 20-30,000 patrons from a stadium which is landlocked by two major arterials and actually doesn’t have room for major parking infrastructure other than for players and officials (thank god 🙏🙏). It’s ironic though, there is barely any parking at the Gabba and it’s partly because it is surrounded by high capacity arterials that might look a little stroady. Adding to the uncertainty around the Olympic Game plans is the fact that there is a state election and the incumbents are expected to get walloped. The likely next government (Queenslands Centre-Right Party which tends to lean further Right given QLDs demographics) is likely to have different ideas for what to do, I just hope they make sense

I feel like if Calgary had won the bid for 2026 Winter Olympics, Calgary would 100% have more transit built by now

I love trains and worked on the 1984 summer games and 2020 winter Olympics . The Salt Lake City tram is almost useless.

Small note about Paris 2024: the line 11 extension that just opened a few weeks ago is not actually the one that you're highlighting at 7:26: only the western third of that extension is done, with the terminus linking to the RER E station Rosny Bois Perrier; the rest is suspended until firther notice, and may or may not be resumed after the line 15 loop is fully completed, that is to say post-2030 at least...

Actually, other than Sporting Events and Bids for Sporting Events (as others have mentioned), you should take a look at major world events such as the Osaka World Expo 2025 and how the Japanese government is improving transit to accommodate this expo

The Gabba is no longer going to be the main stadium for Brisbane 2032, because the powers that be couldn’t agree on how to refurbish the stadium. Instead they’ll use Suncorp Stadium, which has significantly less transport connections.

" a lot of new transit has opened in the city in anticipation. " Nope dude, unfortunatelty, i live in Paris and the vast majority of planned lines won't he there in time, including the Airport CDG Express ... Only line 14 will be ready, and some shuttles on the new branch of ter E will make back and forth between St Lazare and Nanterre Arena ... This is gonna be a nightmare and many people including me are leaving the city center for a moment.

And this coming out 9 days after Paris M11 to Rosny, and 2 days before M14 doubled in length! Great timing!

Munich was a very car dependent city without subways, few trams, and a circuitous and unreliable commuter rail network connecting some suburban towns. I doubt we would have managed to get multiple transit projects built so quickly if not for the games - and once you have them, expansion is a lot easier to get support for. Also, the Olympic park is lovely, I just spent my afternoon there yesterday.

Hi Reese, thanks for creating this video. While sports is an important part of a city’s/region’s culture, it’s flabbergasting how much is spent on sports stadiums when things like public transit are lacking. It is a bit ironic that Oakland’s sports complex was once home to three professional sports teams (the A’s leave next year) and has a BART station adjacent to the complex. It is a great opportunity for Oakland to redevelop that land for other uses.

Unfortunately US cities prove time and time again even massive public and international embarrassment isn't an adequate motivator. LA's super behind schedule with its transit expansions and has both the World Cup and Olympics coming up, and they're probably gonna continue to choke.

At this point just bring the Olympics back to Greece for good 😂 If it’s too expensive for a new city every time and there’s less and less interest, the predictability of it would ease those things a lot I think, and add a new type of tourism to Greece’s vast portfolio. Maybe summer Olympics in Athens and winters in Thessaloniki?

I wish CA HSR would be ready for the 2028 Olympics but alas...

you should do a video on Auckland and its suburban rail network/city rail upgrade / northern busway. I can provide some footage.

For Sydney you missed 1 more project... the airport rail link was opened just a month ahead of the Olympics :P

As someone who lives in brisbane. Don't even get me started on the olympics. Our transport plan is use as many venues that aren't on existing rail lines and use buses only in true brisbane bus loving fashion. No real plans for any proper transport upgrades

Vid idea: Why do high floor trains exist? (like why couldnt they simply make the platforms higher aswell)

Sad bc you forgot to Include line 1 of the metro in Mexico City for 1968 Olympics

Why do you think the public is receptive to building transit for the Olympics but not for everyday life? How could one translate the message from the former to the latter?

Best thing about the Brisbane olympics (2032) is that it finally gave a reason to build a train to the Sunshine coast. with 300k people and one of the fastest growing places in the country, a massive tourist destination, it is the largest city in Australia without a train station

OKC is getting a public transit hub with their new nba arena I wonder if it will be finished in time for the softball and canoe Olympics that are being held there in 2028

How about Lake Placid 1980, Moscou 1980, Sarajevo 1984, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, 1992 Albertville, FRA, 1992 Barcelona, 1994 Lillehammer ?

Congrats on the weight loss, man.