Public transportation day

At the first two Olympics that I attended, Sochi and PyeongChang, the media buses took us everywhere. They were all over the place, zooming up and down the roads to the mountains of Russia and South Korea, going places I was shocked to see buses go.

When we got the information regarding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, it stated that it would likely be easier for us to use public transportation, as traffic is tough in Tokyo and the buses would likely be stuck in traffic, even with dedicated Olympic lanes. Connecting the many different venues to hubs was easier with public transportation.

Of course, COVID put a bit of a screw into that master plan. We weren't allowed to use the public transportation until we had been in Japan for 14 days, which for most people, brought them pretty near the end of their Olympic experience. So we were basically forced to ride the buses. However, they didn't really adjust the schedule to accommodate for that, as we had to leave one venue and go all the way back to the one hub to get another bus rather than finding buses between venues.

Beijing was much of the same, again thank in large part to COVID and our inability to use the public transportation network. That being said, Beijing did a much better job (with more time to plan around COVID) of having different buses running from different locations and between different venues.

When Paris 2024 sent us the information regarding our transportation while in the City of Light, they noted that not all venues would have dedicated shuttle buses. Most of them would, but there would be some where the only way to get there would be by public transportation. And most hotels also had no buses, only public transportation. As someone who has never really had much of an opportunity to use subways and the like over the years, I was a bit apprehensive and one of my biggest worries when I got here was that I'd be stuck in my hotel because I couldn't get the right train.

The Paris 2024 folks released an app in the weeks leading up to our arrival and that app helps us to determine what is the best way to get from one location to another, whether it's using one of the shuttle buses or taking the public transportation. When I first got to my hotel room, I called up the app, put in my location and the Main Press Center and it immediately popped up with the Tb3 train. The train is about half a mile from my hotel and I found the station pretty easily, though it took me a few minutes to figure out which direction I was going (though the app says that too).

So, I have ridden that train at least twice a day every day. I am lucky in that it connects directly to a stop right outside the MPC so there's no getting off and changing trains. In my first couple of days I also took the train to swimming, which is also just one single train from the MPC to the venue.

Today was the big day. I wanted to check out Versaille and I knew it would be a couple of different trains to get there. I followed the app and despite a bit of a wait, I got to the village of Versailles and got the chance to walk through the gardens of the impressive palace. It was definitely one of the things on my bucket list for this trip. I got back to the station and got on the right train and after one switch, made my way back to Paris. I also wanted to go to whitewater kayaking and that was in the other direction, also with a switch of trains. To my own surprise, I made it there and back again without getting stuck in a strange location. And even got to beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower (incredible) to close out my day.

Tomorrow I am heading back to the rowing venue, so I'll be back on the public transportation again. Hopefully it continues to go OK.


The palace and gardens at Versailles were absolutely amazing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That. Was. Not. Fun.

Image
The idea was impressive. The thinking was outside of the box. The work that was put in was impressive. And the final result surely looked amazing on television. But the execution? That left a lot to be desired, at least on the part of members of the media that were there to cover the unique Opening Ceremony that the Paris organizers planned. As most people probably know, the Paris 2024 organizers decided to bring the Opening Ceremony out of the stadium and have the athletes float along the River Seine through the center of Paris, with various performances happening along the banks and a final ceremony at the Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower. The plan was fantastic. First and foremost, the organizers did not have any transportation planned for the media who were not at the Trocadero. Those who were there had buses leaving from the Main Press Center and International Broadcasting Center to deliver them to that location amidst all of the security closures. The rest of the press was asked t
Read more

A quick Opening Ceremony update

Image
Well, after more than an hour of walking, I reached the location where my ticket said I could be for the Opening Ceremony.  Yes, I walked an hour. There was the option of taking the subway, but I thought I might see more if I took the walking tour of Paris. From the media center, the walk brought me down past the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysees and eventually to the Louvre, where my entrance is supposed to be. I saw all those places when I was here in 2002, but it had been a long time. I am pretty sure there was no Five Guys on the Champs Elysees when I was here back then. However, once I got to the gate location, there was no gate. My guess is it will be opening up shortly, but right now there is just a lot of barricades and guys with guns. For now, I am sitting along the Seine waiting for the chance to get in... And of course it is starting to rain. More updates to come.  The Opening Ceremony is coming.
Read more

One day, one venue

Image
I have made a habit over my time covering the Olympics to try and get to lots of different events and venues. Most of the time that involves going from venue to venue in a single day. Yesterday I was at rowing, then on to soccer and then finished up at track. Rarely does it happen that I spend one day in one venue. Today, however, was that day. I woke up wanting to head to the Stade de France for some track action. I wanted to see Gabby Douglas compete in the first round of the 200 meters. My hope was to get a quote or two from Gabby after the competition to send to my former colleague, Jeff Lajoie, who works for a paper in her hometown area of Massachusetts. I made my way down to the press mixed zone, where athletes come through after their events to talk to the media. However, Gabby walked right through the mixed zone without talking to anyone (she did do a TV interview in the broadcast mixed zone), so I left without a quote, which was kind of a bummer. My original plan was to possib
Read more