Taylor Swift’s epic Eras Tour will come to a conclusion this weekend in Vancouver at BC Place with three shows on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
At the same time, the Vancouver Canucks will return to Rogers Arena for two home games on Friday and Sunday.
Why’d they have to go and make things so complicated?
Canucks fans with tickets to the game on Friday night or Sunday afternoon will have to navigate some changed circumstances around Rogers Arena, which borders BC Place. But there’s no need to send out an SOS; Pass it to Bulis has a guide to everything you need to know about how the Taylor Swift concert could affect your experience.
Street closures near Rogers Arena
While gates open at 4:30 p.m. at BC Place, Taylor Swift isn’t expected to take the stage until 8:00 p.m., so there could still be heavy foot and vehicle traffic in the area as Canucks fans arrive at Rogers Arena for the 7 p.m. puck drop on Friday.
With so much foot traffic expected around BC Place, the city will be closing off a few streets on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Since the street closures begin at noon, they will affect both Friday’s and Sunday’s games.
Road closures:
- 700 and 800 blocks of Beatty Street between Smithe Street and West Georgia Street
- Pacific Boulevard from the Cambie Bridge off-ramp to Pat Quinn Way
- Northbound Cambie Street Bridge off-ramp
- 100 block of Robson Street between Cambie Street and Beatty Street.
BC Place has produced a map of the street closures to make things a little bit more clear (see slide 2).
One way this will affect Canucks fans is that the Pacific Boulevard closure appears to cut off all access to Griffiths Way. That means the only way to get to the parking under Rogers Arena is via Expo Boulevard, which will likely feature heavy traffic.
Fans can also expect parking prices to skyrocket as lots take advantage of the crowds. But even with the increased prices, parking will likely be hard to find near Rogers Arena with tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans competing for spots.
But there’s no need to walk a thousand miles to get to the Canucks game.
TransLink providing expanded and extended service
TransLink will provide extra bus, SkyTrain, and SeaBus services on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, of which Canucks fans will also be able to take advantage.
SkyTrain frequency will be increased and the last trains will run later into the evening, with the last train departing Waterfront Station at 1:16 a.m., while the SeaBus will sail away every 10 minutes from 3 p.m. until 1:22 a.m. from Waterfront. The False Creek Ferries and Aquabus will also have increased service.
There are passenger drop-off zones on Hamilton Street and Cambie Street that are intended for the concert but could be used by Canucks fans taking a taxi, Uber, or Lyft, though fans can expect surge pricing on the ride-share apps.
The Canucks have advised fans to please, please, please “take public transit as parking in the area will be extremely limited” and to “give yourself extra time to arrive and navigate the crowds in downtown Vancouver.
It should be noted as well that rain is expected on Friday, so you might want to bring an umbrella.
Have a plan
At a most basic level, Canucks fans coming to the games Friday and Sunday should have a plan to get in and get out. Plan to take transit if you can and, if you can’t, be prepared to pay a high price for parking if you can find it.
If you think the crowds will be crazy, that’s so true. Sunday could see particularly large crowds, as it’s the final date of the Eras Tour, with many fans from out of town expected to descend on Vancouver. Even though Sunday’s game is in the early afternoon, it could still be hectic before the game and will be even more hectic after, as the game will end shortly before the gates open at BC Place.
In other words, don’t plan to hang out around Rogers Arena before and after the game on either Friday or Sunday. You might want to plan your pregame lunch/dinner and your post-game drinks a little further afield so you’re not under the same midnight sky as a horde of Swifties.
There’s no need to get greedy with the space around Rogers Arena. You can let Taylor Swift fans have it for one weekend.
If you can keep all of these things in mind, you should still be able to have a good time.
