With glowing hearts, we see fees rise

If you've got bad news to deliver, deliver it on a Friday night or a Saturday morning when nobody's around to ask or answer questions.
That's what VANOC did when it finally revealed the fine details of phase one of ticketing for the Canadian market, which runs Oct. 3-Nov. 7.
Service charges are $4 to $18 per ticket, which supposedly covers the cost of local public transit rides corresponding with the date of the event. (VANOC's $124.1 million transportation budget includes $52.3 million for bus systems.)
Mandatory bus tickets go on sale next year for mountain venues. It will cost an extra $25 for a round-trip ride from Vancouver to Whistler and $12 to Cypress Mountain. There is no public parking at any Games venues and VANOC is encouraging people not to drive so that athletes, VIPs and media can use the dedicated Olympic lane system without fear of traffic chaos.
In their Feb. 28 letter of understanding, VANOC and TransLink agreed to exclude the West Vancouver venue from the Metro Vancouver public transit system.
Visa is the only credit card accepted for the online purchasing process, which is coordinated by Tickets.com. Tickets will be delivered in November 2009 via another VANOC sponsor, Purolator Courier. Ticket buyers will be dinged another $10 to $20 per account for the mandatory delivery fee.
For example, a $50 pair of tickets to women's hockey or cross-country skiing is $58 plus $10 (the under $100 handling levy) for a grand total of $68. That's a 26% markup!
VANOC set a $231.8 million target for ticket sales.