The green activities of transportation companies with ties to the Pittsburgh area are on display from one end of the globe to the other -- including Vancouver, the site of the Winter Olympic Games.

Bombardier Inc. of Canada, which employs hundreds of people at a plant in McKeesport, kept people moving around the games by operating Flexity streetcars as a free service, which is continuing until March 21. The streetcars operate between Granville Island and the Olympic and Paralympic Village in Vancouver.

The demonstration project offered Vancouver residents and visitors a chance to experience modern streetcars as a sustainable public transportation option, company officials said. By cutting down on the number of cars, buses and other vehicles travelling to and from the island, traffic congestion was reduced and air quality improved, officials said.

"All of this has been a great marketing initiative for us, and having the streetcars complements what we are doing as a company," said Kathryn Nickerson, of Bombardier Transportation Division.

Wilmerding-based Wabtec Corp.’s MotivePower subsidiary has designed two locomotives that are both environmentally sensitive and fuel savers as well.