The city’s pressing the agglomeration on offering free public transit the day after major snowstorms.
Updates from February, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Can anyone explain to me how Hydro’s smart meters work? They must be emitting some kind of signal, but how, and what’s picking it up? Do they work on an exclusive cellular frequency? Anyone wanna geek out on this?
Alex
Each meter acts as a repeater for other meters in the area, creating one large ‘mesh style’ network where they talk to Hydro Quebec through each other, they place ‘collector’ meters in strategic places that are connected directly to Hydro Quebec’s system.
Alex
Its pretty much a giant wifi network
Jim Royal
They use transmitters that are similar to those used in wireless phones, typically in the 902 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands. They are fairly low power and short range. They send data at infrequent intervals (such as monthly) by communicating only with each other. The devices themselves form a private network, so they don’t need to use cellular services.
J
@Jim, check your Consumption Profile on the website, then weekly, the data is sent at least daily, I can see how many kWh I’ve used yesterday.
Kate
Thank you, lads!
Chris
And if you don’t want one, you can get a non-transmitting model, though they charge something like $200/year, then someone visits yearly to take a reading.
Bert
Also, it is the same method that HQ can detect outages without people calling in. No signal from meter 1234… There is something to look in to.
Kate
Maybe I should make clear: I have a smart meter and have no issues with it. Someone asked me what I knew about the data collection side, so I said I’d investigate.
Bert
Typically readings are relayed every 15 to 30 minutes along with relevant information such as the reader ID and a date-time stamp. Hydro can use this information for peak period billing, making nice graphs to show hourly / daily usage etc. Interestingly, in the data you can download from H-Q also includes the average temperature. I am not sure if they use some Environment Canada reading or have sensors in the smart meters.
Of course you can use that data to try to interpret things, e.g. night-shift workers and the like. I am not sure how feasible it would be to try to sniff the customer side of the power line to try to identify devices, say by power usage patterns or even identifying signatures or even try to sniff devices that may use power lines to communicate, such as Ethernet over Power Line devices.
Chris
It’s certainly another way our modern world invades on your privacy. They certainly could build a profile of you, there’s lots written on the topic already, ex: https://takebackyourpower.net/comprehensive-report-how-smart-meters-invade-privacy/
Bill Binns
Being able to see my usage down to the hourly level and connect that to what I was doing in my home at the time has been a huge eye-opener. It more than makes up for any possible privacy concerns IMO. I have been able to learn that lighting (all L.E.D.) has no measurable impact on consumption even when comparing every light in the house on to no lights at all on. My 2 year old washer and dryer aren’t nearly as big users as I expected. My creaky old dishwasher and the two big TV’s are the major offenders (other than heat and AC of course).
GC
Sure, Bill, but it would be possible to make that data available to just you and to no one else. That would allow you the info and also protect your privacy.
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Kate
A recent report says very long commutes are becoming more common in Canada, and this item mentions folks driving into town daily from Joliette or Granby. But there’s no mention of public transit and of how easy it is to spend an hour or more getting somewhere in town if it’s any distance from a metro line.
Ian
I live in Mile-End and it takes my wife more than an hour and 15 at best to get to her office in the fruit district of VSL, a 20 minute drive by car.
Brett
That’s by public transit or by foot?
Ian
I know, right? The bus basically has to circle through the old garment district then wend its way slowly to the other side fo Acadie. That’s long enough by itself, but the 55 also regularly misses its schedule so you could be waiting for half an hour just for a bus to show up – at rush hour.
Spi
Why not take a combination of the 80 and the 179?
Blork
What’s embiggening my commute is Metro outages. There seems to be an uptick recently. Last week I commuted to work three times and all three times I had significant delays. Two were in the morning; in one case the Green line was down, but it only delayed me by about 15 minutes.
Next time both Green and Orange were down; Green was longer, but Orange was off-and-on (this was rush hour). It had me running back and forth between them (On! Off! On! Off!) and I finally ended up on the Orange line. Delay was about 20 minutes.
The worst was the next day when the Yellow line went down around 5:00 PM (this is rare). When I arrived at Berri-UQAM at 5:20 the tunnel to the Yellow line platform was backed up almost to the escalators. That’s 100 meters of tunnel jammed with people. Literally thousands of people stuck in a tunnel.
I don’t know how long it took to clear because I just left. I took the opportunity to renew my card at the Grand Bib and walked around a bit. Came back a little after 6:00 and it was functioning normally. But I’ll not soon forget that crush of humanity in that seemingly endless tunnel.
Bert
I work downtown and currently commute on the DM train line. I used to do the car-Metro run and switched to car-train 3-4 years aog. I am not looking forward to being obliged back to the Metro due to the REM work.
Ian
Spi it would actually be 80>179>54 where she is, which is the longest of all the routes suggested by google maps. Also worth noting Google maps says that will take 58 minutes – this is of course assuming that all buses are actually on schedule and not, as in the case of the 55, randomly not showing up on a regular.
Ian
…also worth noting almost all of Google Map’s travel times are a very optimistic prediction, especially when taking walking times into consideration. Being at a stop light at the wrong time could mean you have to wait for another bus… I like to look at it not as an estimate as to how long they think it will take you to walk but how long you have, so move it, buddy 🙂
Meezly
Random buses missing scheduled stops during rush hour? Shocking! Also live in Mile End, and it can take me an hour to get to/from work in Old Montreal/Griffintown by bus during rush hour, esp. now that Ste-Catherine is under construction. The bus route planning is seriously flawed, as it assumes that every bus commuter wants to end up at a metro stop, thus many bus routes end in the downtown area, so you make multiple transfers if you want to cross more than two boroughs. I live on the Plateau – why do I have to do bus1-metro-bus2, or bus1-walk-bus2 to get to Griffintown or beyond? Seriously, it can be faster taking mass transit from outside the island. Can’t wait to get back on the bike.
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Kate
The construction of a composting facility in Montreal has become a hot potato for the suburbs, who say it’s too expensive and should be halted; the Gazette spoke to an expert who alleges that the technology chosen is already out of date.
I will bet that if any suburb agreed to accept such a facility, they’d quickly find that they’d have to pay a nice price to build something that would do the job efficiently without stinking the place up.
Update: City hall has approved the plan for a project costing $175 million, to open in St-Laurent in September 2021.
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Kate
In Monday’s federal byelection, the Liberals took back Outremont, leaving the hopeful NDP in the dust, although that party’s leader Jagmeet Singh was elected in his B.C. riding.
Ian
Not surprised, really, I kind of expected the Liberals to win this. Outremont was a Liberal crown jewel for something like a century until the orange wave swept Quebec, and Singh doesn’t have the local appeal of Mulcair and neither Singh nor Mulcair are as sympathetic a character as ti-Jack, RIP. I really don’t understand how Bendayan can claim that the Liberals are the party to vote for if you want to do something about climate change, though. At least the conservatives performed poorly.
Chris
Exact results: http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?ed=2123&lang=e
Lib: 40% NDP: 26%. Green were 3rd.
Turnout: 21% 🙁
Matt
As someone who lives in the riding, the Liberals were also the only party that seemed to have any significant ground game. I had Liberal volunteers come to my door 2-3 times to remind me to vote, and received a handful of campaign mailers. Hardly a peep from the NDP.
Joey
@Matt – I had the opposite experience. NDP volunteers rang my doorbell at least five times (twice yesterday) and called/texted at least that many times as well. Nothing from the Liberals or any other party. I guess this is an example of how internal polling/research causes parties to tightly focus on certain streets or areas.
As for turnout, while the Burnaby-South byelection will have an impact on things immediately (sing Jagmeet Singh is finally going to be an MP), the other two really felt like dry runs for the October vote. A marginal seat really makes no difference at this stage in the life of a majority government.
Ian
@Matt, @Joey – I got exactly one visit from the conservatives and one from the NDP. One robocall from Bernier’s clown brigade & many calls from the Liberals though, to the point that I told them to stop calling my number.
DeWolf
The polling station was certainly quiet when I voted yesterday, so I’m not surprised by the turnout. It seems low even for a by-election. I guess a lot of people thought it wouldn’t be worth voting when they’ll have to do it again in six months.
Ephraim
@Chris byelections notoriously have low turnouts.
Chris
Ephraim, yes, I know. It still warrants a frown though. All 3 ridings had below average turnout, and York–Simcoe hit a new low.
Kevin
They’re by-elections taking place eight months before another election. This is exactly when you’d see the lowes turnout.
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Kate
Merchants around the Quartier des Spectacles have responded to the letter from festival organizers, saying they don’t want to be taxed to offset how people attracted to the festivals often patronize their businesses instead of buying the generally overpriced offerings from the festivals themselves.
mare 01:08 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
Public transport should be extra *expensive* on those days. So many drivers, not wanting to dig out their car, already take public transport after snow storms, and the metro is filled beyond capacity. Making it free will funnel even more people in, who after surviving that ordeal will think “That? Never again!”
Not a good way to promote public transport and make people change their mode of transportation.
Jonathan 04:32 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
Somehow i feel it’s unjust to make it free just so that people who own cars can more easily get to work. There are people who take public transit everyday who have to contend with it no matter what happens the day before.
While I don’t think it’s the best solution, what mare is suggesting seems more just. At least, increase the cost of a single ticket that day, so that it doesn’t penalize people who regularly take the metro (and usually have weekly or monthly passes).
Hamza 05:54 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
Who takes their car to work because taking the STM is too expensive?
Chris 09:32 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
I’d just like for public transit to *work* the day after a snowstorm. It’s basically the only time I use public transit (I bike otherwise) and the bus is never on schedule, or even doesn’t show up. (Or is that how buses always are? I realize my impression in likely skewed, as I only use them when weather is bad.)
Blork 11:28 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
Hamza, people who don’t commute on a regular schedule might find pubic transit more expensive than driving. These are people who own a car regardless, so the long-term cost of the car is not relevant.
So someone who only goes into the office one or two days a week from the south shore, for example, might spend a dollar or two on gas for that ride but public transit would be $13.00 (there and back, single ticket on two transit systems). That assumes they have access to free or cheap parking of course (some people do).
jeather 13:00 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
If you own a car, it’s rare that the variable cost of any one trip is more than the bus tickets are (depending on parking/number of people), because the cost of an occasional round trip bus ticket is not low. If you want to get regular car drivers to use the bus, it needs to be less expensive in money than a car, because it will often already take longer, and “more expensive plus takes longer” is a really losing proposition.
Ian 15:11 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
More to the point having people on the road in private vehicles is a safety risk and makes it more time consuming to clear the roads. Maybe a more effective route than free public transit would be for the city to declare an emergency, forcing employers to let people stay home unless they are working in essential services.
Kate 21:41 on 2019-02-27 Permalink
Apparently a lot of people did stay home on February 13 – almost every school was closed and the radio was telling me the roads were surprisingly empty. Makes me wonder how much rush hour traffic is caused by school runs.
Ian 08:54 on 2019-02-28 Permalink
Quite a bit would be my guess. The buses and even the highways are a lot clearer when school is out. I suspect this is also because a lot of people are away on vacation, though. When I’m teaching summer classes I can get from Mile-End to Sainte-Anne is as little as 35-40 minutes any time of day, but when school’s back in it’s 45-60 even if I’m teaching early morning classes.
walkerp 14:50 on 2019-02-28 Permalink
I suspect the decision to close CSDM schools was based on your point, Ian, rather than because people couldn’t get to them. At most public school as far as I know, everybody lives nearby and driving your kids to school is the exception. I think they were like, ah f*** it we have only had one snow day so far, let’s just close them all and make everybody’s life easier. The decision was made the night before, when the storm hadn’t even really started.
If that were the case, I am in agreement. It was kind of a hassle for some parents job-wise, but collectively made it easier and safer for everybody.