Even though half of the new bridge was promised for this month, no date has yet been announced for the opening.
I tend to think they shouldn’t mess around with half bridges. They should open it for a big pedestrian walk all at once, to celebrate, and then motor traffic the following day.
TVA says the Grand Prix weekend was little consolation to businesses in the construction zone on Ste-Catherine, which didn’t get much action despite the crowds in town.
Given the amount of construction and how imposing it all looks, there’s basically nothing they could have done to not face some amount of downturn.
But the hope is by doing it all at once it won’t take as long.
TBD on that one, I guess. I hope its a gamble that works out in the long run.
Peel Street will stay closed Monday while a big screen is put up so local fans can watch a Toronto Raptors match.
It’s bonkers. Who would have believed it would come to this?
What I hope comes out of the Raptors success is they install more basketball hoops in parks and schoolyards.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Glad I don’t live near a park or schoolyard.
Music to my ears!
I’m more of a fan of the scrape-thwack of ball hockey but to each their own 🙂
The Journal de Montréal claims that a few metro drivers have doubled their salaries by working overtime, and a sidebar on TVA claims that some STM bus drivers are working enough overtime to be dangerously tired.
The Journal also tries to make a scandal of people boarding buses without paying. Do they really want more Gestapo-like detachments of inspectors slowing things down by boarding buses and demanding to see papers? Drivers know the main thing is to keep things moving: if their fare machine is not working reliably or if someone’s card isn’t reading, they usually just wave people past, because they know their purpose is not primarily to collect fares or check passes, it’s to drive.
There are two SIMPLE choices… if we are on the honour system, then we need inspectors. If we aren’t on the honour system, then the driver has to spend needless time checking everyone’s payment. There is no great choice, here.
We’re on a semi-honour system already, since people can board buses by back doors at some metro stations, without having to pass by the driver.
“Gestapo like-detachments” Is a dubious analogy to use especially since it’s exactly what they do in Germany. It doesn’t slow anything down, they do their checks while the train/bus is in service and are generally in sufficient numbers that they can get through a wagon really quickly and you can’t just escape detection.
How much is it really costing? Is this about revenue and efficient use of the service or moral self-righteousness?
Let’s not get Godwin-ish here – this is exactly what they do in London, Denmark, Netherlands, everywhere – the reason it works so well is that everyone has paid, and almost everybody is using electronic systems that can be scanned with handheld readers.
Reminds me of a conversation I had with a parking enforcement guy the other day. I was biking up a street with lane lines painted on both sides (one-way street with bikes going with and against traffic). We cyclists kept having to bike around cars double-parked in the bike lanes. The meter maid was parked in his car printing out a ticket for a car that was illegally parked in a sticker zone. I asked him whether he was allowed to give tickets to the double-parked cars. He said he was, but that he was tolerating their double-parking since they had apparently told him they needed to double-park to drop stuff off and wouldn’t be long. Moral of the story: we are too busy debating how strongly to enforce fare evasion on our super-saturated transit system to bother ticketing double-parked cars.
Unfortunately when the STM-cops board buses to check fares, the bus is halted in its route until they’re done checking everyone’s fare.
Also lending credibility to Kate’s WWII era metaphor is that fare inspectors in the STM really do resemble police and are practically armed to the teeth. When I’ve seen inspectors outside of the STM or the TTC in Toronto, they are dressed the same as anyone you would find seated behind the ticket counter.
A third, simple choice: free public transit. There’s a petition.
It’s not an honor system, it’s Proof-of-purchase. Honor system implies no inspectors, and no possible repercussion for not paying except your honor.
I know of at least one system that actually uses this, u put a dollar in a box when boarding, but nobody ever checks.
A crane fell apart Sunday as it was being dismantled at the CHUM, and broke the window of the blood testing lab, which is closed Monday to clean up. Nobody was hurt. Photos in the Journal.
Does this happen in other cities in rich countries? I really wonder sometimes. I know it must but the story feels…very Montreal for some reason.
I have the same reaction when something horribly incompetent or corrupt happens here. Are we really the worst?
I think it’s that we’ll see stories like this, but nobody’s going to report this story in other cities – a construction mishap with nobody hurt – just as we’re not likely to get news here of minor mishaps in other places. So we think it doesn’t happen elsewhere.
Similarly, recently I’ve seen photos from other cities that include orange cones and other visible evidence of roadwork, but if people are bemoaning that stuff in other towns, it’s not going to be obvious to us. So we feel uniquely singled out by these inconveniences, but I don’t think it can be so. Any city with paved roads has to do repairs from time to time.
Ah! Falling cranes are a popular subgenre on Youtube. I use those clips in the classroom to talk about static rotational equilibrium. I specially like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYgQoFU9Zdk
Even incidents show class politics: at 0m44s you see a boss (wearing a white helmet) walking away while workmen run toward the rumbles to save eventual injured coworkers (they were non, par chance!)
Actually, a few weeks ago the news said a crane banged against a window at the MUHC Complex.
Ironically, a bit earlier the news said there was a fire here in one of the dryers, and the blood department had to close down. They are planning an emergency drill as a result.
I never saw any of this myself, but maybe missed a blood sample.
Michael
a huge crane fell in Dallas a few days ago. killed someone.
Ditto last month in Seattle.
Given the thousands of cranes operating around the world every day, its probably one of the safest pieces of equipment out there, but when they break, they break bad.
@Michael Black
Yup, May 10. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/crane-smashes-window-at-chum-hospital-1.4417122
So that’s two crane mishaps at the CHUM within a couple of weeks.
Marc 08:09 on 2019-06-11 Permalink
Why bother announcing delivery dates, even approximations, of big projects doesn’t seem very wise to me. Does the public demand them? Verdun beach is 2 years “late” but if they’d never said anything in the first place…
JaneyB 09:22 on 2019-06-12 Permalink
Reminds me of a placard on the fence of a travaux site I saw a couple of years ago. The sign had a completion date and someone graffittied over it with a big ‘X’, added a laughing face and a big ‘ha ha ha’ right next to that. Says it all!