The Office municipal d’habitation is getting more funding to help people find places to live.
Updates from October, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Now that Bill 17 is law and the taxi industry is basically deregulated here, taxi drivers have launched suits claiming $1.5 billion from the Quebec government and Uber.
Blork
I finally used Uber for the first time last week in Seattle, and it reinforced my ideas about why it is so much better than conventional taxis. I’m not talking about the business model or the “gig economy” or any of that; simply the user experience. Specifically:
Reliable hailing via GPS enabled app. (That right there changes everything!)
Your ride is pre-paid as soon as you accept it. That means the driver is encouraged to get you there quickly and it pretty much eliminates the “scenic route” trick that some taxi drivers still like to pull.
Payment is automatic and through the app. No fumbling with cards or cash.
Tip (optional) is added later, so you don’t have that situation where the driver is staring at you while you are calculating the tip. (I don’t know about you, but I hate that, and it usually results in my over-tipping or under-tipping because of “under-pressure” errors.)
I was a fan of Téo before they went under because that’s how they operated too, but minus the driver-level problems of job insecurity and all that.
BTW, the Téo app has been updated and is now used for hailing (and paying) for Diamond and Hochelaga taxis. I’ve set it up but haven’t tried it out yet.
Ephraim
Damn… with likely 6 years to go before we know an outcome… this is going to have me waiting with baited breath… maybe not.
Kate
Blork, the Téo app works well with the conventional taxi fleet. I rarely take a cab unless I’m in a hurry, so I was hesitant to chance it a few times, but the other day I was under less pressure and find that it works fine. Nothing says it won’t eventually stop working, though.
Blork
Kate, I think it might be around for a while, as it was just updated.
My point is that Uber changed the game on hailing and paying, and taxis need to keep up. The old (now new) Téo app is a great move in that direction. There are similar taxi apps in various other cities, but from what I’ve read most of them are badly done, don’t work well, aren’t used for payment, etc.
I was in Victoria last week and I called a regular taxi (there is no Uber in BC). To my surprise, I got a text message a couple of minutes later containing a link where I could track the taxi on a map. That was kind of cool, as you at least know exactly when it will arrive. First step…
EmilyG
I don’t have any taxi apps on my flip phone, but I did manage to manually hail a Téo recently.
Blork
That’s weird, given that Téo went out of business nine months ago!
EmilyG
I thought PKP bought it recently or something.
Kate
There are some cabs out there with a Téo-like livery, but in orange and white instead of green. I don’t know whether they’re electric like the Téo cars were. EmilyG, I don’t think you can have seen a Téo recently but you might have seen one of those.
Dhomas
I’m a fan of Eva now that Téo is sorta-kinda out of business. It’s user experience is quite like Uber’s (GPS, app-based, pre-payment, etc), but the company behind it is based in Quebec, so I don’t feel so bad funneling money to a Silicon Valley company that will contribute little to nothing to the local economy via taxes. They also do something with blockchain (the technology behind Bitcoin), but I don’t quite understand what. I’d recommend to check it out, of you haven’t already.
Blork
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of Eva before. (Gggl “Eva rideshare”.)
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Kate
The Société de développement Angus has plans for a $35-million project for Montreal North because, after all, we need to start gentrifying it sometime.
Meanwhile, cases of discrimination in access to housing are up, according to the human rights commission. Not only race but age are in play here.
JONATHAN
Montreal Nord too dense? I question whether they are saying that because it’s filled with racialized people. Nobody is saying the plateau is too dense…
SMD
They need a new project to justify their existence, now that the Angus yards are almost all developed.
Spi
I think they may be referring to the density in regards to accessible green space. Montreal-Nord doesn’t really have any meaningfully large parks and doesn’t have any access to the riverbank.
Su
No doubt this project will be as spectacular as their prior creation on lower St Laurent Blvd !
Mr.Chinaski
If you look on Google Earth, between Rolland and Langelier, Albert-Hudon and Henri-Bourassa, about 25000 people live there without a single park space except small pocket parks.
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Kate
Anti-suicide barriers are coming on the orange line but only by 2026.
Roman
In Taipei they can build an entire subway line, in seismic active region in about the same time. It’s ridiculous.
Kate
To be fair, the STM has other pressing matters, like retrofitting elevators into stations never conceived for them, the issue whether to extend the orange line now, the extension of the blue line, maybe adding trams, which it hasn’t operated since 1956, the creation of the potential pink line and more.
I am not a fan of those barriers, but I have to accept that it’s an idea whose time has come and they’ll be installed here.
Francesco
Why are you not a fan? I agree they may change the aesthetics of the very few stations with dazzling architectural features visible from platforms, but in reality commuters are not on the metro for the architecture. I’ve seen it reported that studies show how platform screen doors could reduce delays on the Orange Line by more than 50%, and would virtually eliminate accidental or intentional access to the tracks and this save a non-trivial number of lives each year.
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Kate
Another CBC piece on the Cabot Square homeless situation mentions the real problem in the penultimate paragraph: winter is coming. Fourteen people have died since the Open Door shelter moved away, and there’s only talk so far about creating something else to replace it.
Update: a new support centre will open soon in that empty building at the corner of Atwater and Ste-Catherine that has housed various restaurants.
Michael Black
Later in the day, the CBC has a story a story up that the old building that used to be the McDonald’s at Atwater and Ste-Catherine Street will become a day shelter. That’s good news, I decided there were more clothes I could give away, and this is closer than The Open Door.
It does leave me wondering why the Door didn’t move there last year. They had been looking for a closer place, but every time they were close to signing, issues came up. But I think that location has been empty all this time. Maybe too expensive or needing too much renovation, but the Open Door seemed in decent financial shape, while a coalition of groups is doing this, albeit with government funding.
Michael
DeWolf
Michael, that building was occupied by a Japanese restaurant until August. It wasn’t empty until now.
Michael Black
Okay, I knew it had been used more recently than the McDonald’s, but thought it had been empty longer. I’ve not been at that corner since at least February, but thought it had been empty. I must be thinking of some earlier time the building was empty.
Michael
Michael Black
And on Wednesday there are stories about how Chez Doris had received a donation of $1M and will open a new shelter in the area. This is for overnight, if I read it right. And for both men and women, while of course Chez Doris is a day shelter for women only. No word on where it will be, just in the area.
Michael
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