Off-island again: there was a truly massive pile-up on autoroute 15 in Laprairie midday Wednesday. The Journal has the photos. Radio-Canada says 200 vehicles were involved, two people are dead and many more were injured. Among vehicles you can see in the scrum are a schoolbus and a tanker truck.
Why doesn’t English have a terrific word like “carambolage” for this kind of thing? “Pile-up” doesn’t do it justice.
Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough wants to name an otherwise nameless spur of Henri-Bourassa la Rue des Petits-chars as a nod to the streetcars of old. Streetcars used to turn and go back southwards in that area near Millen Street, so it’s an appropriate location for the name.
The city has decided to borrow another $20 million to complete the first phase of work on Ste‑Catherine Street between Mansfield and Bleury and including Phillips Square.
I’m all for this. The city’s overdue on making nice with Phillips Square. Victoria and Dorchester Squares both look fabulous these days. It’s high time we did away with the extraneous asphalt surrounding Phillips, and hooked it up with Place Frère-André in a manner befitting the importance of the area.
Throw those landscape designers a bonus cheque while you’re at it. The recent renovations of our downtown public spaces have all come out exceedingly well.
@Max It would be pretty nice if they pedestrianized that whole block south of Ste Kitty including the streets immediately east west and south of the park. They may as well, really, since the terrasses have been allowed the sidewalks on the east side are pretty much impassable and the streets south and west don’t get very much traffic compared to other blocks in the area anyhow.
I don’t understand what you mean about connecting that with place-F-A though, that’s a full block away at Rene Levesque?
I’m still pissed about how badly the city screwed over the woman who bought the flower kiosk business.
@Ian: I’m thinking that Place Phillips (the street south of Cathcart) could be narrowed by removing some parking. If both squares and the sidewalks were redone harmoniously (consistent plantings, paving stones, street furniture, etc) then we would effectively have one larger square that extends all the way to Dorchester. It would be great if that weird bit of diagonal parking by the Tim’s and the Crane Building were incorporated too. I think the street’s wide enough to accommodate 3 lanes of traffic (two north and one south) along with some really ped-friendly sidewalks.
Also, Ian: I don’t think the street on the east side will ever be pedestrianized. It’s an important link for traffic getting from the Victoria Square area to Sherbrooke. The street on the west side has a problem too. It’s an important southbound connection between Sherbrooke and Rene-Levesque. The drivers would revolt.
To be fair city councillors is also used by a lot of bicyclists, it is the least steep grade from Rene Levesque to Sherbrooke.
It’s not an important driving link though, University, er, Robert-Bourassa only 3 blocks over serves that purpose just fine. City Councillors is very narrow and doesn’t have that much traffic between Ste Kitty and DeMaisonneuve compared to other nearby streets. As far as Union is concerned TBH I mostly only see delivery trucks between Ste Kitty & RL.
A New York Times writer looks at Montreal’s Nordic spas with some handwavy theories about why they’re popular.
I like the view of the “Lac Des Battures” – a marshy little pool on Nuns’ Island.
Men down south have always flocked to Montreal for the strip clubs. Now the American ladies will come in droves for the spas :-O
The city has decided the pilot e-scooter projects didn’t work so the Lime and Bird scooters won’t be back this summer. Apparently 80% of them were parked illegally during the test period last summer.
That number is LOW…. it’s more like it was incredible to see one actually parked legally.
Top contender for lamest excuse of all time.
The headline here should be that over 200K people chose this non-polluting method of getting around town.
Who cares if they’re left where they’re not supposed to be… that’s a solution that can be fixed.
This comes across as throwing Ensemble a bone… it’s disappointing. There are far greater issues at stake than disorder of scooter parking.
This is giving up at the first instance of a problem.
I was about to be amazed that only 80% were parked illegally. I am curious why they didn’t get a chance to fix it — this seems like a really fast cancellation.
Ginger Baker,
Hopefully this is more the city telling the companies that they need to figure out a way to ensure that their users comply with the rules. Other sharing services like Car2Go, although now defunct, prevented users from just parking their cars anywhere – if you weren’t in a legal space, you were still paying until you parked in a leagal spot. Lime and Bird just need to figure out how to do that. If you read the article, the GM of Lime wanted to put the blame on Montreal and claimed that a 90-day test was not sufficient time. It was plenty of time to figure out that they didn’t have a way of ensuring the things were parked properly (or for that matter that users were 18 – a third of the people I saw riding Lime were clearly under 18.
Lower polluting than walking? I don’t think so. Most of the ones I saw abandoned in silly places were blocking up sidewalks.
Of all the stupid and dangerous behaviour I’ve seen on montreal roads (god knows there is no lack of it) the worst have been from people on electric scooters even if only based on 3-months of service. The most memorable was one flying full speed in the middle of the night against traffic on Penfield. It would have only been a matter of time before someone died from it.
Yeah, I highly doubt even one single person chose a Lime or Bird scooter over driving. They were an alternative to walking or maybe in some cases public transit. I’m sure most people rode them for fun. Maybe a handful rode scooters instead of taking a taxi. But there’s no way those scooters reduced the number of private cars on the road by even a single car.
I don’t know why people are fussing. The tech exists, so it will be used. If government, police or commerce try to stop it, they will fail. We simply have to accept that it is now part of public life.
Apologies for the plagiarism. 🙂
We can regulate scooters, and we can regulate facial recognition too.
As the article indicates, the door is not closed to them coming back, so it’s up to Lime and Bird (and similar) to come up with and implement the “tech” that will solve these problems. If they do that, maybe we’ll see them again. But it’s not up to the city to do that. The city just says “we don’t want your shitty scooters laying all over the place; find a way to dock them or otherwise control where they are left and you can try again.”
Also bear in mind that the root of the problem isn’t technical or even regulatory; it’s human. People are idiots and incapable of doing the reasonable right thing unless you threaten or force them.
The current tech bubble involves ‘disruptor’ companies that exist solely as a way for so-called entrepreneurial ‘creators’ to line their pockets at the expense of venture capitalists who are so blinded by technology they can’t recognize when something completely fails as a business model.
In my neighborhood, I rarely saw the scooters in use during the day. They were used primarily by drunk people late at night from what I saw. I do not believe I ever saw a single person wearing a helmet while riding a scooter and I saw more than a few obvious children riding the things.
There was a lot of bad driving of the scooters which has been noted everywhere but why do cyclists get a pass on the exact same behavior? I also wonder why people driving scooters that are locked to 20 kph are required to wear helmets but no helmets required for the people riding bikes down Berri or St Denis or Guy at 60 kph or faster (Yeah, I’m sure. Don’t make me rent a radar gun).
The scooters are just the tip of the spear though. The city can ban the rentals but they can’t ban ordering one on Amazon for $300 and hitting the bike path. Our political overlords at Velo Quebec have been strangely quiet on the issue but there is a reckoning coming between the Team Spandex’s legions and the battery powered barbarian hordes about to invade the bike paths.
Bill, remember that the city hasn’t banned the scooters; it’s banned the DOCKLESS RENTAL of scooters. The most complaints were from people leaving them all over the place; blocking intersections, cluttering up sidewalks, polluting the Lachine Canal, etc. Nobody who buys their own scooter is going to just throw it down on the sidewalk when they’re not using it.
Regarding scooters vs. bikes: I’m pretty sure the amount of control you have when riding a scooter is a lot less than when riding a bike. If you hit a pothole when riding a scooter you’re going down and possibly taking a pedestrian or cyclist with you. Most cyclists can survive a pothole (you might get a flat tire but there’s less chance of you going down than if you were on a scooter.)
BTW, bicycles are supposed to be limited to 20kph when they’re on the bike paths. As you know, this is not enforced. But I doubt many are actually hitting 60. I know that I occasionally hit 35 when I’m on the bridge and going down the long decline, and at that speed it feels like I’m doing 100.
@Blork
Ok, researching radar gun rentals in Montreal…
“My” Starbucks used to be at the corner of St Denis and Ontario. At least until it tragically closed a month or so ago. For years I have been crossing Berri at Ontario 4 times a day. It is not at all unusual to see bikes passing cars in free flowing traffic coming down Berri. Unbelievably, I have also seen them run the red light at Ontario at that speed, something which can only be considered suicidal.
Quebec law doesn’t currently allow anyone to ride a privately owned e-scooter.
Are you sure about that, Kevin? I sure see a lot of motorized skateboards, hoverboards, Airwheels, etc. zipping around unimpeded by the law. I can’t see how adding a handle onto one makes it cross a line.
Anyone who rides a low-speed electric scooter on public roads must comply with the following rules and requirements:
be 18 years of age or older
have attended the training program offered by the manufacturer or distributor registered for the pilot project 😉
ride only on roads where the speed limit is 50 km/h or less
wear a protective (bicycle) helmet 😉
use the turn signal lights to signal their intentions 😉
obey the Highway Safety Code, as well as the other conditions of the pilot project
have with them the certificate attesting to their participation in a training program 😉
refrain from carrying passengers, hauling a trailer or pulling or pushing any other object
refrain from using a low-speed electric scooter that has been modified
https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/saaq/documents/pilot-projects/low-speed-electric-scooters/
marco/ Blork
That’s the pilot project, but it only applies to rental items from Lime and other companies.
There are many on the road, all completely illegal, because cops have so far turned a blind eye to them.
François Legault has floated the idea that the Port of Montreal may shut down if the rail blockades continue, but port operators say the situation is not so bad. Justin Trudeau is asking for patience.
(Meantime, so much of China’s industry has shut down that it has cut its emissions by 25%. So shipments of goods from that country must be down as well.)
Why is Legault pushing this needle so far. The SQ is powerless in conflicts like this, they proved it at Oka. Why does he want to raise the stakes, just asking?
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/202002/19/01-5261554-crise-ferroviaire-legault-nexclut-pas-lusage-de-la-force.php
Legault knows he is powerless, he’s just using this as an opportunity to posture & make the federal government look bad. Legault may not be a separatist but he knows vilifying the feds plays well with his voter base.
I was coming here to say pretty much that, Ian. Thanks!
I stand on the shoulders of giants, thank you, Kate.
It doesn’t seem so long ago that work was done on the Ville-Marie tunnel, but another wave of renovation costing $2 billion and lasting 10 years is about to begin, with the Quebec transport ministry putting out tenders.
Climate change may be the death knell for the outdoor rink.
«On tombe dans un cercle vicieux. On ne peut pas avoir des patinoires naturelles en raison des gaz à effet de serre, donc on va produire encore plus de gaz à effet de serre en créant des patinoires réfrigérées»
C’est fou de penser qu’il faudra refrigerér un patinoire extérieure en HIVER, ICI. On risque de perdre un des rares plaisirs d’hiver…grossssoupir!
Il y a aussi le cercle vicieux de températures plus hauts -> davantage de climatisation -> émissions plus hauts. Personne ne veut pas sacrifier leur confort.
Ian 09:04 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Listening to CBC radio this morning the mayor of St Donat was being interviewed and he said since the Ministry of Transportation raised the roadbed 20 years ago that stretch has always been prone to whiteouts and fog, there are constant complaints, and the Ministry does nothing. Maybe they will now. The Minister in charge said they would have to conduct a study.
MarcG 11:12 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Do schoolbusses still not have seatbelts?
YUL514 13:18 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
“Do schoolbusses still not have seatbelts?”
No.
MarcG 13:40 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
No they still do not, meaning yes they now do?
Dhomas 03:44 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Schoolbuses do not have seat belts.
Ian 08:47 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
They do for the driver, same as city buses. For that matter, intercity buses don’t have passenger seatbelts wither – though that is slowly changing. https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2018/07/transport-canada-to-make-seat-belts-mandatory-on-highway-buses.html
YUL514 11:29 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Sorry about that Marc, no they do not have seatbelts. I cringe everytime our kids go on field trips that require highway driving like apple picking and Cabane à sucre.
jeather 12:22 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Wearing no seatbelt in a schoolbus, a vehicle where the interiors are planned to be made without seatbelt use and the seats reflect that, is very different from not wearing one in a car. (I’m not against trying to add seatbelts to school buses, but they are set up with tall, closely spaced, strongly attached, highly padded seats for a reason.)
Kevin 22:14 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
A few years back a friend’s child was on a school bus that had a pretty horrendous crash — spinning into a ditch after hitting an 18-wheeler.
10 kids had scrapes and bruises. C’est tout.