Quebec wants reserved lanes all over town
If the public is frustrated with the construction of bike paths, how will they respond when Quebec decides to build reserved lanes on roads all over town? Quebec is also considering widening certain autoroutes so’s to add additional lanes.
Ian 10:50 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
If they have reserved lanes as well as bike paths that should be interesting. If they do that on Bellechasse there’s no lane left for cars 😀
Ephraim 17:49 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
BTW, they are installing a bike lane across St-Denis and yet they haven’t moved the Circuit Electrique’s charging stations. I wonder if the city is responsible to pay for their relocation in the contract with Hydro Quebec. Anyone know? I wonder what’s going to happen when someone plugs in and the cable runs across the bike lane.
Joey 18:01 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
Ephraim, those stations are usually deactivated when the parking space in front of them is removed. Lots of the stations in my neighborhood were inaccessible when the city set up the lineup areas around pharmacies and supermarkets in the spring. Here’s hoping those stations are moved as the electric charging infrastructure is fragile enough as it is…
Ephraim 20:00 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
A friend tells me that they are still marked as “live” until someone complains, so apparently, the city isn’t notifying CE. And of course, it means that there isn’t enough infrastructure for charging cars. He wasn’t happy… he’s finding less and less places to charge.
Ian 20:04 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
There are photos of this same thing all over town. As I have said before, for a party predicate on urban planning, PM is kind of shite at urban planning, Their intentions are good but their research and implementation are often awful. It’s so pathetically sophomoric.
walkerp 20:13 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
Is it not the bureaucracy already in place that does the urban planning? Did the previous administration do a better job? I question your constantly going after Projet Montreal. This is a mainstay of project development across Quebec: bad planning, corruption, no communication between agencies.
Laying it all on the feet of Projet Montreal seems simplistic and emotional to me. I imagine they are also quite frustrated with the way some things are implemented, but do not have the clout to improve.
Ian 20:38 on 2020-09-02 Permalink
That’s a total cop-out, the entire point of Projet Montreal is that they are good at urban planning.
To figure out whether there are electric car charging stations on a bike path seems like a pretty easy thing to figure out, it’s not like coordinating underground utility networks – you can literally see them as you walk down the street.
To say that all of Quebec is corrupt and incompetent seems like a hand-wavey, evasive apologia – if your political platform is that you are actually not that., it’s not unreasonable to expect follow-through.
Jonathan 07:55 on 2020-09-03 Permalink
As someone who has an urban planning academic background, I find Projet Montreal is doing a great job. You have to remember that the planners actually planning are functionaries who are in place before and after a political party is in power. The politicians can only do so much as to set policies and standards, but the bulk of the work is done by the city staff.
I’m pretty sure they know very well there are electric charging stations and in time they will be relocated. This is the message I got when I attended one of the local consultation sessions on the REV.
Ian 08:11 on 2020-09-03 Permalink
I’m pretty sure that I can see the charging stations just by using my eyes. PM doesn’t have a mere abstract academic background, they have been in power for years now in my borough, long before Plante even ran for mayor. I would have thought they would have learned a thing or two from the experience of debacles like Clark Street but apparently not.
I get it that PM are “just” functionaries, not actually bolting in the temporary traffic dividers or painting the bike lanes or even organizing those crews, but if you really think they have no influence over implementation plans that’s just ridiculous. They have access to some of the best urban planning minds that exist in Quebec. Excuses like ” politicians can only do so much as to set policies and standards” is like blaming the guys on the back of garbage trucks for garbage collection implementation.
You can see that there are charging stations extending across the paths just by looking, and this as happened all over town – again, it’s not rocket science.
Jonathan 15:25 on 2020-09-03 Permalink
What i am saying is that PM is not the functionaries. The urban planners are. There is a whole culture and politics in a city office such as the city planning department.
I don’t doubt the city functionaries ‘see’ the charging stations. It’s just that those are installed by hydro Quebec and they will get around to moving them some time. Things can’t just come to a halt because there are some charging stations en route. I understand they are a big priority for you, Ian, and I hope for your sake they get moved to a place convenient enough for you to charge your electric vehicle while it’s stored on-street.
I think you are giving politicians more credit for getting things done (whether or not you agree on the latter) than they deserve.
Ian 19:47 on 2020-09-03 Permalink
The fact that we agree that the charging infrastructure is a joke in neighbourhoods without driveways aside, you seem to be going through a lot of acrobatic contortions to try to figure out how this couldn’t possibly be Projet’s fault. Let’s be super real here, I have latched on to this one thing as a very specific example of planning failures – of which there are many.
I assure you that if this planning blitz was a success they would take full credit for it – they should also take blame for its failings.
Yann 22:45 on 2020-09-03 Permalink
The $8000 subsidy for one electric car is more than a cyclist pays for en entire lifetime of biking… out of his own pocket. BS cars don’t deserve road hegemony.
Ian 08:26 on 2020-09-04 Permalink
I guess you haven’t seen the pricetag on those bikes the lycra warriors that got Remembrance shut down ride, eh?
FWIW you can get a used electric car for substantially less than the cost of a Tour de France bike.