A big announcement about the Montreal metro is set to happen midday Friday with major reps from all three levels of government present. Any guesses what up?
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Kate
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Kate
City-owned trucks will be using a new backup warning sound instead of a beep, and it’s linked here, and it sounds like ass.
denpanosekai
This is what it already sounds like in Verdun, in fact that’s how I’ve always heard it for the past 5+ years.
MarcG
Ditto (except a couple of rogue snow removal vehicles that still beep). Sounds like shit but doesn’t wake you up like the beeping does.
mare
New for Montreal maybe, but not for the world. (I’ve been hearing it for years, but probably not on city vehicles.)
This article (which is not only about Amazon), explains why the new sounds are better:
https://www.inputmag.com/tech/amazon-trucks-backup-reverse-beep-broadband-sound-safety
DeWolf
Strange they’re just announcing this now. As the article notes, “la Ville avait entamé ce changement d’alarmes en 2019.”
DavidH
It’s the same in Rosemont and the Plateau.
Kate
I haven’t been conscious of hearing it, but maybe I simply didn’t process it as a warning signal.
carswell
In several of the houses immediately behind my apartment building, the entrance to the basement garage is through the back. There’s no alley, meaning the owners have paved over their backyard paradises and put up a parking lot. It’s a tight space for snowplows and so involves lots of backing up. For years, I was regularly woken up at 4 a.m. on winter mornings. But this winter, not once. And it’s not that I’ve become a sounder sleeper — quite the opposite in fact. This new sound is a change for the better.
Blork
Kate, if you haven’t been hearing it, that shows it’s working. The BEEP BEEP BEEP sound can carry for blocks, but that new ass sound is only really noticeable when you’re in the “danger zone” so to speak.
I think it’s a great idea. That BEEP BEEP BEEP sound drives me crazy. Last summer there was some road work going on half a block from my house, and there was some kind of vehicle that was backing up literally two times a minute all day. So even indoors, half a block away, I had BEEP BEEP BEEP happening all day long, for days, and it was driving me nuts. I did NOT have to hear that if I’m nowhere near the vehicle that’s backing up!
Jonathan
In Vietnam, trucks that back up play the Lambada. I think that would be awesome to hear on the streets of Montreal.
See this video : https://youtu.be/F9F73stJDT4
qatzelok
The main problem with the beep-beep sound is that it carries for up to 2 km.
This is far outside any danger zone, and this is why parks and other open areas have a permanent beep-beep soundtrack, until all truckes are switched to the much shorter-range zkrich-zkrich sound.
JaneyB
What a beautiful day! I absolutely loathe the beep-beep sound. May the new sound warning be adopted by all the current beepers.
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Kate
Bixi is expected to start up by April 15, with more electric bikes added to the fleet.
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Kate
Metro finds that restaurants are having trouble finding staff so they can reopen their terrasses. Yep, that’s Peter Sergakis. For some reason, people don’t want to work for him.
Ephraim
I can’t figure out why people would buy alcohol from him. I can’t figure out why the Regie d’alcohol let’s him serve alcohol in anything but measured and marked glasses, after finding that he intentionally underpours. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/beer-measuring-test-shows-some-bars-served-5-oz-less-than-advertised-1.2668968
Blork
@Ephraim, I think it’s because the vast majority of people who go to his bars have no idea who TF he is or why he’s a problem. Seriously, take a survey. Go downtown and randomly ask people “who is Peter Sergakis?” and maybe one in 300 will have some idea. And among the people who do know who he is, maybe 20% will know about the short-pour drinks and other problems.
OTOH, do a survey that asks “do bars in Montreal pour short?” and one out of four people will probably say “yes” and some will even remember it being in the news a while ago. But hardly anyone will connect the dots.
Ephraim
In many countries, you have to pour in glasses that are either standard sizes or with markings to show the fill line. Considering these antics, maybe we need that here… or in the case of where you get caught with short pours, make it a requirement of your licence because you violated the public trust.
Blork
I would totally get behind that. I get short pours in restaurants frequently, but in that case it’s mostly because the 20-year-old who doesn’t give AF about anything can’t be bothered to pour correctly, so there’s two inches of head at the top of my beer and a half-inch of space at the top of the glass. I rarely complain because I don’t want to be “that guy.”
MarcG
I was at Brutopia once and ordered a strong beer off the menu. I asked the server to confirm that, like normal, it would cost the same as a regular beer but come in a smaller glass, to which she said “No, it’s a pint like the others”. Thinking this odd, but also that I was getting a good deal, I didn’t complain. I was brought a pint glass about 2/3 full and was told “I didn’t fill it all the way up because it’s a strong beer”. I just assumed, or hoped, it was their first day on the job and didn’t say anything.
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Kate
The theoretical deadline for the REM de l’Est has been extended with various vague excuses. CDPQ-Infra has clearly been made aware that the city does not want it, at least not in its proposed form, but they’ll never admit that in so many words.
Now maybe we can focus on completing the blue line out to Anjou.
Update: The phrasing has evolved over the news cycle so now they’re saying the project is on hold.
dhomas
Hey, since we’ll have access to those tunneling/boring machines for the blue line extension, why not put them to use in tunnelling out an eastward extension to the green line? :p Makes more sense than the REM de l’EST…
Spi
No it doesn’t, if the population growth and gentrification along the green lines continues we’ll probably reach an orange line rush house scenario within a decade, extending the line further out only makes it worst since there’s not much more that can be done to improve service once it’s fully converted to Azur trains.
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Kate
Le Devoir has a six-minute video interviewing several people involved in the promotion and protection of the city’s parks. The intro focuses on how much the population has benefited from parks during the pandemic, which is demonstrably true.
But I didn’t see any mention of two factors. One is, prosaically, simply the provision of bathrooms. The other is more complicated, but living as I do near Jarry Park, which has been subject to chipping away for years, I’m so aware of it: once you have a park, different interests will claim pieces of it for their useful projects, pave this piece for a skate park, fence a section off for a new baseball field here because a mayor says baseball must be promoted, install a basketball court over there, oh and yes, the tennis facility needs more space.
Bit by bit, the simple green space gets claimed for deserving projects until you have something more like an outdoor gym than a park. The video doesn’t say anything about what parks must be protected from, only showing nice bits of outdoor space and people enjoying them.
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Kate
La Presse’s Daniel Renaud says there’s been a wave of resignations at the SPVM as officers move to the SQ or to other police forces. Mostly, cops don’t like the fact that their work is subject to more public scrutiny here.
Raymond Lutz
Tiré de l’article (un policier se confie): « Je trouvais que ça devenait très politique, à Montréal. Je sentais que je travaillais pour la Ville et non pour mes patrons, et que c’est aux dirigeants de la Ville que je devais rendre des comptes »
Kate
Exactly as it should be!
Raymond Lutz
yup, my [facepalm] was filtered out! 🙂
Kevin
120 resignations over two years out of 4,500 cops.
Some industries would kill to have turnover that low
Ephraim
Why does it feel like the most problematic cops are looking for a place where they are less scrutinized?
dhomas
Look at the example of “Alex”. He was working as a cop in Montreal. His new gig is in Estrie. Cops can’t work remotely. If their partner wants a change of scenery away from Montreal because they can work remotely, like a lot of news reports are claiming many people do, then these cops will move away from Montreal. I hate to use the pandemic as a catch-all excuse, but this could be one of the factors.
And I don’t buy the “Montreal police are always scrutinized and filmed” angle. Most of these cops are moving to places outside of Montreal and remain cops, according to the article. Camera phones exist outside of Montreal. If they are worried about being filmed, it’s because they’re doing something wrong.
I also giggled at the quote RL mentioned. How can you be so clueless as to not know that your “patron” IS “la Ville”!Ian
It’s almost as if they don’t realize what the “M” stands for.
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Kate
A man was stabbed in Ahuntsic early on Thursday, but little else is being told about the incident.
Does Global’s headline “Armed assault in Ahuntsic…” help matters? Yes, a knife is a weapon, but most people reading just the headline will assume a gun.
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Kate
A story that’s been percolating in headlines for years is becoming more acute: the issue of luring students here from Asia and making them pay big money to get a nominal education (but also in some cases to get a foot in the door of immigrating to Canada). Both public (the Lester B. Pearson board’s involvement is outlined in this story) and private institutions have seen these students as cash cows. CBC’s excellent story tells the epic tale of a woman who set up three private colleges to attract students from India, but they’re now in creditor protection and the students are in limbo.
If nothing else, this suggests government has been negligent in allowing these institutions to proliferate and doing nothing to protect the students, let alone monitor the quality of education provided. The person in this story is now facing charges, but the situation should never have been allowed to get this bad.
Daniel D 21:51 on 2022-03-17 Permalink
My wildcard bet is they announce a very sensible extension of the Orange Line from Côte-Vertu to Bois-Franc to connect with the REM.
Faiz imam 22:05 on 2022-03-17 Permalink
I hope that’s the case…
My pessimistic guess is they will announce the blue line is further delayed and the cost is much higher, but the extra is all now paid for by the federal “infrastructure bank”.
mare 23:20 on 2022-03-17 Permalink
Because of the skyrocketing gas prices, all public transport fares will be halved until further notice. New Zealand does it, why can’t we?
The REM Nord from Côte-Vertu to St-Jerome, and later St-Sauveur, will be announced. All above-ground, bundled with highway 13, with new bridges to Laval and Boisbriand-West and linking Mirabel airport, with many stations in the not yet developed areas in between. Building starts end of 2022, opening in 2024.
dhomas 02:18 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
Pablo Rodriguez is the federal MP that will be present. He represents Honoré-Mercier, which covers Eastern parts of the city including Anjou, and some of RDP-P.A.T. Since I have very little expectations for future metro expansion in Montreal, I would guess that they’ll be announcing the breaking of ground for the already announced blue line extension. If I can be a tiny bit optimistic, maybe even a further extension that will make a station/terminus beyond the 25 into Anjou proper.
DeWolf 07:51 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
Le Devoir is reporting that the announcement is related to the blue line, so I expect the announcement will simply be that all the funding is finally in place and construction will finally begin.
Preparatory works have been underway for some time now, expropriations are (mostly?) finished and architects have been hired to design the stations. The only hold-up has been the CAQ’s dithering over budget.
carswell 08:37 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
Many media outlets are saying it’s the final go-ahead for the blue line. Why now? Embarrassment that it’s taken 30+ years? The pending election? Deflecting criticism of the REM de l’Est’s cannibalisation of metro users and budget?
If they were smart, they’d also extend the orange line to Bois-Franc. But they won’t. For some reason, the powers don’t think transit interconnections are important, the RDLE’s failure to reach Central Station being only the latest example.
Kate 09:04 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
CBC radio Friday morning was quite casual about it being a blue line announcement. I’ll post here when the news is out.
DeWolf 09:08 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
@carswell, the Bois-Franc extension is already planned – in fact, it’s considered a high priority by the ARTM and STM. As with the blue line, though, its funding keeps getting put off by the provincial government.
The ARTM and STM are very keen on interconnections – the problem is the CDPQ and its lack of transparency and collaboration with other agencies, as well as the CAQ, which has no interest in listening to the people who are actually in charge of planning transport around Montreal.
REM1 actually has pretty good connectivity, with connections to the orange, green and blue lines. But when the plans were first released in 2016, the transfer stations at McGill and Édouard-Montpetit were only tentative. The Liberals were in charge at the time, so I’d like to know what happened behind the scenes that got the CPDQ to actually commit to building those stations.
carswell 09:35 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
@DeWolf I know (about Bois-Franc) but plans are one thing and reality is another.
The blue line was originally supposed to connect with the West Island commuter rail line and airport train (eyeroll); at least it’s finally going to hook up with the Pie IX bus rapid transit system on the other end, though only years after the BRT opens.
The REM’s connectivity is better than when announced — I still find it hard to believe they’re actually building an Édouard-Montpetit station — but someone travelling from Deux-Montagnes to, say, TAV College or the Bluebonnets site or even the Glenn is going to have a much longer commute than if they could transfer to the orange line at Bois-Francs. And offloading passengers onto the underutilized western orange line would help alleviate overcrowding on what is likely to be one of the busier stretches of the REM line.
Ant6n 13:51 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
On paper the connectivity of rem1 is good – when sufficiently zoomed out. The problem is the design of the stations involving very long transfers. That’s true for virtually all of rem1 stations, the network thinking isn’t particularly optimised.
dhomas 13:58 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
So it’s just a confirmation that the blue line extension is a “go”. They moved the terminus from Galeries d’Anjou to the other side of the 25 onto city land at the Anjou city hall, in order to save on expropriation costs. That doesn’t make much sense, since a) who wants to go to city hall and not the mall; and b) there are many buses that terminate at Galeries d’Anjou, so a metro terminus would have made sense.
You would think the mall would welcome a metro station, with all its additional foot traffic. Then again, it is owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge (aka CDPQ), so they probably don’t want anything but an REM station.
Meanwhile, the old Sears has been sitting empty for years…
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1869986/ligne-bleu-devoilement-budget-metro-montreal
DeWolf 15:56 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
@Ant6n, isn’t that a common problem in many systems around the world, especially with lines built decades apart and/or by different transit agencies? Some of the transfers between the Tokyo metro and JR are very long, or the Paris metro and the RER, not to mention the London underground, which has some very long transfers even though it’s all the same system.
Not saying the transfer from Central Station to Bonaventure won’t be a hassle, but to me, the situation at Édouard-Montpetit and McGill don’t seem all that bad given the constraints.
Ant6n 16:11 on 2022-03-18 Permalink
In Berlin, a station was moved 150 meters when an intersecting line was built. Where there is a will there is a way. The problem in some of the places with bad transfers is that those were competing systems, where transfers were not part of the design at all. Is that the case in Montreal?
I don’t like the idea of citing worse examples, in any case. We should be trying to follow best practices, not congratulate ourselves for being better than the worst. I remember one of the rem people even cited Paris as an example which lacks an integrated main station, so transferring from one intercity train to another (as in VIA from Quebec to Toronto may have one day) would involve a metro trip through the city – of Paris does it, it must be world class!