Updates from November, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 23:09 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

    The Mascouche train runs nearly empty now. The train hasn’t been able to use the Mount Royal tunnel since 2020 and has to take a long detour that can add as much as an hour to the trip. This has deterred most potential riders.

     
    • Taylor 23:31 on 2023-11-08 Permalink

      Literally everyone said this was going to happen.

    • Kate 23:36 on 2023-11-08 Permalink

      The Mascouche line only opened in 2014, and – as I recall – cost a lot of money.

    • Nicholas 02:56 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      The line cost a lot because they built a brand new section from Repentigny to Terrebonne, a huge detour, so they could win more votes in that seat. Even with the old, faster route it was only slightly shorter to take the 186/486 from PAT to Honoré Beaugrand (or other buses from Terrebonne) and then the green line, or get off at Sauvé and take the orange line. Even with the REM fully in place, people could just as easily take the orange line. A train with a few trips a day, no through running and a large detour will never be a success, and many people said this at the time.

    • Blork 08:37 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      If the choice was between taking one train with comfortable seats and taking a bus and then an overcrowded Metro then you’d think the first option would win for most people.

    • MarcG 09:33 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      If you use the Exo’s own website to propose a route from Mascouche to Bonaventure using the train, it suggests getting off at Sauve and finishing on the orange line. I can’t think of anyone who has an extra hour to burn in the morning to go around the mountain, maybe a few people who can do their work on the train. For most people the choice is Train->Metro vs. Bus->Metro and the fact that Exo themselves barely suggest the train you know the schedule is trash.

    • dhomas 10:46 on 2023-11-10 Permalink

      My brother-in-law bought a house close to the RDP train station in 2013. One of the main selling points was the proximity to the then-upcoming train station. When it opened, he and his wife were really happy with the service. It was a straight shot from RDP to Bonaventure (where my brother-in-law worked) and it took about 35 minutes. The only complaint was that there wasn’t enough frequency; if they missed a departure, they needed to wait about an hour to get back home.
      It’s really sad that anything East of the end of the Green Line metro still has pretty terrible transit options. The bus options mentioned by Nicholas are in place, but are strongly impacted by the construction on the 25. I live close to Radisson metro and my kids go to school in RDP. I tried to bring my kids to school by bus, but the return trip is extremely slow on the 448/449. The 186/486 are also impacted because of the added traffic on Sherbrooke from drivers avoiding the 25. The Mascoushe train could have been great, if they had just increased the frequency.

    • Orr 18:01 on 2023-11-11 Permalink

      For fun I’m trying the EXO trip planner for a train trip to masscouche or terrebonne and it is insisting I take a bus. And I have selected only “trains” in the planner.

  • Kate 23:06 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

    Students clashed over Palestine Wednesday afternoon at Concordia. Some were injured, and one student was arrested.

     
    • Anton 03:56 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      So, uh, both student groups have wildly different stories, view themselves as peaceful victims, and the others as violent terrorists. It’s like in real life.

    • Blork 08:38 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      Yup.

    • JaneyB 14:45 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      There was another protest scheduled today for Guy Metro station but I see it has been moved to near McGill. Despite the real-time troubles in the Middle East right now, the Israel-Palestine debate often seems like a backup fury option here in Montreal when the normal Anglo-Franco tension needs a breather.

    • steph 15:53 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      can we just go back to hockey riots?

    • Meezly 16:27 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      …but not as far back as the days of race-related computer riots.

    • Ian 20:06 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

      When race, religion, and nationality are conflated, it often increases conflict.

      CAQ ethnonationalists should take note.

  • Kate 17:19 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

    A funeral home in Pointe Claire has become a pyre on Wednesday afternoon.

     
    • Blork 21:54 on 2023-11-08 Permalink

      Cremations half price this week. (Too soon?)

  • Kate 16:58 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

    The municipal affairs minister is bringing down the boom on the top people at the OCPM, and the mayor is asking for an audit of expenses, including those declared when Dominique Ollivier, currently chair of the city’s executive committee, headed the OCPM.

    TVA, which got the scoop on this story, is thoroughly enjoying expanding on it, saying OCPM workers don’t know where their boss is but also saying that top boss Isabelle Beaulieu has made a total mea culpa. Ollivier has also said she will cooperate with the audit.

     
    • Kate 11:07 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

      Executive committee chair Dominique Ollivier is refusing to step down over allegations of abusive spending when she headed the OCPM.

       
      • Kate 11:06 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

        The EMSB is going to court to establish its right to communicate in English. As things stand, under the law that was called Bill 96, it is obliged to issue all its communications in French only.

         
        • qatzelok 12:48 on 2023-11-09 Permalink

          More accurate: “It is only obliged to issue its communications in French.”

          There is no interdiction on other languages… as long as French is available.

      • Kate 10:57 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

        Quebec healthcare workers have started a two‑day strike meant to be followed by further strike days later this month.

         
        • Kate 08:52 on 2023-11-08 Permalink | Reply  

          Asylum seekers are adding to the number of homeless on Montreal streets.

           
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