Oh The Urbanity!

They definitely plow through the night often!

What do you think are the chances that high speed rail in Canada actually happens? Let’s say, starting construction within a decade.

It does vary by borough/route too in Montreal, unfortunately

In this context the biggest challenge of winter cycling is cleaning, maintaining, and storing a bike, given winter salt and grime.

Three considerations:

1. Bike share if your city has it

2. Get an older “beater bike” for winter
3. Get a nice bike optimized for winter (belt drive, internal gears)

Too cold? No, this is a totally normal winter temperature here (–7°C = 19°F) that we all know how to dress for.

I wore the exact same clothing I’d use to walk outside (boots, hat, coat, etc.), except I took heavier mittens rather than gloves.

With a bike lane as wide and well-maintained as this, who *couldn’t* bike in the winter?

That’s new as of this year. Chicago could do it too because they use the same BIXI docks!

That’s awesome! Glad you were able to experience our city like that

Chart showing BIXI ridership growing each year, from 5.8 million trips in 2021 to 14.5 million in 2025

Montreal’s BIXI bike share is closing in on another record year, likely reaching 14.5 million trips in 2025.

www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...

Toronto is not the only city failing to provide strong signal priority for its transit projects!

@ontariotrafficman.bsky.social is working his way through documents on transit signal priority on Montreal’s Pie-IX BRT, recently obtained by @tovarischmark.bsky.social in a request for information.

Yeah, that still seems very restrictive, even for a suburb. Here’s a random suburban lot in my city (500 square metres = 0.125 acres).

Doug Ford has done a lot of bad things, but I think approving density near transit is a good thing!

Population Density This map shows the number of people per hectare living in each area. Compare this to the corresponding map for 2016, the corresponding map for 2011, the corresponding map for 2006, the corresponding

My map is the percentage of people in each census tract that have a commute over 60 minutes, which ranges from approximately 0 to around 25%. From censusmapper.ca

What a coincidence, the map of higher-income areas of Toronto lines up with the map of shorter commutes.

And the lower-income areas (Scarborough and northern Etobicoke) have longer commutes!

Someone should do something about this.

Yeah. Specially it’s percentage of people who commute over an hour (census data provides a few categories).

That's in the far eastern edge of the borough, which is good too, but this would cover Vieux-Rosemont and La Petite-Patrie much better. Neighbourhoods that are quite dense but somewhat beyond metro coverage

I've actually always liked that route better than the REM de l'Est for hitting areas like Rosemont. But I admit I've never spent much time advocating for it because the technology has been lost to time.

Five of the nine North American CSOs are located in Canada. The first and oldest is Auto-Com, located in Quebec City. Auto-Com, which began operations in August 1994, currently has 450 members and 34 cars. Interestingly, this organization began as a nonprofit cooperative, but changed to a for-profit business in 1997. In September 1995, the same group launched a second CSO in Montreal, CommunAuto, Inc. Currently, CommunAuto has over 550 members and 32 cars. CommunAuto was founded as a for- profit business. Less than two years later, two new Canadian CSOs emerged. In January 1997, the Cooperative Auto Network (CAN) began offering carsharing services in British Columbia. At present, CAN has 250 members and 14 vehicles. This CSO operates as a nonprofit cooperative. In February 1997, Victoria Car-Share Co-Op launched its operations in Victoria. This nonprofit cooperative currently has 70 members and 5 vehicles. In October 1998, AutoShare–Car Sharing Network, Incorporated began its operations with three cars in downtown Toronto. During its first month of operation, 40 members joined, which is actually 15 members more than the CSO’s initial projections. Currently, AutoShare has 8 vehicles and120 members. Finally, five additional regions are developing carsharing plans in Ottawa, Guelph, Calgary, Edmonton, and Kitchener. Four carsharing organizations, all two years old or less, operate in the United States. Another two are being planned in the Pacific Northwest, a third in San Francisco, and a fourth in Chicago. Boulder CarShare Cooperative was launched in Boulder, Colorado, in May 1997. The Boulder CSO has 8 members who share 1 vehicle. Members pay a modest monthly fee and mileage

From a 1999 article (page 30): worldstreets.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Today I learned that the first modern car sharing services in North America were started in Quebec City in 1994 (Auto-Com, which seems to no longer exist) and Montreal in 1995 (Communauto, which does still exist).

Five of the nine North American CSOs are located in Canada. The first and oldest is Auto-Com, located in Quebec City. Auto-Com, which began operations in August 1994, currently has 450 members and 34 cars. Interestingly, this organization began as a nonprofit cooperative, but changed to a for-profit business in 1997. In September 1995, the same group launched a second CSO in Montreal, CommunAuto, Inc. Currently, CommunAuto has over 550 members and 32 cars. CommunAuto was founded as a for- profit business. Less than two years later, two new Canadian CSOs emerged. In January 1997, the Cooperative Auto Network (CAN) began offering carsharing services in British Columbia. At present, CAN has 250 members and 14 vehicles. This CSO operates as a nonprofit cooperative. In February 1997, Victoria Car-Share Co-Op launched its operations in Victoria. This nonprofit cooperative currently has 70 members and 5 vehicles. In October 1998, AutoShare–Car Sharing Network, Incorporated began its operations with three cars in downtown Toronto. During its first month of operation, 40 members joined, which is actually 15 members more than the CSO’s initial projections. Currently, AutoShare has 8 vehicles and120 members. Finally, five additional regions are developing carsharing plans in Ottawa, Guelph, Calgary, Edmonton, and Kitchener. Four carsharing organizations, all two years old or less, operate in the United States. Another two are being planned in the Pacific Northwest, a third in San Francisco, and a fourth in Chicago. Boulder CarShare Cooperative was launched in Boulder, Colorado, in May 1997. The Boulder CSO has 8 members who share 1 vehicle. Members pay a modest monthly fee and mileage

Journal article from 1999 (see page 30): worldstreets.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

The lack of rail transit to the airport is indeed disappointing, but I’d be surprised if it had anything to do with language.

Map from CensusMapper showing the percentage of people with commutes longer than 60 minutes. The east end of Montreal is red (lots of long commutes).

The east end of Montreal has some of the longest commute times in the region. Longer than many off-island suburbs!

And yet I continue to hear people downplay the importance of transit speed when debating a REM versus a tram here.

The other priority for transit based on this? LaSalle and Lachine.

Wait, the Finch West LRT includes bike lanes for the whole corridor?

I‘ve change my mind. Great project. Worth every penny.

Inclusionary zoning is a way of transfering the cost of social housing from the general public to new condo buyers.

In some circumstances it might just be the cost of doing business. But it's not especially progressive.

I’m sure I’m biased by having a YouTube channel.

But I watch substantially more YT than any other streaming platform. Paying for YouTube Premium just seems like a no-brainer.

Especially when it includes music access.

Metrolinx promised 33-34 min
TTC runs it at 54 min

Doesn’t bode well for Eglinton either

Vanier Cup - Wikipedia

I’ve never encountered it in a high school context but it is reasonably popular at the university level.

Although nowhere near on the level of “college football” in the US, which is widely broadcasted and followed on TV.

The CFL (Canadian Football League) is also decently popular.

“There is limited signal priority permitted by the City of Toronto.” - Metrolinx

It’s insane that within just a few weeks, two of Canada’s major cities opened polar opposite transit systems.

REM - An extension to a high frequency, fast, fully automated metro system

Finch West - A many years late, over budget, disastrously slow light rail line

I don’t have any stats on it so I’m not sure if it was just a fluke. But I knew multiple people who played it in high school, across two different schools in different provinces!

I don’t remember whether they were school teams or separate leagues.