Montreal: Cars vs Bicycles -Huge Waste

[August1991]

Unlike Amsterdam which is flat, Montreal has three mountains. It is up and down. Moreover, Montreal has lots of snow.

On the other hand, Quebec has lots of hydro-electricity. Why are we wasting this resource locally?

========

I suspect that Plante will not get re-elected. The city of Montreal is making the life of everyone worse.

[herbie]

So buy an electric bike already

[August1991]

22 minutes ago, herbie said:

So buy an electric bike already

Cool!

====

Waste electricity locally, and only use the bike a few months of the year?

Plante will not get re-elected. This terrasse issue is a killer.

[herbie]

You will waste more electricity on this forum than with an electric bike.

[August1991]

On 6/22/2024 at 5:04 PM, herbie said:

You will waste more electricity on this forum than with an electric bike.

In CO2 emissions, we Quebecers waste our hydro-electricity heating our homes.

We should be selling this resource to Americans at a high price.

====

The STM is a large user of electricity. In the future, the REM also.

Edited June 24, 2024 by August1991

[herbie]

2 hours ago, August1991 said:

In CO2 emissions, we Quebecers waste our hydro-electricity heating our homes.

We should be selling this resource to Americans at a high price.

You've been selling it to them for decades. Wanna waste even more? Mine Bitcoins.

[Guest]

On 6/21/2024 at 11:00 PM, August1991 said:

Waste electricity locally, and only use the bike a few months of the year?

I don't think most people would want to bike in the winter.

I used to be one of those nut jobs, and there is nothing practical about prematurely rusting out your wheel bearings, chain, pedal and brake components.

The cold you get used to, but its just not practical.

Drive or take the bus, or if lucky enough to work close to home, walk.

[herbie]

The hardcore ones in Vancouver manage in raincoats, but do they even make snow tires for bicycles?
And just imagine going shopping at Ikea or Costco on a bike! An Ootmar chesterfield or twelve year supply of toilet paper strapped on your back.

[August1991]

On 6/23/2024 at 11:38 PM, herbie said:

You've been selling it to them for decades. Wanna waste even more? Mine Bitcoins.

Bitcoins? A total waste of electricity. A few may gain but overall, it's a great loss.

====

We buy electricity from Newfoundland at Cdn 0.5 cents per kwh.

People in Boston pay about US 20 cents per kwh for this electricity.

Talk about a mark-up, middle-man - arbitrage profit!

=====

At least Hydro-Quebec makes a profit.

Edited June 25, 2024 by August1991

[herbie]

If they didn't like the deal they wouldn't buy it. No shame in charging that.
BC even buys back power when it's cheap to fill up the dams and sell it back when demand and prices are higher.

[herbie]

BTW I have a buddy in Montreal who says it's pretty good for bikes there. He never lived in Vancouver to compare it with though.
I used to ride all over there when I was young and dumb, even out to see a gf in Haney, Didn't like going down and up from N Burnaby to South or down the hill into New West but it was manageable. Try biking to SFU if you want a workout going up and a real thrill coming down!

[August1991]

On 6/25/2024 at 8:17 PM, herbie said:

If they didn't like the deal they wouldn't buy it. No shame in charging that.
BC even buys back power when it's cheap to fill up the dams and sell it back when demand and prices are higher.

True.

But you miss the point that many Newfoundlanders have never understood.

An idea is one thing, Bring it to market another.

====

You van catch a cod fish. Can you sell it?

 

[Guest]

On 6/24/2024 at 4:54 PM, herbie said:

but do they even make snow tires for bicycles?

Mountain bike tires work perfect. I used to be that guy. They cut through snow effortlessly. The thinner, the better.

On 6/24/2024 at 4:54 PM, herbie said:

And just imagine going shopping at Ikea or Costco on a bike!

Been there done that. Had a caddy on the back, I could put an insane volume of items on it. I had considered a child trailer, as could find them cheap on Kijiji, and would have then had a lightweight trailer that rivaled a trunk. Never needed it.

You really rust out steel components on a bike, like your chain, spokes, brake calipers, etc.

Its just not worth it. Even with a composite or aluminum bike. I found myself replacing so many parts, it no longer was cost effective.

My wife wants me to bike more, but for long distances,  would rather drive. 

Short distance, I prefer walking. 

Both can coexist (cyclists and motorists) but education is key.

[herbie]

Ya didn't shop with my wife!

I bought a 2dr Wrangler with like a foot long cargo area so I could pass an Ikea without taking out a 2nd mortgage....
MOF had to take the roof panels off to fit in the new LCD TV... couldn't fit between the rear roll bars.

[QuebecOverCanada]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:21 PM, August1991 said:

I suspect that Plante will not get re-elected. The city of Montreal is making the life of everyone worse.

Yes.

Trash collection is now taking place every 2 weeks instead of every weeks. The roads are not better than they were before, many bridges and infrastructure projects are taking very long for nothing, and they always seem to cost more. Take for example the underground bus garage they are building.

The article is in French but auto-translates does the job very well for this article; https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/grand-montreal/2022-10-28/societe-de-transport-de-montreal/le-garage-bellechasse-coutera-plus-d-un-demi-milliard.php

Quote

Twice as expensive, twice as long. The Bellechasse bus garage of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) is expected to cost more than half a billion dollars and will not be delivered until the summer of 2024, La Presse has learned.

This was an article in 2022 stating that this project, for instance, will cost two times more and will take twice the time to build.

But we have an update I will be glad to share to expose the corruption in 2024 in Quebec. It will not be ready until a few years, because they botched it. Yes sir Miller.

Quote

Built specifically to accommodate electric buses, the Bellechasse bus garage will not ultimately be able to accommodate them for at least a few years. The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) says it must do additional work in terms of safety and technology on this site which is already experiencing its share of delays.

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/grand-montreal/2024-06-04/garage-bellechasse/pas-d-autobus-electriques-avant-au-moins-quelques-annees.php

The city of Montreal is now doing works on maintenance for the aqueduct in my neighbourhood. It has been for a month, and it's not that busy out here traffic wise when it comes to Montreal's standards, but it is basically a change of pipes, asphalt and leave. It should take maximum 1 or 2 business days. It takes more than a month here.

I am starting to hate it here more and more. I am going to leave thankfully next year. This town has a lot of charm, a lot of nice people and and all around rich and vibrant culture. But a lot of Montrealers feel the same way, that's it's not worth the cost like Conservatives like to say.

[QuebecOverCanada]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:32 PM, herbie said:

So buy an electric bike already

It doesn't work well with our winters here. Montreal winters are a bit rougher than they are in Toronto, and unimaginably colder than Vancouver. Electric batteries die very quickly with bikes in the cold, plus only hippies and jackasses ride them during winters here because it's so risky with the icy patches, the snow, the hidden potholes, etc. that it would be impossible to ride for more than 1km realistically.

It's ok if you're working in the Plateau and living there, and even then... It's not so good when you're in Hochelaga and work downtown or uphill to the Plateau.

[QuebecOverCanada]

On 6/25/2024 at 8:31 PM, herbie said:

BTW I have a buddy in Montreal who says it's pretty good for bikes there. He never lived in Vancouver to compare it with though.
I used to ride all over there when I was young and dumb, even out to see a gf in Haney, Didn't like going down and up from N Burnaby to South or down the hill into New West but it was manageable. Try biking to SFU if you want a workout going up and a real thrill coming down!

It depends where you live. You have to bear in mind that Montreal is very vast, not every neighbourhood is bike friendly, it's quite the minority of them who will be despite all the efforts made to make them that way...

[Guest]

On 7/1/2024 at 6:03 PM, herbie said:

Ya didn't shop with my wife!

My wife requires a car to shop with. Could use a bus. She wants my next car to be a pickup truck. Meeting her halfway?

Her mentioning she wants to "quickly check something at Ikea", is girl code for "we are going to be there all morning. We will need to get a lunch at some point, maybe supper".

Oh, and "would that be nice?" is her girl code for "can you make sure you have your tools to install it, no rush, but today?"

What do I win?

 

[500channelsurfer]

On 6/24/2024 at 7:26 AM, Perspektiv said:

I used to be one of those nut jobs, and there is nothing practical about prematurely rusting out your wheel bearings, chain, pedal and brake components.

On 6/24/2024 at 4:54 PM, herbie said:

do they even make snow tires for bicycles?
And just imagine going shopping at Ikea or Costco on a bike!

On 7/1/2024 at 8:59 AM, Perspektiv said:

You really rust out steel components on a bike, like your chain, spokes, brake calipers, etc.

Its just not worth it.

Yes x 3. I used to bike in the winter, in Montreal, and also used to bike to Costco. 

Both are not worth it. The heavy load on my back from Costco-sized shopping is not only hard on me, but harder on the bike, wearing it out faster. But nothing compared to all the SALT dumped on Montreal roads during the winter, rusting all bike components prematurely. Ice chunks on the road are too dangerous.

Unless you are the fanatic that has a cleaning station ready after for every ride, you are just ruining your bike.

But if you are a fanatic, yes there are bike snow tires.

On 6/25/2024 at 8:31 PM, herbie said:

biking to SFU if you want a workout going up and a real thrill coming down!

Biking downtown-UBC was fun too!

 

On 7/2/2024 at 6:33 PM, QuebecOverCanada said:

Trash collection is now taking place every 2 weeks instead of every weeks. The roads are not better than they were before, many bridges and infrastructure projects are taking very long for nothing, and they always seem to cost more. Take for example the underground bus garage they are building.

My neighbourhood still has weekly trash/recycle/compost collection. Pickup less often than once a week is unsanitary, there are too many lazy people who will let garbage rot outside, attract vermin, etc. I am shocked garbage every two weeks is a thing.

I think Plante has done a good job with road paving overall as compared to previous administrations, however the scheduling (pave Rene Levesque during the Jazzfest  for example - scare off tourists for years to come) and too many over-engineered bike lanes and traffic light configurations, the administration has gone too far.

The underground bus garage is a catastrophe - should be poster for competition political party in next mayoral race.

Edited August 13, 2024 by 500channelsurfer

[QuebecOverCanada]

18 hours ago, 500channelsurfer said:

My neighbourhood still has weekly trash/recycle/compost collection. Pickup less often than once a week is unsanitary, there are too many lazy people who will let garbage rot outside, attract vermin, etc. I am shocked garbage every two weeks is a thing.

 

Exactly. It's a measure that is supposed to have good effects by principle; by having less trash collection, people will have to recycle better, to better sort what is something you should put in your blue, green or brown bin. It reduces costs and brings down the municipal budget deficit. The issue is that many people don't have this social conscience to sort trash out and will simply put more trash on the sidewalk without it being collected for days. And when we're talking about diapers, pal, and it's a scorching heat 3 days in a row with the sun, it makes you want to vomit to just walk past it.

I've lived in Montreal for the past 10 years approximately and in some neighborhoods in which they implemented this 2-weeks collection it's less sanitary than a decade back. In some others that are less densely populated, it's doing fine, but in areas in which sometimes multigenerational families live together in apartments, it's gross.

[August1991]

On 8/12/2024 at 11:40 PM, 500channelsurfer said:

Yes x 3. I used to bike in the winter, in Montreal, and also used to bike to Costco. 

.....

Which Costco? Bridge, no doubt

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Montreal is a city of three mountains, the result of very recent glaciers. In addition, Montreal is in the north without a gulfstream.

Unlike Amsterdam, Montreal is not a city for bicycles

 

Edited August 19, 2024 by August1991

[August1991]

For better or worse, we in Canada (and Russia) have been blessed by the glaciers receding.

In Ontario, these glaciers  left us with calm lakes.

In Quebec, they have many raging rivers.

[August1991]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz

These glaciers receded some 15,000 years ago,

At one point, there was a break in northern Ontario and the freshwater broke through, and the city of Montreal with its mountains was created.

[500channelsurfer]

On 8/19/2024 at 7:08 AM, August1991 said:

Which Costco? Bridge, no doubt

Yes, Bridge. The land around it is mostly flat. The only real impediment to bicycles is on the west side of the mountain (Cote-des-Neiges and Westmount). Winter biking in Montreal is not so much impeded by the terrain as it is the precipitation (and state of the roads!).

[August1991]

40 minutes ago, 500channelsurfer said:

Yes, Bridge. The land around it is mostly flat.

I reckon that you were not born in Montreal.

So, you're not a Quebecer either.