SameGuy

Je ne dis pas que le REM est “flawed” à cause des antennes, au contraire: je pense c’était une bonne idée. L’imperfection est dans les choix de parcours en générale. Le mandat de desservir l’aéroport aurait été mieux relevé — pour le publique — suivant l’emprise CN sur Victoria vers Lachine, essentiellement la Ligne Rose-Ouest, continuant sur Bouchard jusqu’au Marriott/jetée transfrontalière comme conçue. Là, dans l’Ouest Island ça serait le dessert désert. Je n’ai aucune doute que les TOD fleuriront tout près des gares Fairview et Kirkland, et même peut être Sunnybrooke et Pfds-Rox, mais la densité après le dernier ne justifie pas un métro léger. Mais encore c’est des compromis: la Caisse a du accepter le cadeau de la ligne DM au complet afin de poursuivre ses buts lucratifs ailleurs. ETA: svp excuser mes fautes de grammaire/syntax, j’ai pris ma première bonne bière depuis deux mois! 😁

One can see how close some of the Kirkland McMansions are to the REM, and may empathize with their future plight, but the fact is I can hear the big trucks and loud motorcycles roaring by on the 40 all day and all night if I leave my windows open at home, and I live almost 2 km away as the crow flies! They bought those expensive homes fully aware of the noise, and I doubt a LRT sleekly whizzing by every 7½ minutes will be as loud as the high speed road traffic.

Hah! Thanks for the pic! Yes, I DO remember that!! OK, I'll concede. It's quite awful, but I am not an ambulance-chaser so there's nothing in it for me if somebody puts a foot wrong. Honestly, this side of the tunnel is going *much* quicker than most would expect. Very exciting! I just hope the Phase 1 section from Centrale to Brossard will be ready on schedule (and the test segment in Brossard should come together soon).

En quittant le quartier aujourd'hui pour chercher un excellent espresso de chez Dispatch sur St-Zotique, j'ai rendu visite à LG-Anne, qui chevauche la rue Berne à Kirkland, attendant patiemment sa prochaine aventure!

Honestly, I drove around Mile-End, Marconi and Little Italy today and it was hopping everywhere. Every terrasse was full and the sidewalks were busy. My wife has been working in an office as an "essential," and they work maskless but under strict distancing and sanitization protocols (it's a business in the medical field with on-staff scientists), and these protocols have become rote, ie "the new normal." I expect in the longer term, perhaps 25% of office jobs can be continued remotely, but with the economic boom that inevitably follows a major disruption, that large chunk of under-used real estate will quickly be strained.

I don't disagree. I think it's safe to say that it's an imperfect solution; as has been suggested many times before, in my opinion it was either choose to compromise, or wait fifty or more years for improved service of any kind to the West Island. Again, the Québec government in power at the time of the adoption of Bill 137 mandated a rapid transit solution over the new Champlain Bridge, and another solution for rapid transit to Montreal's airport in Dorval. This precluded the OCPM's involvement, and while many concerns were raised by various parties and the BAPE, many fell outside the scope of the BAPE's mandate and were essentially ignored in the rush to get shovels in the ground. That said, it's quite possible -- and I'm optimistic that it'll be probable -- that the REM in its current, flawed form will be a catalyst for new, denser development in previously-overlooked areas (or some that have been growing at a snail's pace), and will spur many West Islanders and those from elsewhere who work in West Island employment hubs to choose transit over automobiles. My fingers are crossed that ARTM, CIT, exo and STM figure out how the future feeder bus lines will get these people the last kilometres between REM and their homes or workplaces.

Sorry, @mk.ndrsn is right. Let's talk about the the good and bad of the planning and construction of REM here, not whether it's a wasteful idea overall. There are plenty of places on the Web for unconstructive criticism of public transit.

I think “atteignant 89 mètres” says the tower will reach 89 m. That means the whole building.

32 storeys in 89 metres is unlikely.

Your opinion isn’t new. In fact, it’s 100 years old. Starting at the beginning of the 20th century during the second wave of immigration to North America, the railway companies bought land on the peripheries of cities, and developed communities of single-family homes in fake rural settings, and advertised them to white families in the cities. They lured them with with the notion of “returning to the good old days” — the days before all these “foreigners” began ruining “our” way of life. Housing closer to the centre became less desirable and prices went down, allowing recent arrivals the chance to start a new life doing the jobs that few members of the “white flight” to the suburbs cared to do. But as the immigrants became more successful, they too wanted a piece of the pie and their own version of the “American dream“ and they also moved further from the center. After the second world war, the automobile became the dominant personal transportation choice, and the railways dropped out of real estate speculation. With so many ageing buildings closer to the centre of town, a new class of real estate speculators began buying land closer to the centre and attracting successful people from the suburbs back towards town.

“Urban sprawl” isn’t building missing-middle density in Ahuntsic or Lachine; it’s building condensed McMansion communities in the middle of nowhere in the regions, offering them at low low prices, and then municipalities charging almost no property taxes. It has little to do with the high price of rent or “immigration.” People buy 3000 ft² McMansions in St-Lin or St-Rémi to have a castle at a low low price, then complain about traffic and the price of gas! There are very few struggling students and families in Blainville, it’s all professionals and middle-class workers paying less taxes than those living in the agglo, but demanding equity (“We want more highways!” and now we’re hearing “we want the metro!”).

👍🏼 Very very good point. I think it could have also been converted into very unique condos, but with no permanent tenant for the sports facility, it’s less attractive than one would think. Halifax must despise Scotiabank

Can’t take any of that seriously once you invoked Musk and 5G. Autonomous cars are not the future. I think autonomous, electric transport trucks will make a huge difference in commerce and with regard to climate change, but electric cars are still cars. The future of cities lies in active and public transportation. Musk is still pushing his idiotic Boring Company concept on gullible city councils, convincing them that “cars in tunnels” is the future of transportation.

That’s going to be ridiculous in the winter. I’m guessing it’s a concession to the NIMBYs who don’t want people to use Tisserand as a drop-off zone; it will be so unattractive an option that they just won’t use it.

No way is this the real temporary crossing. Sportsman’s bet that this is the scaffolding to build the actual temporary structure. Hah same thought

I took some terrible pictures today while driving! 😂

Je me demande si, une fois les Chargers seront en service pour Via, ils vont redémarrer le “milk run” de Toronto qui part à minuit et fait des escales à toutes les villages en route, ramassant les banlieusards tôt le matin de Rivière Beaudette, St-Zotique, Coteau-du-Lac etc jusqu’à la gare Centrale. Exo pourrait “noliser” une portion du trajet de ce train aller-retour chaque matin et soir. Là, le train d’Ottawa n'arrête qu’aux Coteaux à 7h46 le matin, continuant sans-escale jusqu’à Dorval et GC.

If it’s like this then it works well for occasional extraterritorial trips. I’m not sure how Opus monthly works right now, but with TO-TO (tap-on, tap-off, like most modern systems outside North America), a Zone 1 rider could hypothetically tap off at Du Quartier and the extra single fare would be deducted from the Opus card balance, or added to the next month’s statement. I like this idea a lot.

😂Merci! I remember this so well des années 70 et 80!

This. Exactly this. I was so concerned that “west of Cavendish” would get screwed into a Zone 2 for REM.

Et le pont SdC! Hat trick! Bravo

They did that at Saint-Charles as well: they don’t actually do any construction work during the day when traffic is allowed to pass underneath, but the road is closed in both directions overnight while they are doing the work.

Ils l’ont-tu l’affaye, les Amarcains!

OMG Google Maps accidentally made me go through right there last week when I turned left to avoid construction-caused gridlock on Marcel-Laurin. I didn’t think there was a worse McMansionville in Montreal than most of Kirkland or Alice-Carrière in Nouveau-Beaconsfield, but I was mistaken! It’s like a bad Hollywood depiction of how bougie Americans want to live and show off their shallow version of success.

Awesome! Thanks for these great pics!