Colleen Newvine Tebeau of the Associated Press writes about her experience moving from the car culture of Michigan to the walk and subway culture of the Big Apple, and adapting to not having a car. Among her tips: Grocery shop for fewer items more often, wear appropriate clothing and footwear, and learn to multi-task.
Montreal, like New York City, is a great place to be vehicle-free. Getting rid of the car is greener, cheaper, healthier and less stressful overall. Of course, there are some drawbacks, most notably our much harsher winters, but it can still be done.
For Montrealers looking to eschew the car in favour of the old BMW (bus, metro, walk) methods, I’ll add the following pointers:
- Consider car-sharing. CommunAuto is a great option for urban dwellers who only occasionally need a car for things like road trips, suburban excursions, or Ikea shopping trips. CommunAuto has cars available in convenient parking lots all over the city, and for a small fee and a bit of advance planning, you can take advantage of the conveniences for a fraction of the price and headaches.
- Learn the underground routes. For a good part of the winter, when the weather is less-than-pleasant, learning the maze of the Underground City is a great way to make your walks more pleasant… and even get some shopping done on the way. The STM site provides a helpful map of the underground networks around downtown.
- Invest in good winter boots. In the winter, nothing matters more than having the right boots. They should be high enough to protect your clothing from slush and snowbanks, give you enough traction to navigate icy sidewalks, and be comfortable enough to walk distances, all while keeping you warm. The right pair of boots can be worn daily, so it’s worth spending a bit extra. I like La Canadienne boots a lot.
- Get a backpack. A small backpack is more practical than a purse or a shoulder bag for walking around a lot. You can also carry home purchases and groceries more easily, and reduce waste by cutting back on plastic bags. For when you want to be a bit more stylish, stash the purse inside the backpack, and change it over at the same time as you’re changing your shoes.
- Discover specialty shops. Forget the big supermarkets; the best fruits, veggies, meat and condiments can be found local neighbourhood specialty stores. Shopping at smaller stores means you’ll buy less at each stop, making it easier to transport home on foot. And the quality is much higher, too. One of my favourite spots for food splurges is La Vieille Europe. The markets – Atwater and Jean-Talon – are great options, too.
- Have a Plan B. Giving up your car means giving up some freedom and some control. With service outages, strikes and general stoppages, the metro and the bus can sometimes be horribly inconvenient. Have a usual route and an alternate route to get where you need to be, just in case you’re left stranded.
There is a lot that the city could do to improve the quality of public transportation, and to make walking and cycling easier options. But that’s the subject of another post altogether.
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The People’s Democratic Republic of Death Camps has expelled UN monitors and announced plans to resume its nuclear weapons program.
On a scariness scale of one to ten, this little tidbit of news ranks somewhere around a… zillion. Even though it’s not exactly news that North Korea has nuclear capabilities, the fact that it’s being openly defiant about it and making threats isn’t exactly what we refer to as “good news”.
Possibly the least reassuring quote in the subject comes from South Korean PM Han Seung-soo:
“Although we are at an impasse, I’m sure that China, together with the other partners, will be able to solve this problem eventually.”
Thanks. That’ll help everyone sleep more soundly, I’m sure.
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In a very un-Conservative move, Stephen Harper made a campaign promise today to regulate businesses more, cracking down on such unfair business practices as price-fixing, deceptive marketing, and incoming text message fees.
While my usual philosophy is to tell government to stay out of business, in this case, I think Harper has the right idea. A free market is one thing; illegal business practices are another. The telecom companies are among the chief violators of fair competition, and they have long hid behind the CRTC to gouge consumers at every turn. This is not a big money issue for most Canadians, but it’s one that gets us up in arms pretty quickly, so it’s actually smart of Harper to latch onto the issue in his campaign.
I just wonder if it will be easier for me to sue Bell for charging me hundreds of dollars of bogus fees, after I cancelled my service with them? Yeah, I doubt it too.
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Spotted outside the Fairmount Queen Elizabeth Hotel this afternoon: Striking CSN union workers… disco dancing at the picket line.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
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Exit polls show that Tzipi Livni has won the Kadima leadership race, with a comfortable lead over Shaul Mofaz. Ehud Olmert is expected to resign quickly, at which time Livni will work to form a coalition government in order to take office as the new Israeli Prime Minister.
However, the opposition is talking tough, and polls show that, if Israel goes to election, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud would be the most likely to win. Whether Livni will be able to form a government or not, it will be interesting times ahead.
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Well, this is a new one, I have to admit: A politician apologizing for not smoking pot:
“I am not a fan of marijuana use. I have to confess this — I know all politicians are asked. I’ve never used marijuana. I apologise,” said Elizabeth May.
May’s Green Party, of course, calls for the legalization of marijuana in its platform.
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It’s the middle of September, which means that the city’s traffic woes are back in full swing. It seems that, regardless of the transportation method you choose, you’re pretty much SOL these days. We’ve got:
- Russian bridge roulette. Take the Champlain Bridge to work? You may be taking your life in your hands, according to an SRC report over the weekend that exposed severe damage to the structure. The government’s answer? Yeah, it’s bad, but other bridges are worse. Comforting.
- Metro woes. This week’s metro stoppages on the orange line, which left thousands of passengers stranded, were supposedly caused by “excessive humidity” over the weekend that shorted out the electrical circuits. There’s nothing quite like being packed into a crowded metro train at rush hour like sardines, and having the power go out in the middle of the tunnel.
- Bus overcrowding. With fewer buses on the road, the all-too-familiar experiences of packing onto a bus like a sardine in a can is once again the realities for anyone unlucky enough to be stuck taking the bus to work. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to live near the beginning of a route; for those later in the route, good luck getting a bus to even stop.
- On Two Wheels. Cycling is a great solution for about 8 months a year in Montreal, if you’re crazy enough to take your life in your hands every day. I’m not. So I don’t cycle. If you do, however, make sure to lock your bike indoors, as bike thefts are reportedly on the rise.
- Walk, walk, walk. That’s been my preferred solution to all of the above, especially in this nice, crisp fall weather. I’m lucky enough to live a mere half-hour walk from my office. By walking, I manage to avoid crowded buses, metro stoppages, traffic, parking and construction, and even stop for a cup of coffee on the way. As I walk past traffic inching along at a snail’s pace, I can’t help but laugh at the unenlightened. At least until the minus-30 temperatures hit, this is definitely the way to go. Here are some great walking to work tips.
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Individual tickets for the Canadiens go on sale at noon today, after the Habs postponed the original date from Saturday when the online system crashed due to user overload. Anyone taking bets on how long it will stay up today?
In an effort to reduce scalper buyout, they’re limiting the tickets to one transaction per person / credit card. So even if by some miracle I manage to get ahold of tickets, they’ll only be for one game. More likely, I’ll get shut out. Then it’s a matter of staying on the good side of some season ticket holders.
Update: After waiting nearly 2-1/2 hours in the queue for the online system, I managed to get onto the system, but all the good games were basically sold out. I picked up two nosebleed tickets for Montreal-Chicago in March, which should be a good game with all the talented kids that the Blackhawks have in their lineup. I had really hoped to get tickets to a Washington or Pittsburgh game, but no such luck. Oh well, at least I got some!
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We knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make this announcement any more welcome:
The new layout for Facebook doesn’t actually streamline anything. Instead, it forces a half-dozen clicks to get the information that was previously available in one click.
What the Facebook developers won’t tell you is that this is exactly the point: More clicks means more ads, which means more revenue… at whatever cost to user satisfaction.
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