OT: WHO MADE THIS CITY!!!! Montreal Traffic Rant

[dmanfish90]

As someone who's lived in both Toronto and Montreal and frequently visit the latter, Montrealers should not be complaining about traffic. The only highway to get downtown from north of the city is the Don Valley Parkway. To add to it, by far the most congested area is where this highway meets the 401 and if you try to get downtown anywhere between 7-10 p.m. and you're anywhere east or west of the DVP, it'll take you more than an hour to get there when it would usually take 20-30 minutes outside of rush hour.

The TTC is a joke. The subway covers about 10% of Toronto (within about a 15 minute walk from the subway stops) and the streetcars are the worst ideas ever (they're putting in a new one on a major east-west street midtown). The city and the province have been really lax on infrastructure in the city and have only now put money towards fixing it in future budgets.

I would take Montreal traffic over Toronto traffic any day.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

supporting, sure... lots even voted them in.

You'd be surprised how many people were saying how much better off Montreal was "before the gangs took over".

 

[RealityBytes]

maybe it's time for those drivers to re-think the whole thing... most people working downtown dont need their car during the day, it's only used in the morning to go from home to work, and at around 5 to go from work to home...

around 300 monthly for the car, plus gas, insurances, etc, downtown parking and so on...

most would be better off working less or work for a slightly lower salary close to home.

Yup ... as well as car payments, gas, parking, extra insurance, wear and tear on the car, there is also getting up earlier and home later and frustration on the road. Problem is, for a lot of career people, their jobs are only downtown.

 

[De Montreal]

I never really encountered problems with cyclists so far. It's my first summer here. I've been living in Villeray for a little less than a year, driving my car to my job close to Place-des-Arts 4 times a week. Little to none problem. It has been a little bit more problematic with a few constructions on Saint-Urbain between Rachel and Marie-Anne, right next to a bike lane, but it's not that big of a deal. It takes me 25 minutes when it would take me about 15 without rush hour. Cyclists are careful most of the times... not sure why the hate, maybe they are just exceptionnally well on the Villeray-Plateau-downtown axe

I'd very much like to use the metro though as I live 5 minutes walk off Jarry station. could take me to Sherbrooke and I'd be close to my job but none of those stations are equipped with elevators so I'm forced to take my car. But I never used it during the weekend.

Honestly from someone coming off Saint-Georges de Beauce, I heard multiples warnings before moving to Montréal saying it was a painful mess to drive around. So far I can deal with it pretty easily.. maybe you guys just need to find some good music to listen to in your car..

 

[ClasslessGuy]

Have a great day today and stay calm...

 

[waffledave]

Have a great day today and stay calm...

St-Jacques today was a nightmare. WTFFFFF

 

[Kachino]

Where is the manifestation taking place? Do they have an itinerary?

 

[PricePkPatch*]

Yesterday evening, i needed to reach Villeray all the way from St Jacque, at around 6:30

Took me 30 minutes through St Laurent. Waaaay better than expected. Mix of patience and the occasional aggressive driving to prevent getting trapped in logjam (like behind a garbage truck).

 

[Strat]

You don't know what traffic is until you experience Toronto traffic. Moved here a few years ago and it's absolutely brutal!

Traffic at *any* time of day or night. I've been on the highway at 1am with plenty of traffic. Just this week, I needed to head out to a store at 2pm and it was bumper-to-bumper.

You have a 95% of traffic any time on any highway in Toronto. Not so in MTL. Just off-the-charts insane!

Every single major street (and highway) has construction going on right now, as well! Usually, that entails blocking 1-2 lanes of traffic. When everything is working at peak efficiency, the city barely manages to function, but with traffic jams galore everywhere you go, it's ludicrous. A 20-min car ride to go home takes me 1h because of traffic!

Public transportation is not much better. The subways are very good but the bus service can be annoying at times with inconsistent waiting times. On a route with 5-min intervals, I waited 20 min (more than once!) only to see 4 buses back-to-back once I was able to board one. The subways are overcrowded like crazy. According to studies, TO's population will grow by 30% in the next 20 years so I can't imagine how problematic commuting in this city will be then.

If it were up to me, I'd move back to MTL in a heartbeat! It's better in almost every way.

 

[Maverik]

Took me 4 and a half hour to go from Long Beach to just outside north LA.. on a 5 lane highway... that's traffic.

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

I love this thread. I bike to work in 20 minutes. I even like the commute when it's cold out. And it keeps me fit.

Based on what I am seeing, there isn't much difference between Montreal and Toronto. They are both on the list of horrendous commutes worldwide. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/top-10-cities-with-the-worst-commute-global-edition/ Toronto is a magnet for immigration, while Montreal has a profoundly dysfunctional approach to infrastructure maintenance that is the polar opposite to proactive.

 

[ClasslessGuy]

Where is the manifestation taking place? Do they have an itinerary?

they decided not to give it because it was anti-charte des libertés ..... gawd

 

[Strat]

Based on what I am seeing, there isn't much difference between Montreal and Toronto.

Then, you're skipping posts. The first guy on this page detailed how it's MUCH worse in TO than in MTL. And I did just above where your post appeared.

There's no comparison. TO is 10x worse than MTL on any given day. Seriously!

 

[la25ecoupe]

We have traffic coz the system is stupid, not because there's too many people driving!

Check out Sherbrooke streets, the lights never lines up.. you drive 2 blocks you get a red. Repeat.

 

[lo striver]

We have traffic coz the system is stupid, not because there's too many people driving!

Check out Sherbrooke streets, the lights never lines up.. you drive 2 blocks you get a red. Repeat.

yep. you would think that syncing traffic lights is some kind of advanced concept.

btw, how come there is still no phone signal/wifi in the freaking metro? I remember visiting Singapore, like 15 years ago. There was full service.

 

[Strat]

yep. you would think that syncing traffic lights is some kind of advanced concept.

btw, how come there is still no phone signal/wifi in the freaking metro? I remember visiting Singapore, like 15 years ago. There was full service.

HIGHLY doubt that is true. You're probably exaggerating by a factor of 2.

In any case, I'm glad there isn't. It means I don't have to suffer at the hands of the idiots who can't go 2 seconds without calling, texting, or checking FB on their stupid phones.

 

[Rapala]

We have traffic coz the system is stupid, not because there's too many people driving!

Check out Sherbrooke streets, the lights never lines up.. you drive 2 blocks you get a red. Repeat.

Do we have a planning department or is it run like Monty Python's complaints department?

 

[CareyItUp]

Train de l'est finally launched today, holy crap was it full at gare centrale, something like a boxing day congestion at fairview in the west island for those who live there.

 

[Power Man]

I got lost today

Took a road I never saw before.

I got attacked by Orcs but Aragorn in his glorious Canadiens shirt saved me.
Oh and if you see a hobo, it's not a hobo it's a wizard.

Thanks Montreal, everyday is an adventure

 

[waffledave]

This morning at Lionel-Groulx, both ticket machines were offline and nobody was in the booth to sell any tickets.

The "other booth" had 2 STM employees there but both explained that they don't sell tickets in this booth, it's only for customer service.

I told the guy that I was going to jump the turnstile and he says, seriously, "You can't do that, you need to buy a ticket". Yes I know, I am trying to do this but there is literally no way for me to do so.

Eventually a guy shows up to the ticket booth (with no ****ing urgency at all, he waltzes in, takes 5 minutes to take off his coat and get comfortable) but, surprise, he doesn't accept debit or credit. Cash only. If you want to pay debit or credit, you must use the machine (again, all of which are offline).

Someone finally comes to fix the machine. She literally pushed 2 buttons, opened and closed it, and it was somehow fixed. There were over 50 people in line at this point.

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

This morning at Lionel-Groulx, both ticket machines were offline and nobody was in the booth to sell any tickets.

The "other booth" had 2 STM employees there but both explained that they don't sell tickets in this booth, it's only for customer service.

I told the guy that I was going to jump the turnstile and he says, seriously, "You can't do that, you need to buy a ticket". Yes I know, I am trying to do this but there is literally no way for me to do so.

Eventually a guy shows up to the ticket booth (with no ****ing urgency at all, he waltzes in, takes 5 minutes to take off his coat and get comfortable) but, surprise, he doesn't accept debit or credit. Cash only. If you want to pay debit or credit, you must use the machine (again, all of which are offline).

Someone finally comes to fix the machine. She literally pushed 2 buttons, opened and closed it, and it was somehow fixed. There were over 50 people in line at this point.

People should get the annual pass. Imagine all the time you would save by not having to wait in line every month.

 

[waffledave]

People should get the annual pass. Imagine all the time you would save by not having to wait in line every month.

Not everyone needs the annual pass.

 

[hototogisu]

This morning at Lionel-Groulx, both ticket machines were offline and nobody was in the booth to sell any tickets.

The "other booth" had 2 STM employees there but both explained that they don't sell tickets in this booth, it's only for customer service.

I told the guy that I was going to jump the turnstile and he says, seriously, "You can't do that, you need to buy a ticket". Yes I know, I am trying to do this but there is literally no way for me to do so.

Eventually a guy shows up to the ticket booth (with no ****ing urgency at all, he waltzes in, takes 5 minutes to take off his coat and get comfortable) but, surprise, he doesn't accept debit or credit. Cash only. If you want to pay debit or credit, you must use the machine (again, all of which are offline).

Someone finally comes to fix the machine. She literally pushed 2 buttons, opened and closed it, and it was somehow fixed. There were over 50 people in line at this point.

Not to excuse the machines not working or the guy not being there but the booths have been cash only since the beginning of time. And there are Interac machines at Lionel-Groulx (if you don't mind getting dinged with a service charge of course) so you could have taken out cash without waiting for the machines to come back online.

 

[Kachino]

This morning at Lionel-Groulx, both ticket machines were offline and nobody was in the booth to sell any tickets.

The "other booth" had 2 STM employees there but both explained that they don't sell tickets in this booth, it's only for customer service.

I told the guy that I was going to jump the turnstile and he says, seriously, "You can't do that, you need to buy a ticket". Yes I know, I am trying to do this but there is literally no way for me to do so.

Eventually a guy shows up to the ticket booth (with no ****ing urgency at all, he waltzes in, takes 5 minutes to take off his coat and get comfortable) but, surprise, he doesn't accept debit or credit. Cash only. If you want to pay debit or credit, you must use the machine (again, all of which are offline).

Someone finally comes to fix the machine. She literally pushed 2 buttons, opened and closed it, and it was somehow fixed. There were over 50 people in line at this point.

We're you trying to buy a monthly pass or just single tickets?

 

[waffledave]

Not to excuse the machines not working or the guy not being there but the booths have been cash only since the beginning of time. And there are Interac machines at Lionel-Groulx (if you don't mind getting dinged with a service charge of course) so you could have taken out cash without waiting for the machines to come back online.

Oh, I had forgotten! There was a homeless guy passed out literally in front of the ATM, like, blocking the way, so you couldn't really use it unless you dragged him away.

We're you trying to buy a monthly pass or just single tickets?

I bought a monthly pass this time but I don't always.