I was in Montreal on the weekend for a friends wedding and really noticed how much better their transportation and transit infrastructure seems to be than ours here in Toronto.
I was born in Montreal and have been there many times, but this is the first time I really took notice of their roads and transit infrastructure.
While I realize they have had issues with overpasses collapsing in the past, there is evidence everywhere that they are rebuilding or are reinforcing these structures. I guess it is much like our Gardiner falling to pieces over time, and I won't even get into what Toronto is doing about that...
But the Montreal roads! Wow! I would love to cycle in Montreal! The roads are smooth. I saw no evidence of poorly filled road cuts anywhere downtown. In Toronto the street surfaces are a disaster. If you bike anywhere in Toronto you know how they either fill the road cuts 2 inches above the road surface, or fill the cuts 2" below the road surfaces. In Toronto there is this stuff that looks like black rubbery caulking filling cracks in the roads EVERYWHERE. Potholes are the norm here.
If there are 30 road cuts in a block on the Danforth for example, they shouldn't fill individual cuts to all different heights but rather pave the entire section of road. Those of you who bike across the Danforth or Queen, or anywhere downtown know what I am talking about.
In Montreal the roads are smooth and caulk free. There seems to be bike paths everywhere that are smooth and well marked. In spite of the rampant corruption and kickbacks in Montreal municipal construction projects; how is it they can manage to have better roads than we do? The must be doing something right.
And as for transit, the Montreal Metro, while old, runs well and is clean and frequent. Even buses seem to come more frequently on major routes. The transit staff are less surly.
How do they do it? Why can't we?
I was born in Montreal and have been there many times, but this is the first time I really took notice of their roads and transit infrastructure.
While I realize they have had issues with overpasses collapsing in the past, there is evidence everywhere that they are rebuilding or are reinforcing these structures. I guess it is much like our Gardiner falling to pieces over time, and I won't even get into what Toronto is doing about that...
But the Montreal roads! Wow! I would love to cycle in Montreal! The roads are smooth. I saw no evidence of poorly filled road cuts anywhere downtown. In Toronto the street surfaces are a disaster. If you bike anywhere in Toronto you know how they either fill the road cuts 2 inches above the road surface, or fill the cuts 2" below the road surfaces. In Toronto there is this stuff that looks like black rubbery caulking filling cracks in the roads EVERYWHERE. Potholes are the norm here.
If there are 30 road cuts in a block on the Danforth for example, they shouldn't fill individual cuts to all different heights but rather pave the entire section of road. Those of you who bike across the Danforth or Queen, or anywhere downtown know what I am talking about.
In Montreal the roads are smooth and caulk free. There seems to be bike paths everywhere that are smooth and well marked. In spite of the rampant corruption and kickbacks in Montreal municipal construction projects; how is it they can manage to have better roads than we do? The must be doing something right.
And as for transit, the Montreal Metro, while old, runs well and is clean and frequent. Even buses seem to come more frequently on major routes. The transit staff are less surly.
How do they do it? Why can't we?