Riding Mass Transit Is Like Inviting 30 French Engineers To Build You A Car

25 Replies to “Riding Mass Transit Is Like Inviting 30 French Engineers To Build You A Car”

1. Well, we can only pray that it turns out to be as reliable as Ottawa’s *&^%$*g joke of a light rail system.

   1. hehe

   2. It will be a reliable system, unlike Ottawa’s LRT. All new rail systems have bugs in the beginning. The problem with Ottawa’s system is that it’s been poorly designed and implemented such that Ottawa’s LRT is still experiencing major shut downs 3 years after opening.

      Montreal’s system look like it was well thought out and implemented. There will be hitches in the beginning, but I strongly doubt that the new REM will experience shut downs like this 3 or 4 years from now.

      Ottawa’s system, otoh, has at least 2 actual derailments that I am aware of in it’s short history. That is unheard of.

   3. I see that my transfer payment $$$ is being well-utilized…

2. “The planning and construction of the network are under the control of a subsidiary of the Caisse, which expects to profit from the new network.”

   They are expecting to make a profit from public transit? Good luck with that. It would likely be a first in the history of the modern world.

   1. LOL

   2. They could follow the 407ETR model where the tolls increased so much I stopped using it, convenience be damned.

      1. Please take it again as much as possible. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 50.1% of the 407ETR. I used to take it to work until I left (both work and Toronto) ten years ago.

   3. Well, they are, just like the swindlemillers, expecting to make a profit off the subsidies.

3. At least it’s kind of running. I live near the Eglinton Crosstown which has no opening date! (Toronto)

4. The Reseau express metropolitain, or REM…
   New slogan: Everybody hurts.

   1. $0.03 cheque issued to Michael Stipe.

   2. Beauty!

   3. Alternate slogans: Drive and Can’t Get There From Here,

      1. I notice Calgary Transit has been running an E-Bow Express route. Maybe they can join forces?

5. Better than the Edmonton SE lrt expansion. 3 years behind and yet to carry a passenger. They are currently replacing cables that have deteriorated since they’ve been installed!
   But city council stopped me getting my burger and fries in a paper bag…..so there’s that.

   1. Here in Ottawa, I think it is pretty clear that the wheel/axle problem is caused by a series of sharp bends, which makes the axles scream in pain as a train negotiates them. Those responsible are doing anything but address the source of the problem, which requires sraightening out the track a bit in three locations – and there is room. But it would require some ingenuity to keep the service running while doing that, but it is possible. And, despite the brush-offs when this issue is raised, service would be able to continue and the problem fixed in a shorter time than we have already spent. Three years.

      Yes, I have written to Mayor and councillors.

      1. Back in the depression years there were photos of cars being pulled around by horses and mules because gasoline wasn’t available/affordable. These setups were called Bennet Buggies in honour of the PM at the time … even though he inherited the depression rather than causing it.

         Yet in all the years of Ottawa’s light rail fiasco there was never one cartoon of Mayor Jim Watson sitting on the nose of an LRT being towed by a team of donkeys. The perfect caption: Watson Wagon.

         1. In ass-less chaps….no doubt

            1. In “chaps” is quite appropriate.

6. The best part is we all paid for this joke. Freaking french bastards.

7. Not to be outdone, Calgary is in the planning stages for its Green Line. This addition to the LRT network will run from just north of downtown, tunnel under the Bow River and go all the way south to the Shepard Landfill. Can’t wait to haul my trash on the LRT. Hey, it’s only $6 billion. So far.

   1. It will end up costing $22 billion

8. Single Point of Failure. Every light rail system has single points of failure.

   The track fails? All stop. Load the passengers on buses!

   The train derails or stops? All stop. Load the passengers on buses!

   Bitch all you want about buses, but when the road gets closed, you can reroute the buses onto parallel roads. A bus goes out of service? Pull another bus out of the garage.

   For spectacular light rail failures, may I present the Minneapolis Southwest Light Rail? Billions over budget, about ten years behind schedule, and right now it is out of money to finish it five years from now.

9. Actually, French engineers build very good cars. Whether Quebecois engineers can build mass transit systems is another matter altogether.