Night flights to end over Laval, St. Laurent
The agreement, made in 2006, was to merely test night flights over those areas, and the airport has decided not to continue. Lachine will still be seeing the flights until a decision is made there.
When I first moved to Quebec I lived in Ville St-Laurent, a couple of blocks from Cote-Vertu metro, and while regular flights from YUL stop between 1 AM and 7 AM, when they passed my windows would rattle. I don’t think I’d want planes landing right over my head all night, but then, I’m a notoriously good sleeper.
When I was flying to Los Angeles this past spring I sat next to a guy who’s been working in the aerospace industry for 15 years and who had some interesting stories. He told me that the noise ordinances are so strict in San Diego and the airport so close to residential neighbourhoods that all planes flying out of SAN have to take off at half-power. He assured me that this is perfectly safe.
I live in Little Italy these days and I’m always surprised by the steady stream of incoming flights passing from the east in the evenings, but when you think about it our airport is not crazy far from the city proper.
If we could just get some decent public transit to YUL…
Citizen’s arrest
A witness to a stick-up in Outremont yesterday made a citizen’s arrest of the perpetrators, three young men. One of the men had shot one of the victims with a pellet gun. I must admit this is the first time I’ve heard about a real citizen’s arrest; I’ve only ever heard the term used jokingly. I’d like to know more about the logistics of that. Should one shout “This is a citizen’s arrest!” while making said arrest?
On public transit, we take back seat to Toronto’s York Region
A Gazette columnist extols the virtues of York Region’s transit service with a little too much enthusiasm. (He doesn’t seem aware, for example, that STM buses also do dropoffs between stops for women at night.)
Some escaped bees at large
While not really about public space, I had to link to this kind of hilarious story about 12 million “angry” bees being accidentally freed on the Trans-Canada in New Brunswick. (I think I’d be angry if I got stuffed in a box and then dumped off a truck, too.) I wonder how they recaptured them?
Photo, plus lots of other neat plane and Montreal-by-air photos, by caribb on Flickr.
6 comments
Well, it’s true that women can ask for between-stop drop-offs on the STM, but why not men, too?
I take the 211 to Dorval station and then walk to YUL. It takes about 15 minutes, which is about the same amount of time as taking the 204 from Dorval to the airport. Usually the 204 runs at 30-minute intervals. If I’m in a rush, then I’ll take the 211 to Dorval and then a $8 taxi to the airport.
Waterloo, Ontario really has no good ways of getting to the airport. Even getting to YYZ from Toronto is hard.
As for the bees- apparently it was raining, and the bees, though free of their crates, mostly stayed inside the shelter of the truck. But I can’t imagine how they were dealt with beyond that.
Well, the between-stops program isn’t for customer convenience… It’s because women’s safety after dark is somewhat more tenuous than men’s.
Plam, getting to the airport in Toronto is super easy! Just take the subway all the way to Kipling and take the Airport Rocket bus — it goes direct to all terminals.
The problem with the Montreal setup is that it goes near the airport but not near enough to actually be convenient. It’s not a simple walk from the Dorval station to the terminal, particularly if you have luggage.
I figure if I’m going to end up having to get a taxi from there I might as well just take the airport shuttle from downtown for $15 and avoid the hassle.
I find the Montreal airport shuttle to be super slow as it stops at all of the hotels. My girlfriend just took the shuttle back from the airport on Sunday and it seemed to me like it took forever. I suspect that the 204/211 shuffle is faster than the shuttle on average.
From a quick search, it seems like the 204/211 bus will take 50-80 minutes (depending on waiting times) to get to Lionel-Groulx. The 211 alone takes 25 minutes, so you’re looking at 40-65 minutes by walking/211. The shuttle will take 45-65 minutes to get to Berri.
I always set up my luggage so that I can walk with it on my back, so that makes the 15 minute walk to the airport much easier. I do admit that rolling luggage doesn’t play well with walking to the airport.
I’ve never tried to take the Airport Rocket, but it’s silly for me to go all the way into Toronto and then back out to the airport. Annoying.
“Well, the between-stops program isn’t for customer convenience… It’s because women’s safety after dark is somewhat more tenuous than men’s.”
But, it would be just as easy to stop for men, too. Somehow, to me, “men are safer for the most part” doesn’t seem like justification for offering the service to one group of people, but not the other.