Each Monday, Spacing will bring you some of the popular posts from our sister blog, Spacing Montréal. We’ll keep an eye open for topics and discussions that are pertinent to current public space issues in Toronto.
• A post about Why smart cards will be good for Montréal echoes many of the arguments for implementing a similar program for the TTC and/or across the GTA’s myriad transit systems.
• A Montréal apartment building burned down recently, leaving scores of people homeless. Spacing Montréal connects to Photos from the big Pine Avenue fire — one that echoes the Queen West fire from earlier this year.
• Less is more: Montreal’s new public spaces provides a thorough critique of the city’s latest public-space initiatives. The post also includes this quote, from an article by Gavin Affleck in Canadian Architect: “The most successful of recent projects are evidence that well designed urban space is simple, flexible, and free of physical encumbrances.”
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I’m not sure if it’s just me, but something odd is happening with the links on Spacing Montréal. All links take you to the beginning of the main page.
Happens to me too. I’d have left a comment there, but the bug prevents me from getting to the comment part of any post.
Montreal is actually further along in terms of its ability to bring forward a smart card system than Toronto. On a visit there, I was surprised to discover that there were no transfer-free connections between the Metro and the surface routes. The terminal at Lionel-Groulx was a bunch of buses parked around the block by the station entrance. I had to be sure to have my pass with me at all times whenever changing vehicles.
But this is a blessing for Montreal, because Toronto would have to find some way to police its transfer-free connections between subways, buses and streetcars should they implement a smart card system. Right now, it’s possible to travel almost indefinitely throughout the TTC on one fare, without taking the subway, and without backtracking on the same surface route — just change buses and streetcars again and again at the various terminals. Try it out and see how far you can go without backtracking along one route.