https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-public-washroom-strategic-framework
Hardly subtropical, but no snow to shovel during this winter, so far.
Showing posts sorted by date for query snow. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query snow. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Public washrooms in the City of Vancouver
Heavy snowfall in Montreal caused stress, delays and accidents
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/deux-montagnes-rem-shutdown-9.7046184
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/rem-service-disrupted-snowfall
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2026/01/15/snow-causes-rem-disruption/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/rem-down-due-to-tricky-weather-conditions/
https://www.cdpqinfra.com/en/projects/rem
Finch LRT shut down all day due to “weather conditions.”
https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2026/01/15/finch-lrt-shut-down-all-day-due-to-weather-conditions It should have been a proper subway line, protected from the crappy snow & ice. In contrast, Edmonton & Calgary are mostly surface lines and can usually run through the terrible winter conditions.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/01/15/line-6-finch-west-lrt-delays-snowstorm-ttc-updates/
https://www.ttc.ca/riding-the-ttc/Line-6-Finch-West
Some Ontario civil servants told to get to office in snowstorm or take vacation day
https://globalnews.ca/news/11615259/ontario-office-mandate-snow-day
As Australia & NZ get some intense summer weather, Canada is constantly reminded that winter isn't always a fun time. While its sunny and well above freezing in Vancouver & Victoria, Toronto & Montreal are stuck right in the middle of total winter conditions.
Snowfall leads to accidents, road closures across Montreal
https://montrealgazette.com/news/weather/montreal-snowfall-warning-road-conditions
https://globalnews.ca/news/11614578/montreal-storm-road-conditions/
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2026/01/15/heavy-snow-montreal-winter-conditions/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/deux-montagnes-rem-shutdown-9.7046184
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Granville Bridge, Vancouver, etc.
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/granville-bridge.aspx
Even after 3 tries, Vancouver still couldn't quite get the Granville_Street_Bridge correct. Of course the 3rd bridge wasn't designed to have a lower deck for streetcars or tram-trains. Even though it was generally designed to be a car, truck and bus bridge, the sidewalks should have been double width and have an inner railing. If the city couldn't wait until late March, it should have had the official dedication in early March, not in crappy February 1954.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Street_Bridge#Third_bridge_(1954) "On February 4, 1954, the current Granville Street Bridge opened to traffic after five years of planning and construction; its dedication ceremony was attended by 5,000 spectators after it had been delayed a week due to heavy snow."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Street_Bridge#21st_century Unfortunatly, new bike lanes and extra sidewalks couldn't be installed below the 8 lane deck. Thus, Vancouver went for strike 3 and removed 2 lanes from the bridge. The Burrard+Street+Bridge lost 2 lanes and the Cambie+Bridge lost 1 lane. A bike and foot bridge could have been built on the west side of the Burrard Bridge, then no lanes would have been removed. The Cambie Bridge already had a wide sidewalk on its east side. The west sidewalk should have been widened, then no lane would have been removed.
The Granville+Bridge could have had 6 lanes and 2 bus lanes. Now, if there are ever 2 bus lanes, there will only be 2 general lanes each way.
Several cities around the world have bike & foot bridges and don't have to remove lanes from the existing bridges.
For a congested city to have removed 5 lanes from 3 bridges, could there even be more of a reduction of lanes Well, there are some who would like to have the LGB just for bike and foot traffic.
That would be OK if an 8 lane tunnel could be built near it. As its projected, the new & improved tunnel between Richmond & Delta won't be ready unto 2030. Since things move so slow in constipated, backwater BC, a First_Narrows_Tunnel might not be completed until 2040.
Sunday, August 3, 2025
Friday, August 1, 2025
The Burnaby Mountain Gondola Saga
https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/rapid-transit-projects/burnaby-mountain-gondola
While winter is only a few crappy months out of the year, SW BC still gets cold, damp & depressing.
https://www.burnaby.ca/our-city/projects/burnaby-mountain-gondola
Special mountain climbing busses, or in this case, a big hill known as Burnaby Mountain always needs good hill climbing busses during the winter.
https://vancouversun.com/news/translink-100-buses-winter-tires
A gondola would really improve transportation there.
https://the-peak.ca/2024/10/what-grinds-our-gears-winter-commutes-to-burnaby-mountain
https://www.sfu.ca/gondola.html
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sfu-top-universities-global-rankings There should be a crappy winter transportation award for SFU.
https://www.sfu.ca/srs/announcements/archive/be-prepared-for-winter-on-burnaby-mountain.html
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sfu-burnaby-mountain-gondola-translink-delays
https://buzzer.translink.ca/2022/11/shuttle-buses-during-snow-days-explained/
Two weeks in February 2025 almost had 24hr freezing. One week in January 2024 had a week of almost 24hr freezing. Almost, because some of the days actually might have gotten to 1 or 2C, but the nights were always freezing. Nothing melts under such horrible conditions.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/translink-plans-winter-2017-2018-1.4385226 Unfortunatly, the #0 Not in Service is common during the winter.
Of course winter in Australia is mild when compared to Canada. Most of Canada has winters with -5C days and -10C nights. Some parts get the -10C days & the -20C overnight option & anything colder than that, you might as well just give up.
It's amazing that Australia doesn't have 14 million more people than Canada, but it's the other way around. http://www.bom.gov.au/places/
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Montreal has completed 5% of snow-loading operation, as city braces for winds and chilly temps
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/winds-to-intensify-montreal/
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/rem-service-disruptions-continue Montreals version of the Skytrain should have a snow-plough at both ends of each train.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/exo-trains-cancelled-snow-accumulation Even for the big trains, at a certain point a snow-plough might not be able to properly clear the tracks.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/montreal-snow-disabled-mobility-challenges/
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/17/snow-piling-up-montreal-clearing-loading
REM’s snow struggles persist in Montreal
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article760907.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reseau_express_metropolitain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Metropolis_Saint-Laurent
| Train length | 38.1 m (125 ft) per unit |
|---|---|
| Car length | 19.05 m (62 ft 6 in) over coupler faces |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Metropolis_Saint-Laurent#Design_and_construction Two 125 foot trains = 250 feet, or half the length of a 9 car Metro train.
An 8 car [19.05 m (62 ft 6 inch)] REM train version of this would be great for Vancouver, but an improved Skytrain could be just as good. Unfortunatly, BC has a tough time thinking big for the future.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/rem-service-disruptions-continue/
However, any elevated line or exposed rapid transit train in Montreal, is always potentially disrupted during the winter.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-rem-out-of-service-1.7461000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9seau_express_m%C3%A9tropolitain#Future_sections
The genius of the Montreal_Metro trains is that they are all underground.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/17/stormy-weather-continues-in-montreal/
Vancouver & BC always have a difficult time in properly planning & building infrastructure for significant future capacity. Thus, just because the SkyTrain is considered to be a Light Rail Vehicle, it still should have been designed to eventually have (152.5m) long trains, like the Montreal Metro has. If you are visiting from Montreal or Toronto, you will be shocked as to how short the Vancouver SkyTrains & stations are.
It's not that BC is in some kind of a timewarp, it's just that there has been some kind of a strange multigenerational mentality or agenda. Since the BC part of Canada doesn't have the authority or the technology to generate a force_field around its perimeter, the next best thing was to have very restrictive laws. That's especially the case for Vancouver & Victoria. Plus, a general encouragement to symbolically think small & backwards.
Having short trains, narrow bridges & mostly short buildings, all fits in with the symbolism of a reluctance to accommodate significant urban growth. Canada it self is also part of this larger predicament. Despite its size, Canada is nowhere close to containing even just 1% of the worlds population. Given that most of the human population is non-white, this poses an interesting dilemma.
Of course during tougher economic times, immigration is generally frowned upon. However, even during various economic boom-times, Vancouver & Victoria continued to lag behind with the scale of its infrastructure development.
People told to stay home or use the métro, but avoid taking the bus in Montreal
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article761925.html
Man dead after he is found in snow-covered car with engine running in Montreal https://globalnews.ca/news/11023614/man-dead-snow-covered-car-montreal/
Montreal snow clearing proceeding slowly after record storm https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article761613.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/blizzard-school-closure-montreal-1.7460989
Monday, February 17, 2025
Toronto got more snow in the last week than it did all last winter, says climatologist
Snow in even the more prepared cities can still be such a pain.
Frigid Arctic cold returns: back into deep freeze
https://www.alberta.ca/blizzards-freezing-rain-ice-storms-and-extreme-cold
Some people really like winter.
While many others dread the perpetual cold weather.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-severe-winter-weather-1.7460768
https://weather.gc.ca/data/wxoimages/wocanmap0_e.jpg A time of the year when every city in Canada is frozen over, except for Victoria & Vancouver. A lot of people from within Canada, or from around the world don't like -10C days & -20C nights with a windchill in the -30s. Usually mild Vancouver & Victoria have been very reluctant to accept the scale of growth that is commonplace in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary & Edmonton.
https://weather.gc.ca/canada_e.html
Monday, February 10, 2025
Stubborn cold and crappy Vancouver weather
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-freezing-flurries-forecast-weather
Rain might be a pain, but its better than ice and snow slowing things down.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
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