Category: Transportation rss

Posts

map[]
Moving to BC came with a number of cultural adjustments compared to living in Ontario. One of these differences is the way that drivers are able to pay for gasoline at a filling station. In Ontario, along with most other provinces, drivers have a wide range of options when it comes to how they want to pay for gasoline. Unfortunately, in BC, since February 2008, drivers have been limited to pre-paying for gas either at the pump or inside the store.
map[]
The final step of my move across Canada in early 2016 was to take a flight out to Victoria BC. I chose to bring my home server with me on the flight as I wanted to get it back up and running as soon as possible rather than having it sit in a moving box for months. Unfortunately, it was damaged by Air Canada during transit. The computer was packed in the box the case came in, along with all the foam padding that it was originally shipped with.
map[]
Companies seem to always be looking for new ways to integrate technology into products. The reality though, is that there are some types of products that are better suited and some that are worse off with the increased inclusion of technology. The automotive sectoris a prime example of an industry that, on a multitude of levels, is not yet ready for this increased level of technological integration. Although the mechanical, and even stylistic, aspects of luxury cars often age quite well, making them usable for many years, the technology being integrated into the dashboard of these cars shows its age very quickly.
map[]
When moving between provinces one would expect there to be at least a very basic level of government and administrative interoperability. Unfortunately, when it comes to moving a car between Ontario and BC there is little evidence of any interoperability or administrative forethought in regards to facilitating people moving between provinces. In order to register a car being moved from Ontario to British Columbia the car is required to undergo a safety inspection similar to the one that is performed when you sell a used car to someone else within a province.
map[]
As the advancement of technology continues companies must constantly upgrade their infrastructure to stay relevant in the increasingly competitive world market. With the boarding pass playing such a vital role in allowing a passenger to complete their journey it is paramount that the e-boarding pass be a simple and seamless as it would be with a paper version. With this simple yet important requirement for the e-boarding pass it’s amazing to see that Air Canada has created such an unusable product that manages to fail on numerous levels.
map[]
Whether you are in a rush to catch a connecting flight, tired at the end of a long journey, or just eager to get off the plane to wait for your next connection, everyone dislikes the chaos of deplaning. Much discussion, planning, as well as the implementation of innovative procedures have surrounded the efficiency and speed of boarding a plane, evacuating a plane in an emergency. On the other hand very little time seems to have been spent on coordinating properly clearing out a plane after every flight.
map[]
The concept of overtaking a car in an outer lane (undertaking) has regulation that varies greatly between jurisdictions. What is consistent though it that undertaking is generally considered unsafe as drivers do not expect to find cars passing along their outside. Countries like Germany, France, and Finland specifically prohibit undertaking outside built up areas while in the US, Canada, and the UK the action is discouraged but not specifically prohibited.
map[]
A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. This fundamental concept can also be applied to roads in the sense that a road is only as effective at moving traffic as its widest (and most efficient) point. There are many examples in Ottawa and around the world of important roads that, while considerably wide along much of their length, fatally narrow at certain points. These narrow points mean less traffic can flow through, impacting the effectiveness and capacity along the entire length for the road.
map[]
Riders have a wide variety of options to choose from when it comes to paying to use OCTranspo. These options include cash, tickets, and the presto card. Each offers of these three options offer riders different ways to pay for their transit use. Unfortunately there is one powerful option that is missing from the system which would make Presto a nearly unbeatable way to pay for public transit. Cash and ticket options have been available to riders for many years, where as Presto is a relatively new and untested way to pay for rides on OCTranspo.
map[]
Few things are more infuriating to see than a new or well paved road being torn up and improperly repaired. Unfortunately this tends to happen quite frequently where new houses are built in the place of older existing ones. These repair jobs are often done with little regard for the longevity and quality of the fix, or any consideration for what it’s like to drive on. Many of these excavations are just filled with gravel and then covered in a thin veneer of tar.
map[]
As part of my recent process of renewing the registration on my car I encountered a major flaw in the Ontario Drive Clean program. This issue is a common but mostly overlooked problem encountered by anyone with an older car with the high possibility of failing the emissions test. When I investigated what the options were for keeping the car on the road I was astounded at the blatant conflict of interest in the system.
map[]
The Taxi system in many large cities in North America is broken. Unfortunately Ottawa is among these. Through the historical over-reliance on regulation as means to create a safe, quality, and consistent experience, Ottawa has managed to create the very climate they set out to avoid. Only with the recent entrance of Uber’s taxi service into the Ottawa market has any meaningful debate about the quality, price, and structure of Ottawa’s sub-par taxi system been highlighted.
map[]
Vancouver, with its lack of highways, is one of only a few cities which rely exclusively on surface streets. This fundamental difference makes analysing the effectiveness of some of their transportation infrastructure choices very interesting. The heavy reliance on a grid roads to move traffic around makes the effectiveness of intersections extremely important. There are three types of intersections used in Vancouver which warrant discussion: four-way signal-controlled intersections, two-way signal-controlled intersections, and pedestrian crossings.
map[]
With fuel prices ever on the rise, customers are always looking for cheaper ways to get around by car. While hybrid, battery-electric, and hydrogen fuel cell cars are considered to be the long term solution for powering motor vehicles, there is the need for a more short-term solution. Europe has already realized that diesel is this solution, and has implemented it with wide-spread success. North America has been much more reluctant to adopt this technology for various reasons, chief among them the negative association between the diesel used in cars versus that of trucks.
map[]
While many in Ottawa are fixated on the failed pedestrian bridge project over the Airport Parkway, they tend to forget about the parkways other serious issues, such as it being one lane for much of its length, the lack of highway access, and the roads use as a commuter thoroughfare. The Airport Parkway, as its name might suggest, was intended to be used to access the Ottawa International Airport. And while there are other issues with layout of the road (which I will get to), the main problem is congestion during rush hour.
map[]
With the expiry of my U-pass in May I have begun to use my Presto card for the first time since it’s launch. Thankfully, while there are a few minor issues I have found with Presto, I have only one major concern: payment options. When I went to register and setup my Presto card I was presented with three different payment option: manual top-up, Monthly Pass, and Autoload, none of which seemed to my liking.
map[]
It was announced recently that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would be lifting their long-running, controversial restriction on the use of electronic devices during take-off and landing on US flights. The lifting of this ban has been hailed as major victory for passengers who can now use their smartphones, tablets, and laptops during all aspects of air travel. Unfortunately, many cannot recognise the indirect implications of lifting this ban and why it should stay in effect.
map[]
In recent years “green” technology has taken over as the new marketing scam aimed at selling a product to environmentally conscious consumers. With gas prices continually increasing consumers are becoming more concerned about how “green” their car is. Among the many ways people are looking to cut back on costs is by driving battery-electric cars to save on gas money. While battery-electric cars have been sold as far back as the early 90’s, none have seen any commercial success.
map[]
For as long as my family has owned our 1998 Honda Accord my dad has been recording the fuel use and mileage at every fill-up. Since buying the car in 2000 we have amassed a huge collection of driving data that for the most past has not been put to use. This data is actually extremely useful when looking at the overall cost of the car, how well it is faring, and whether it is in need of a replacement.
map[]
As the development of the Ottawa Light Rail network continues the transit commission continues to make decisions about details of the Confederation Line. One of these decisions is the renaming of the LeBreton Transitway Station to Pimisi Station. This name, meaning eel in Algonquin, is supposed to pay tribute to the Algonquin tribe who once inhabited the area and relied on the now endangered eel for sustenance. Unfortunately the name Pimisi is a terrible idea on the part of the city transit commission for many reasons, none of which are considered when guilt-driven pity decisions are made by governmental organization in Canada on issues relating to native Indians.
map[]
For two months at the beginning of the summer I worked as a detailer at a car dealership. My responsibilities included cleaning up used cars that had been traded in and needed to be cleaned before being sold again as well as preparing some of the new cars that were going out for delivery. This position meant that I dealt with nearly every used car that came though the dealership for the two month period that I worked there, something which gave me a rare behind the scenes look at what goes into preparing a used care for sale.
map[]
OC Transpo, the public transit service for the city of Ottawa, has one of the largest fleets of buses in North America with over 1000 buses on over 130 routes. The following is an overview of my advice on seating for a selection of the buses operated by OC Transpo. This guide is written primarily for the average able-bodies bus rider as there is very little available about the regular seating on OC Transpo buses.
map[]
On June 13th the City of Ottawa released an update to the Ottawa Western (Light Rail Transit) LRT plan. This update was meant to address the concerns of local Westboro residents (with opinions voiced mainly by those living along Skead St.) who complained that the original plan (to have the LRT in a semi-submersed trench, hidden by a berm, between Skead St. and the parkway) hindered visibility of, and access to, the parkway and river front.
map[]
With the plans for the down-town and east-side Ottawa light rail corridor complete, and beginning construction, the eyes of the city have turned to the west end for the next phase of the Ottawa light rail plan. In this piece I plan to outline the current state of rapid transit in Ottawa, the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) route (specifically the western section), and then identify and support a superior alternative route along Carling Ave.
map[]
With my dad looking at taking a series of Porter flights in the next few weeks and months the topic of the cheapest way to get around by air came up. With Porter Airlines being the cheapest, and arguably fastest way of getting to downtown Toronto the consideration wasn’t whether to take Porter so much as whether their points program, VIPorter, was worth taking into consideration. VIPorter is a a very simple rewards program in that you gain points by flying, and you redeem rewards when you have 7500 for a free flight.