I've lived in Montreal for 25 years with a car that I park in the street so I experience snow removal first hand. The video says it can go up to 3h am, in fact my street regularly gets cleaned between 4h and 6h am. Yes its noisy but that's the only way to get the streets cleared. Snow removal happens 5-8 times per winter, so 10-16 noisy nights as both sides are cleared on consecutive nights. Snow removal happens overnight in residential streets simply because of availability of equipment and personnel. To get 1000x of kilometers of streets and sidewalks cleared you need 24/7 work. Working only during the day would extent the operation and residents wouldn't accept it. As far as the suggestion to tow cars and give tickets instead of using alarms, this is simply not enough. There are simply too many cars and delinquent drivers. Snow removal is a highly orchestrated operation and you don't want to delay it because of too many cars to be moved. Yes these sirens are annoying but they work as you often see people running to get back to their cars. That being said, nowadays with the infoneige apps, you can record where you car is parked and get notifications 12 hours before snow is to be removed, and again when its starting. I'd say for the last two years the air-raids alarms is less frequent.
Operations in the middle of the night are hard to argue against. It's annoying but better than the alternative of snow removal taking much longer, and plenty of other cities do it too. No disagreements there. About the snow sirens and delinquent drivers, shouldn't we expect drivers to respond to incentives? Right now you're "supposed" to move your car by the time posted on the sign (or on Info-Neige) but they technically let you leave your car until the last minute, and as a result, lots of people do that. If drivers knew that leaving their car would get them ticketed and towed, wouldn't they do it much less? We actually had a test of this with the curfew, because drivers know they *must* move their cars before 8pm. As far as I know, they've been able to do this and snow removal has been able to happen like normal. You say the snow sirens work because they make people run to their cars, but I actually think that demonstrates our point that they could have moved their cars earlier. If people are running to their cars when they hear the sirens, that probably means they were sitting at home (or nearby) not removing their car even though they could have. Even if you disagree there, I still think our other suggestion is a no-brainer: replacing the harsh beeping backup noise on snow removal vehicles with the less jarring white noise sound (which many of the vehicles have anyway).
@@OhTheUrbanity if snow removal is scheduled from 7h pm to 7h am, you can get a ticket at 7h01 pm even if the plows only show up at 3h am. But you won't get towed right away, that will wait up to until about 30 minutes before snow removal start. Sure we could decide to have your car towed earlier to serve as example to educate bad drivers, but towings are already in high demand, moving cars where removal is actually starting at 7th or 7h30 pm. Again, there is simply too much demands for personnel and specialized equipment all at once. I guess the could increase the fine from 50$ to 100$ to 200$ and so on, for recidivists, maybe that would help? One thing I am sure off it that these air-raid sirens are less and less frequent over the years. I'd guess this is due to people using the Infoneige apps? play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.heritagesoftware.infoneige&hl=en_CA&gl=US I am 110% in agreement with white noise replacing annoying beeping. Fact is, more and more contractors are required to have white noise equipped trucks and excavators for regular construction site. Such is the case for the REM stations being built near hours in Town of Mont-Royal. Hopefully these white noise will be rolled out to all equipment over time, the sooner the better. Unfortunately Montreal is a bit of a unique case of city size, density and volume of snow precipitations, so we don't have other cities to compare with and exchange best techniques. I'm sure there is room for improvements, but all in all I think the city is doing a pretty good job.
"Working only during the day would extent the operation and residents wouldn't accept it." Extending the operation is more than an annoyance, if another storm comes before you cleared the first one, where are you going to push the new snow? They tried removing the snow less often to reduce costs and it was a disaster.
@@42fba IT's still going on afaik, Plateau is the onyl borough that add the courage to follow reasonability and it's still where the residents are only living the winter just right. the main problem is how many cars there is and how much privilege is given to cardrivers with fine so low it's no scaring anyone, while bike fines...oh man they went up 200%.
@@OhTheUrbanity Winnipeg they have a 12 hour "window" that your zone is to be cleared AND is NO PARKING for the WHOLE 12 hours but the tow trucks run an hour or few ahead of the plowing teams in my experience
Im glad we don't have sirens like that in finland. There are dedicated snow piling areas everywhere for the snow plowers to pile the excess snow and then tractors come and take it away to snow dumping sites. There are not many places in the city centre where you can park your car on the street around the clock, so the snow plowers work during the nights when the streets are mostly empty from cars. There are also workers on foot in more tight spaces. My city Oulu is the leading bike city of Finland and the bicycle and pedestrian streets are the first priority of snow plowing. th-cam.com/video/7AJFOsKdej4/w-d-xo.html
Yeah, Pekka has a whole video specifically about cycling in the winter where he shows the snow-removal business. Lessons could be learned. 👍 Well, they _could_ be learned. 😒
I am pretty sure that the average Montrealer hardly notices the sirens at all. Either you have a car that needs to be moved -- and you jump up because of the sirens. Or you don't have a car or it's parked okay, and you don't even register the sirens. The sirens ARE white noise to many people lol. Also, listening to major snow clearing in the middle of night has a kind of excitement to it. I've often gotten up at 2 am or whatever just to watch the trucks. It is magic.
The ability to tune out the sirens would be wonderful! Unfortunately it's the opposite for me at least, getting jolted awake by them often enough has made me even more likely to notice them during the day, even when they're far away. Getting to watch the process is still magical though, you're right.
As someone who doesn't own a car and I have a slow neighbour that constantly forget to move his car, I wish they would just silently tow his car and make him pay a hefty fine instead of waking up the entire neighbourhood.
haikuboxer has it right, from my experience. It isn't much of an annoyance at all, and for the rare time that you forgot to move the car (stuff happens even when you try to be good), it is nice to have a warning so you can save getting towed. It is really pretty much like living near some train tracks. Sure, you "hear" the train but you learn to ignore it (unless it is right next to your house and you can't have a conversation because of the noise, which is a lot worse than we are talking about with this snow removal thing). Not a big deal and only happens maybe a dozen times a year. No different than passing buses or trucks in terms of noise. You hear them but you don't really hear them.
Ottawa has a similar amount of snow during winter and they also do snow removal when there's too much piled up, but they do not play warning sirens, they will announce a parking ban and will tow and or ticket the offending cars
Montreal is a much bigger city with higher density, especially in the core neighborhoods (Downtown, Plateau, Rosemont,. Villeray, etc.). Streets are tights, cars are everywhere, these is no where to leave the snow, so it has to be removed ASAP or else the small residential streets would get impractical for the whole winter.
Montreal gives advance warning to residents so they don't get ticketed and that includes the sirens. In most cases they move the cars without ticketing if the amount of snow fallen is too much for many local residents to move their car.
I came back to re-watch as a blizzard is approaching StL right now. Great video as usual, I hope the sirens don't wake you up too much this winter! lol :]
Lived in Montreal back in the late 90's (NDG). People leave their cars to the last minute because there is literally no where else to park your vehicle (residential streets are all 100% full since Montreal was built before cars were widely adopted. Street parking is the only option for the majority in the medium-density neighborhoods). So you run out and move your car one block over to a street that has just been cleared, in a game of giant musical chairs! If your car does get towed, it is dropped in a random spot on some random street nearby. You have to wander about your neighborhood looking for it in the morning! 🤣
In Cambridge, we are similar to Toronto, all sidewalks are cleared by the resident. There are times if you don't, charges from the city if they have to do it, and very spotty coverage for those who choose to walk. If you are elderly, or have a medical condition, too bad for you, you will have to hire a snow clearing service, as there is no way to avoid the responsibility.
Though I'm pretty sure Cambridge (MA) has acquired small plows for bike paths. When I stayed off of Western one winter, the new bike path was beautifully clear, unlike the sidewalk, and I joined others walking in the path to get to Central Square.
Lived in Newfoundland for 2 years, one year in St. John's and the other in neighbouring Mount Pearl (with its own snow removal crews). St. John's mostly does snow clearing but on streets with lots of on-street parking they do similar snow removal to Montreal: 24hr notice to not park followed by trucks to haul the snow to the landfill. Neighbouring Mount Pearl is very suburban and has a stronger tax base meaning they can get away with only snow clearing; the wide road reservations and the parking lots of big box stores serving as snow storage. I was there during Snowmageddon (Jan 2020 Snowstorm). A meter of snow fell over Friday and Saturday, with additional snow on Sunday. Mount Pearl lifted its state of emergency and opened its roads on Tuesday whereas it took St. John's until Saturday or Sunday.
Mount Pearl also clears all of their sidewalks too. Sadly, they don't generally clear the paths. St. John's's general attitude to pedestrians, especially in the winter, is '🖕 you'
I grew up in downtown of Quebec City, and always found the snow removal process there to be more efficient. There are no sirens, but lights that flashes on every street. The two sides needs to be emptied, so the crew don’t need to come back twice. But it’s more negative for the drivers as there a lack of parking when plowing the streets. Sometimes the lights would flash for multiple consecutive nights, even if the street is already clean, but I think they became better at avoiding this now that they have a newer system.
Nothing speaks to the absolute entitlement of cars that a city would go around waking everyone up just on the off chance someone didn't heed no parking rules but doesn't want to face a fee for it.
Ah, the snow-towing siren. It's as Montreal as the dun-dun-DUUUN of the old Metro cars. It might be Anglo vs. Quebecois, federalist vs. separatist, East End vs. West Island...but everyone can agree the true enemy here is Winter.
Wow. In Minneapolis, if you're lucky, they just plow around your car and make the street unusable for everyone else. If they're in a bad mood, your car just gets yoinked
No sirens in Gatineau-Ottawa, but the plows are loud enough that you'll wake up anyway. They don't always plow at night though, so it's not necessarily disruptive. They'll mostly plow at night if it's a huge snowstorm and they have to get ahead of it. Most areas have their dedicated parking here though, and street night parking is banned in winter.
Here in northern ontario we just get plows for the roads, and little snow blower vehicles for the sidewalks (and I assume the cycleways). A few times a winter they take the snow away in the areas that need it most. This isn't a big city though.
ya the issue here is that basically all the streets have residential parking so when those snowplows come by initially to clear the roads and sidewalks, they push all the snow on to the parked cars, this video is about clearing _that_ snow. separated bike paths get cleared no problem, but not painted bicycle gutters (@Not Just Bikes) on the sides of roads, so there's not a ton of biking options
Living in the countryside a few hours out from Montreal, the only snow removal is the shooshing sound of a snow removal truck going by at about 70 at any time of day or night.
As a suburban Minnesotan, I WISH the city would do something like this! Most areas around me are pretty good at plowing during/after snow storms, but I don't think they ever do a snow removal. The snow banks around the corners in my neighborhood are so huge I can't see over them in my car, and it makes me worried when I'm walking that drivers won't see me when I need to cross!
In kiruna sweden we only allow parking at one side of the street at a time during winter on some streets. On one side of the road on even days and on the other on odd days.
If only Edmonton would do the same. The parking bans here are meaningless as the city won't tow cars. Just hand out tickets and half plow the roads around the idiots that won't move
I stayed few nights in the Quebec City in a hotel, didn’t really hear any noise in nights while streets were clear by morning. I moved from Calgary and this is my second winter in Montreal. Agree that this city is quite different not just in terms of snow removal but in lots of other things. Calgary after the snow generally people come outside with shovel or broom and clean up their driveway and front/sidewalk (it’s a great time to say hello to your neighbor). The snow plow truck generally gather the snow at one end of the street (there is no snow removal) and because of chinooks everything vanishes in every couple of days. The bike trail is always clear, never had any issue while biking in winter in Calgary.
The sirens were a huge shock to me as well when I moved here 😮 They may have been necessary back in the olden times, but nowadays I think of them mostly as a backstop against the signs that aren't always put up with enough notice and the app which is mostly - but not always - accurate. More generally, it often feels like trucks and heavy machinery drive around Montreal like they own the place.
these trucks and machinery were designed for controlled road work during day light, not snow removal, at night, on street used by cars, pedestrian and bikes. Resident expects streets to be cleared ASAP so there is huge pressure to get the job done quickly. Unfortunately there are pedestrian killed every year. anything on the sidewalks such as bench, trash cans, trees, locked bikes, etc also get damaged.
In Toronto we don't have stuff like this to wake you up. But the snowplows we use seem to be straight piped as there is no chance of you sleeping when they rumble by with the throttle wide open. As for cars, you grit your teeth as they just barely steer around them.
In Québec City, in most neighbourhoods where they can get away with it, they just blow the snow dierctly on people's front lawns instead of carrying it away.
As a Montrealer and car owner, I can say with 100% seriousness that the sound of snow removal sirens haunts me at times. There’s a lot of difficult things for car owners. On my street, the only ever remove snow during the day, since that when most people are away at work and there’s less cars on the street. In regards to simply towing, personally I’ve found that it is true that signs don’t always go up early enough, especially in cases when they put up the signs in the evening and plough the next morning. Something else to consider is that it can sometimes be very difficult to find somewhere else to put your car. They essentially remove 50% of the parking in entire areas, but there aren’t less cars then there was before! I’ve at times spent 15 minutes just looking for somewhere to put my car, which is always a frustrating experience.
I come from the UK (near London). We barely have any winter management here. We have gritting trucks to prevent slipping on ice and we have some snow ploughs, but they only do the main roads and highways. Thankfully we don't get much snow, but when we do, all hell breaks lose. Offices and schools close, the railways and buses grind to a halt. Cars and people slip and slide everywhere or just stay at home. Watching this video is kind of awe inspiring in some ways (apart from those bloody ridiculous sirens!). I doubt we'll have anything that good over here.
but yeah you don't really need it, do you? the city basically shuts down if more than 5cm falls - the same is true for Edinburgh (where I lived for 5 years), even though it's significantly colder than London. Montreal doesn't have a choice - if there wasn't good snow removal the city would shut down for half the winter, which lasts roughly 4 months. people don't slip as much because they're used to these conditions (and generally make sure they have better footwear), and cars are required by law to have snow tires from around the beginning of December.
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It’s relative cost. The cost of having such an operation would probably outweigh the economic losses to business in UK, for the few days of snow. In Montreal the economic losses would be high, if not having such an operation.
Had no idea this is what snow removal is like there. In Toronto snow rarely ever stays on the ground, melts, maybe 1 out of every 4 winters is there snow on the ground.
Around here, we don't get fancy snow removal, but the city (and towing contractors) love to collect cars parked on street cleaning days. I've seen fleets of tow trucks clear multiple blocks of cars in rapid succession prior to the street cleaners showing up. The trucks don't give any audible last minute warning, just hook your car up and drive away.
Looks like an efficient snowxremoval system. Bike lanes and sidewalks are almost never cleared in other cities. Yes, their ensures would be a pain, butvI prefer cleared streets. Most other snow cities do not have a good record. I am not a fan of winter, but if you have to deal with it, better to have the Walks and roads cleared.
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They need to solve this, because someone left a car parked where they shouldn't have, and left for a vacation 10 blocks need to wake up on a weekend at 4am. Just use a blower on those couple of cars, blow the snow onto the street and collect it, fine the cars and be done with it.
I love Canada but coming from the US, I find that Canadians have much higher tolerance to noise than Americans. 1) This. This siren. I don't even own a car. Just tow the parked cars in silence for God's sake. 2) There is no way to turn off Amber alerts in Canada at any time of the day. Why would I wake up 3 in the morning, put my jacket on, get out and start looking for a gray Honda Civic in below-freezing temperatures?
You're right, it's crazy that we use the presidential alert level for all Amber Alerts. Fortunately it doesn't actually affect our two phones, for whatever reason - not sure if it's our phone models or the carrier.
In Chicago then push the snow onto your car so you can spend about an hour digging it out in the morning. Then you buy a plastic lawn chair in that spot to reserve it for yourself when you get home that day. (You did all the work clearing that spot to access it it wouldn’t be fair if a neighbor came in and parked unit leaving you to push around more snow just to get your car into an uncleared spot.)
Wow. The removal is impressive but the sirens are nightmarish. One of my pie-in-the-sky futurism fantasies is heated roads and sidewalks like they have in Japan and Scandinavia so that the snow just melts and drains immediately, eliminating the need for all this. My guess is that most cities would not get enough snow to make this a worthwhile investment, but Montreal might be a different story!
@@kricku I've read about systems for sidewalks at least in Oslo & Reykjavik. (don't know if Iceland counts as "Scandinavian" per se, but certainly Nordic.) I thought I had seen footage of a city street somewhere but a quick google search doesn't turn it up. Obviously I didn't mean they were ubiquitous, just that they do exist.
This terrible woman I worked with used to purposely not show El out and move her car because she was lazy and smoked weed instead. She was out of shape, not disabled. She told me she used the tow trucks to get her car out from under a big snow. She felt entitled to this service because she “couldn’t” dig it out. But entitled to a car when she didn’t have her own driveway and had to use the public streets. Because they don’t actually impound your car usually, just move it 2 blocks away, this worked fine for her. Because she lived high up, the sirens didn’t bother her. Meanwhile they blare know my street at 1-2 am all the time. And I take the damn bus
- 0:06 I have a video of them going by around 10pm and another of the blower-dump-truck going by at 1:30am. I never actually saw anyone go to move their cars. I guess they got towed. 🤔 - 7:25 In some places, snow-clearing isn't interesting or disruptive because it doesn't even happen, they just leave the snow where it is an let residents deal with it. (I have the photos to prove it. 😒) - 7:35 Oulu removes the snow, not just plows it to the sides into the sidewalks. Then they go over it with another vehicle to tamp it down and texturize it to make give it grip. Pekka Tahkola has a video about why their bike-paths are good in the winter. - 7:45 So you'd rather get a ticket than to hear a siren to know to move your car? That's nice for you, but not everybody is rich. - Most people keep their windows closed in the winter, so it's not _that_ bad.
I live here and never have I complained about the noise at night. Only time they would work overnight itself is when it was a big snow dump, which we get once or twice a winter. Secondly there are rules even they have to follow regarding the noise.
You just need to experience Montreal after a heavy snowfall, when the whole snow clearing process got delayed a few days. It becomes a wasteland where not much moves. Simply moving the snow wouldn’t help, since parking becomes a nightmare and the residential streets become impassable. As for towing cars, well this would just slow down an already tight schedule and people would complain more. The process isn’t perfect, but it is efficient and ensures the city keeps moving. BTW don’t park your bikes anywhere a snow plough might roam, unless you want to risk a mangled mess. The sidewalk ploughs move swiftly and risk damaging anything in their path.
Try being in Atlanta for a snowfall. There are no snow plows. There are no snow shovels. There are no tire chains or snow tires. It only snows about once every three years in Atlanta, but when it does, a few flurries will get school canceled and a 1/4 inch accumulation shuts the city down.
As someone who has no aspirations to own a car or do any significant driving, I'd be pissed that I'm being waken out of my sleep because of some irresponsible driver. Just tow the vehicles. Towing > Disturbing people's sleep/ overstimulating nervous systems
in Winnipeg canada they have a "know your zone" program and APP / the city is broken into zones and MAIN streets have "snow route" signs and when a snow event is called and the contractors are "activated" first they clear the snow routes then announce the snow zone being cleared and you have a 12 hour NO PARKING on those streets and must park on a different street if you fail to you get a parking ticket and a tow to a street nearby that is ether cleared OR in a different zone and must find your car NO BEEPERS OR ALARMS ETC but the clearing is a 24 hour operation with 12 hour "windows" to clear your zone main roads are cleared and trucked off residential roads are cleared to solid pack NOT the road surface and snow is stored in the area till melted OR left as a windrow infront of the properties sidewalks ALL OF THEM are cleared with mini tractor snow plows
The sirens are just Canadians being polite. US governments would never go out of their way to reduce revenue. Smartphone notification via apps could provide a better system...
Do they also use salt on the roads like most cities in Ontario? The salt is problematic in many ways, so I'm curious if a city like Montreal that has so much more snow uses it or manages with sand?
They do use salt, although not exclusively. Sidewalks seem to have more gravel or sand. They might change their strategies based on the temperature (I think salt doesn't work as well below -10C?).
in Quebec City they have flashing "No Parking" lights that turn on before snow removal nights, a way better solution than honking and sirens in my opinion, that could make a great video idk
I hope this isn't inconsidrate for the residents, but this looks like a very anxious and ear-harming job for the drivers! I really hope there's another way for thier sake.
Montreal has a much more efficient snowplowing service than Ottawa. As far as I could tell, they only plow sidewalks once or twice per winter, while Montreal does it consistently. I'll take a few noisy nights over having innacessible icy, slippery, mountainous snowy sidewalks.
I don't know where in Ottawa you live, but in Gloucester our sidewalks are ploughed at least once a week (or, more realistically, within 2-3 days of a snowfall). Now, there is the unfinished pedestrian crossing on the Innes Rd overpass, that only gets cleared once a month or so, which is the big obstacle for me getting to work, but the other 95% of my run is pretty decent.
How about having a system where residents can provide a mobile phone number(s) to be associated with their license plate? Then they can send a single vehicle with an ALPR (automated license plate reader) down the streets to be plowed and a computer can call/text the numbers of the cars that need to be moved. Everyone gets a fair warning and no one has to listen to sirens.
takes too much time. got to decipher the plate - and if it's snowing they are often covered up or hard to read; then call the number, deal with the person on the other end and hope they are within running distance, etc.
I fully agree with O the Urbanity, I would add Montreal snow operation are almost insane. Why, because they now pour salt on the snow, saying sidewalk and unsafe when snow is only cleared. I come from the northern region and I lived in Quebec for a year or so once, and it's not that crazy. Montreal is a peculiar case because of the discurse on city policy is. Yes, this is a big topic here. News would often ask citizen and then ask the city where the city is asking for forgiveness about not ahving cleared at 99.8% each street during a storm. The siren are tolerated and in violation of noise law bc cardrivers lobby is all the city listen to except for salt on the snow. The latter is from people always asking for more and now we expect anyone with a disability totake a walk in the park during heavy blizzard. Do you know how much budget is given to snow removal operation, it's big. With how much salt they are now pouring it doesnt matter if they plants salt resistant trees, it's basicaly aggression over the plant. My point is, in Montreal a strong discurse is thinking that winter can be fought. Well try it and watch as the city budget is not able to take it. I gotta say I always walk or talk the bus, I don't bike in winter considering how much salt they pour, it's destroying even your clothes and boots. Last, do you know salt is one of the main reason Champlain bridge and other big infrastrucrure failed before their planned replacement. The old plan stated not to use salt on the bridge and it worked for decades. We're so dimwit.
I think in many cases it is better to leave a small amount of snow, rather than risk a thin layer of ice, ice presents a far bigger hazard, I remember back in winter this year, the whole of the path and road was just covered in ice that you could barely stand on, this is not desirable, there is a shop across the road, literally just a 2 lane road, getting to that shop takenover 5 minutes because every step lead to sliding around and nearly falling, I am young(ish) and fairly fit, walking on snow is a lot easier, you get grip at least, this keeps people out of cars too, as I'd prefer to walk in the snow than drive, but with ice many will choose driving simply beacuse it is impossible to make progress on foot at all.
Edmonton pushes the snow around to the sides of the roads except for a few higher density areas - and just leaves it as windrows. Shovelling sidewalks is a responsibility of the property owner in front of private property. Clearing publicly owned sidewalks and paths is the city's responsibility but they do a poor job of it - often leaving it covered in snow and ice all winter. No sirens though the lows themselves are loud. The sirens and honking I think is insanity. Who came up with that system?
If you want real peace and quiet move to Boston. They only plow the street's surface by pushing it to the sidewalk. Homeowners are responsible to have that sidewalk cleared of snow within 24 hours of the end of snow fall. And if you don't remove all the snow the plow left on your sidewalk you'll get a fine from the city for $25 dollars. If you don't pay it along with your property taxes and water bill plus interest it'll turn into a lien at city hall and eventually your home can be auction off to clear that lien. But you still get a good nights sleep. ^ v ^
Lmfaooooo Toronto making you plow/shovel your own sidewalks with the excuse that the side walks are too small is hilarious, it definitely saves them money not being responsible. 100% Montreal has smaller if not same size. I've lived in so many cities around Ontario and every single one, it's the municipal responsibility to ensure safe accessibility.
The signage problem is easily fixed using alternate-side parking. That way the signs can stay up year around, with a secondary sign saying that they are only in effect between dates that will definitely cover snow season. You could even plan ahead and state one or two days of the week for snow removal.
@@cmmartti The problem is that you typically have date parking (parking is forbidden on the even numbered side of the street on even days) or this "every Wednesday in snow season" all remove overnight parking. Often this is residential parking that you pay for, and the street is more often clear during the day than at night. But if parking is free, then there is no reason not to make it inconvenient to use as your permanent parking spot.
I think it's much better to cause a little noise during the evening and night, when the alternative is that snow removal equipment is blocking the road during the day. But, I must say, that siren is quite nice (and tolerable). Horns in the other hand seem quite annoying. If there is a lot of cars, that may be understandable (it's much easier and faster to get people move their cars than to tow them away), but if there is just a few cars on the way, you could look at the license plate, find out the owner of the car and their phone number and give them a call. This would take about a minute per car, and would disturb the car owner only.
I don't know if this counts as corruption, but after a major snowfall followed by very high temperatures, I watched snowplows in NDG plowing water on the streets. Complete waste of time and money.
Yeah move your cars when the parking signs are up and you wont hear the sirens. Yeah we will only do snow removal between 8am and 6pm because it wakes people up so it will take 2 weeks to clear the snow. Stop Complaining people
I much prefer Quebec City's model, they use street light to indicate if the street will be cleared. That way people can move their cars without checking a website, and there's no honking involved!
Man the people in Canada are pampered like babies , try living down here in the US and you will want to leave because down here you have to do everything yourself and you're lucky if the roads ever get plowed during the winter , we don't have people to clear our sidewalks for us and the snowplows do horrible work, if there is vehicles on the road and a big amount of snow hit the plows just either go around the vehicles or don't clear the road all together.
Another good reason for encouraging people to bike year round. My personal feeling is do things like they do in Japan. They need to show proof they have a place to park their car in order to buy one. That would free up the streets... for travel. And snow removal. But this takes a lot of courage from city officials who are afraid of backlash from car owners.
![Larue 7060 & D65 - Big Snow Removal Operation at night - Memory of 2022 [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fZLiVdAXV-4/mqdefault.jpg)
I've lived in Montreal for 25 years with a car that I park in the street so I experience snow removal first hand. The video says it can go up to 3h am, in fact my street regularly gets cleaned between 4h and 6h am. Yes its noisy but that's the only way to get the streets cleared. Snow removal happens 5-8 times per winter, so 10-16 noisy nights as both sides are cleared on consecutive nights. Snow removal happens overnight in residential streets simply because of availability of equipment and personnel. To get 1000x of kilometers of streets and sidewalks cleared you need 24/7 work. Working only during the day would extent the operation and residents wouldn't accept it. As far as the suggestion to tow cars and give tickets instead of using alarms, this is simply not enough. There are simply too many cars and delinquent drivers. Snow removal is a highly orchestrated operation and you don't want to delay it because of too many cars to be moved. Yes these sirens are annoying but they work as you often see people running to get back to their cars. That being said, nowadays with the infoneige apps, you can record where you car is parked and get notifications 12 hours before snow is to be removed, and again when its starting. I'd say for the last two years the air-raids alarms is less frequent.
Operations in the middle of the night are hard to argue against. It's annoying but better than the alternative of snow removal taking much longer, and plenty of other cities do it too. No disagreements there.
About the snow sirens and delinquent drivers, shouldn't we expect drivers to respond to incentives? Right now you're "supposed" to move your car by the time posted on the sign (or on Info-Neige) but they technically let you leave your car until the last minute, and as a result, lots of people do that. If drivers knew that leaving their car would get them ticketed and towed, wouldn't they do it much less? We actually had a test of this with the curfew, because drivers know they *must* move their cars before 8pm. As far as I know, they've been able to do this and snow removal has been able to happen like normal.
You say the snow sirens work because they make people run to their cars, but I actually think that demonstrates our point that they could have moved their cars earlier. If people are running to their cars when they hear the sirens, that probably means they were sitting at home (or nearby) not removing their car even though they could have.
Even if you disagree there, I still think our other suggestion is a no-brainer: replacing the harsh beeping backup noise on snow removal vehicles with the less jarring white noise sound (which many of the vehicles have anyway).
@@OhTheUrbanity if snow removal is scheduled from 7h pm to 7h am, you can get a ticket at 7h01 pm even if the plows only show up at 3h am. But you won't get towed right away, that will wait up to until about 30 minutes before snow removal start. Sure we could decide to have your car towed earlier to serve as example to educate bad drivers, but towings are already in high demand, moving cars where removal is actually starting at 7th or 7h30 pm. Again, there is simply too much demands for personnel and specialized equipment all at once. I guess the could increase the fine from 50$ to 100$ to 200$ and so on, for recidivists, maybe that would help? One thing I am sure off it that these air-raid sirens are less and less frequent over the years. I'd guess this is due to people using the Infoneige apps? play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.heritagesoftware.infoneige&hl=en_CA&gl=US
I am 110% in agreement with white noise replacing annoying beeping. Fact is, more and more contractors are required to have white noise equipped trucks and excavators for regular construction site. Such is the case for the REM stations being built near hours in Town of Mont-Royal. Hopefully these white noise will be rolled out to all equipment over time, the sooner the better.
Unfortunately Montreal is a bit of a unique case of city size, density and volume of snow precipitations, so we don't have other cities to compare with and exchange best techniques. I'm sure there is room for improvements, but all in all I think the city is doing a pretty good job.
"Working only during the day would extent the operation and residents wouldn't accept it." Extending the operation is more than an annoyance, if another storm comes before you cleared the first one, where are you going to push the new snow? They tried removing the snow less often to reduce costs and it was a disaster.
@@42fba IT's still going on afaik, Plateau is the onyl borough that add the courage to follow reasonability and it's still where the residents are only living the winter just right.
the main problem is how many cars there is and how much privilege is given to cardrivers with fine so low it's no scaring anyone, while bike fines...oh man they went up 200%.
@@OhTheUrbanity Winnipeg they have a 12 hour "window" that your zone is to be cleared AND is NO PARKING for the WHOLE 12 hours but the tow trucks run an hour or few ahead of the plowing teams in my experience
Im glad we don't have sirens like that in finland. There are dedicated snow piling areas everywhere for the snow plowers to pile the excess snow and then tractors come and take it away to snow dumping sites.
There are not many places in the city centre where you can park your car on the street around the clock, so the snow plowers work during the nights when the streets are mostly empty from cars. There are also workers on foot in more tight spaces. My city Oulu is the leading bike city of Finland and the bicycle and pedestrian streets are the first priority of snow plowing.
th-cam.com/video/7AJFOsKdej4/w-d-xo.html
As always, Europe does it better.
Yeah, Pekka has a whole video specifically about cycling in the winter where he shows the snow-removal business. Lessons could be learned. 👍 Well, they _could_ be learned. 😒
I am pretty sure that the average Montrealer hardly notices the sirens at all. Either you have a car that needs to be moved -- and you jump up because of the sirens. Or you don't have a car or it's parked okay, and you don't even register the sirens. The sirens ARE white noise to many people lol.
Also, listening to major snow clearing in the middle of night has a kind of excitement to it. I've often gotten up at 2 am or whatever just to watch the trucks. It is magic.
The ability to tune out the sirens would be wonderful! Unfortunately it's the opposite for me at least, getting jolted awake by them often enough has made me even more likely to notice them during the day, even when they're far away. Getting to watch the process is still magical though, you're right.
@@OhTheUrbanity Earplugs are your friend on snow removal nights.
wtf are you talking about. that shit is annoying and i slam my window shut when i hear that...i hate that. it is not fascinating lol.
As someone who doesn't own a car and I have a slow neighbour that constantly forget to move his car, I wish they would just silently tow his car and make him pay a hefty fine instead of waking up the entire neighbourhood.
haikuboxer has it right, from my experience. It isn't much of an annoyance at all, and for the rare time that you forgot to move the car (stuff happens even when you try to be good), it is nice to have a warning so you can save getting towed.
It is really pretty much like living near some train tracks. Sure, you "hear" the train but you learn to ignore it (unless it is right next to your house and you can't have a conversation because of the noise, which is a lot worse than we are talking about with this snow removal thing). Not a big deal and only happens maybe a dozen times a year. No different than passing buses or trucks in terms of noise. You hear them but you don't really hear them.
The snowplow air raid siren is a Montreal icon, if you want a boring peaceful sleep move to Ottawa! lol
Ottawa has a similar amount of snow during winter and they also do snow removal when there's too much piled up, but they do not play warning sirens, they will announce a parking ban and will tow and or ticket the offending cars
Montreal is a much bigger city with higher density, especially in the core neighborhoods (Downtown, Plateau, Rosemont,. Villeray, etc.). Streets are tights, cars are everywhere, these is no where to leave the snow, so it has to be removed ASAP or else the small residential streets would get impractical for the whole winter.
Montreal gives advance warning to residents so they don't get ticketed and that includes the sirens. In most cases they move the cars without ticketing if the amount of snow fallen is too much for many local residents to move their car.
Let me sing you the song of my people ...
I came back to re-watch as a blizzard is approaching StL right now. Great video as usual, I hope the sirens don't wake you up too much this winter! lol :]
Lived in Montreal back in the late 90's (NDG).
People leave their cars to the last minute because there is literally no where else to park your vehicle (residential streets are all 100% full since Montreal was built before cars were widely adopted. Street parking is the only option for the majority in the medium-density neighborhoods). So you run out and move your car one block over to a street that has just been cleared, in a game of giant musical chairs!
If your car does get towed, it is dropped in a random spot on some random street nearby. You have to wander about your neighborhood looking for it in the morning! 🤣
In Cambridge, we are similar to Toronto, all sidewalks are cleared by the resident. There are times if you don't, charges from the city if they have to do it, and very spotty coverage for those who choose to walk. If you are elderly, or have a medical condition, too bad for you, you will have to hire a snow clearing service, as there is no way to avoid the responsibility.
Though I'm pretty sure Cambridge (MA) has acquired small plows for bike paths. When I stayed off of Western one winter, the new bike path was beautifully clear, unlike the sidewalk, and I joined others walking in the path to get to Central Square.
Lived in Newfoundland for 2 years, one year in St. John's and the other in neighbouring Mount Pearl (with its own snow removal crews). St. John's mostly does snow clearing but on streets with lots of on-street parking they do similar snow removal to Montreal: 24hr notice to not park followed by trucks to haul the snow to the landfill. Neighbouring Mount Pearl is very suburban and has a stronger tax base meaning they can get away with only snow clearing; the wide road reservations and the parking lots of big box stores serving as snow storage. I was there during Snowmageddon (Jan 2020 Snowstorm). A meter of snow fell over Friday and Saturday, with additional snow on Sunday. Mount Pearl lifted its state of emergency and opened its roads on Tuesday whereas it took St. John's until Saturday or Sunday.
Mount Pearl also clears all of their sidewalks too. Sadly, they don't generally clear the paths.
St. John's's general attitude to pedestrians, especially in the winter, is '🖕 you'
Thoughts damn sirens terrified me the first night I heard them. I had noooo idea what was going on or why it woke me up at 3am
And even when it happens at an acceptable time like 8pm, it's hard not to be reminded of the experience of waking up really confused.
I grew up in downtown of Quebec City, and always found the snow removal process there to be more efficient. There are no sirens, but lights that flashes on every street. The two sides needs to be emptied, so the crew don’t need to come back twice. But it’s more negative for the drivers as there a lack of parking when plowing the streets. Sometimes the lights would flash for multiple consecutive nights, even if the street is already clean, but I think they became better at avoiding this now that they have a newer system.
Nothing speaks to the absolute entitlement of cars that a city would go around waking everyone up just on the off chance someone didn't heed no parking rules but doesn't want to face a fee for it.
Ah, the snow-towing siren. It's as Montreal as the dun-dun-DUUUN of the old Metro cars.
It might be Anglo vs. Quebecois, federalist vs. separatist, East End vs. West Island...but everyone can agree the true enemy here is Winter.
Wow. In Minneapolis, if you're lucky, they just plow around your car and make the street unusable for everyone else. If they're in a bad mood, your car just gets yoinked
Yeah, this is mind-blowing. We have nothing like this in Minnesota but we totally should!
No sirens in Gatineau-Ottawa, but the plows are loud enough that you'll wake up anyway. They don't always plow at night though, so it's not necessarily disruptive. They'll mostly plow at night if it's a huge snowstorm and they have to get ahead of it. Most areas have their dedicated parking here though, and street night parking is banned in winter.
Here in northern ontario we just get plows for the roads, and little snow blower vehicles for the sidewalks (and I assume the cycleways). A few times a winter they take the snow away in the areas that need it most. This isn't a big city though.
ya the issue here is that basically all the streets have residential parking so when those snowplows come by initially to clear the roads and sidewalks, they push all the snow on to the parked cars, this video is about clearing _that_ snow.
separated bike paths get cleared no problem, but not painted bicycle gutters (@Not Just Bikes) on the sides of roads, so there's not a ton of biking options
Living in the countryside a few hours out from Montreal, the only snow removal is the shooshing sound of a snow removal truck going by at about 70 at any time of day or night.
As a suburban Minnesotan, I WISH the city would do something like this! Most areas around me are pretty good at plowing during/after snow storms, but I don't think they ever do a snow removal. The snow banks around the corners in my neighborhood are so huge I can't see over them in my car, and it makes me worried when I'm walking that drivers won't see me when I need to cross!
In kiruna sweden we only allow parking at one side of the street at a time during winter on some streets. On one side of the road on even days and on the other on odd days.
In the summer I forget how happy I am of having a parking spot included with my apartment.
Great video. In the old days of Montreal and until the 1960s, the fleet of trucks in waiting of snow-filling were followed by a Catholic priest.
If only Edmonton would do the same. The parking bans here are meaningless as the city won't tow cars. Just hand out tickets and half plow the roads around the idiots that won't move
I stayed few nights in the Quebec City in a hotel, didn’t really hear any noise in nights while streets were clear by morning. I moved from Calgary and this is my second winter in Montreal. Agree that this city is quite different not just in terms of snow removal but in lots of other things. Calgary after the snow generally people come outside with shovel or broom and clean up their driveway and front/sidewalk (it’s a great time to say hello to your neighbor). The snow plow truck generally gather the snow at one end of the street (there is no snow removal) and because of chinooks everything vanishes in every couple of days. The bike trail is always clear, never had any issue while biking in winter in Calgary.
The sirens were a huge shock to me as well when I moved here 😮 They may have been necessary back in the olden times, but nowadays I think of them mostly as a backstop against the signs that aren't always put up with enough notice and the app which is mostly - but not always - accurate.
More generally, it often feels like trucks and heavy machinery drive around Montreal like they own the place.
these trucks and machinery were designed for controlled road work during day light, not snow removal, at night, on street used by cars, pedestrian and bikes. Resident expects streets to be cleared ASAP so there is huge pressure to get the job done quickly. Unfortunately there are pedestrian killed every year. anything on the sidewalks such as bench, trash cans, trees, locked bikes, etc also get damaged.
The bigger trucks also break the streets. I notice that on the paths more frequented by them there is more holes.
as a new yorker this is crazy to me, here it's just a few plows if it snows a lot and that's it
In Toronto we don't have stuff like this to wake you up. But the snowplows we use seem to be straight piped as there is no chance of you sleeping when they rumble by with the throttle wide open. As for cars, you grit your teeth as they just barely steer around them.
In Québec City, in most neighbourhoods where they can get away with it, they just blow the snow dierctly on people's front lawns instead of carrying it away.
As a Montrealer and car owner, I can say with 100% seriousness that the sound of snow removal sirens haunts me at times. There’s a lot of difficult things for car owners. On my street, the only ever remove snow during the day, since that when most people are away at work and there’s less cars on the street.
In regards to simply towing, personally I’ve found that it is true that signs don’t always go up early enough, especially in cases when they put up the signs in the evening and plough the next morning.
Something else to consider is that it can sometimes be very difficult to find somewhere else to put your car. They essentially remove 50% of the parking in entire areas, but there aren’t less cars then there was before! I’ve at times spent 15 minutes just looking for somewhere to put my car, which is always a frustrating experience.
I come from the UK (near London). We barely have any winter management here. We have gritting trucks to prevent slipping on ice and we have some snow ploughs, but they only do the main roads and highways. Thankfully we don't get much snow, but when we do, all hell breaks lose. Offices and schools close, the railways and buses grind to a halt. Cars and people slip and slide everywhere or just stay at home. Watching this video is kind of awe inspiring in some ways (apart from those bloody ridiculous sirens!). I doubt we'll have anything that good over here.
but yeah you don't really need it, do you? the city basically shuts down if more than 5cm falls - the same is true for Edinburgh (where I lived for 5 years), even though it's significantly colder than London. Montreal doesn't have a choice - if there wasn't good snow removal the city would shut down for half the winter, which lasts roughly 4 months. people don't slip as much because they're used to these conditions (and generally make sure they have better footwear), and cars are required by law to have snow tires from around the beginning of December.
It’s relative cost. The cost of having such an operation would probably outweigh the economic losses to business in UK, for the few days of snow. In Montreal the economic losses would be high, if not having such an operation.
Had no idea this is what snow removal is like there. In Toronto snow rarely ever stays on the ground, melts, maybe 1 out of every 4 winters is there snow on the ground.
Looks identical to the snow removal in Anchorage, minus the blaring sirens.
Around here, we don't get fancy snow removal, but the city (and towing contractors) love to collect cars parked on street cleaning days. I've seen fleets of tow trucks clear multiple blocks of cars in rapid succession prior to the street cleaners showing up. The trucks don't give any audible last minute warning, just hook your car up and drive away.
Looks like an efficient snowxremoval system. Bike lanes and sidewalks are almost never cleared in other cities. Yes, their ensures would be a pain, butvI prefer cleared streets. Most other snow cities do not have a good record. I am not a fan of winter, but if you have to deal with it, better to have the Walks and roads cleared.
They need to solve this, because someone left a car parked where they shouldn't have, and left for a vacation 10 blocks need to wake up on a weekend at 4am. Just use a blower on those couple of cars, blow the snow onto the street and collect it, fine the cars and be done with it.
I love Canada but coming from the US, I find that Canadians have much higher tolerance to noise than Americans.
1) This. This siren. I don't even own a car. Just tow the parked cars in silence for God's sake.
2) There is no way to turn off Amber alerts in Canada at any time of the day. Why would I wake up 3 in the morning, put my jacket on, get out and start looking for a gray Honda Civic in below-freezing temperatures?
You're right, it's crazy that we use the presidential alert level for all Amber Alerts. Fortunately it doesn't actually affect our two phones, for whatever reason - not sure if it's our phone models or the carrier.
In Chicago then push the snow onto your car so you can spend about an hour digging it out in the morning. Then you buy a plastic lawn chair in that spot to reserve it for yourself when you get home that day. (You did all the work clearing that spot to access it it wouldn’t be fair if a neighbor came in and parked unit leaving you to push around more snow just to get your car into an uncleared spot.)
Wow. The removal is impressive but the sirens are nightmarish. One of my pie-in-the-sky futurism fantasies is heated roads and sidewalks like they have in Japan and Scandinavia so that the snow just melts and drains immediately, eliminating the need for all this. My guess is that most cities would not get enough snow to make this a worthwhile investment, but Montreal might be a different story!
We have that in Scandinavia?
@@kricku I've read about systems for sidewalks at least in Oslo & Reykjavik. (don't know if Iceland counts as "Scandinavian" per se, but certainly Nordic.)
I thought I had seen footage of a city street somewhere but a quick google search doesn't turn it up. Obviously I didn't mean they were ubiquitous, just that they do exist.
This terrible woman I worked with used to purposely not show El out and move her car because she was lazy and smoked weed instead. She was out of shape, not disabled. She told me she used the tow trucks to get her car out from under a big snow. She felt entitled to this service because she “couldn’t” dig it out. But entitled to a car when she didn’t have her own driveway and had to use the public streets.
Because they don’t actually impound your car usually, just move it 2 blocks away, this worked fine for her. Because she lived high up, the sirens didn’t bother her. Meanwhile they blare know my street at 1-2 am all the time. And I take the damn bus
- 0:06 I have a video of them going by around 10pm and another of the blower-dump-truck going by at 1:30am. I never actually saw anyone go to move their cars. I guess they got towed. 🤔
- 7:25 In some places, snow-clearing isn't interesting or disruptive because it doesn't even happen, they just leave the snow where it is an let residents deal with it. (I have the photos to prove it. 😒)
- 7:35 Oulu removes the snow, not just plows it to the sides into the sidewalks. Then they go over it with another vehicle to tamp it down and texturize it to make give it grip. Pekka Tahkola has a video about why their bike-paths are good in the winter.
- 7:45 So you'd rather get a ticket than to hear a siren to know to move your car? That's nice for you, but not everybody is rich.
- Most people keep their windows closed in the winter, so it's not _that_ bad.
I live here and never have I complained about the noise at night. Only time they would work overnight itself is when it was a big snow dump, which we get once or twice a winter. Secondly there are rules even they have to follow regarding the noise.
This happens in Elmhurst Illinois as well (suburb of Chicago)
That is so cool. I wish my city would do that.
You just need to experience Montreal after a heavy snowfall, when the whole snow clearing process got delayed a few days. It becomes a wasteland where not much moves. Simply moving the snow wouldn’t help, since parking becomes a nightmare and the residential streets become impassable.
As for towing cars, well this would just slow down an already tight schedule and people would complain more.
The process isn’t perfect, but it is efficient and ensures the city keeps moving.
BTW don’t park your bikes anywhere a snow plough might roam, unless you want to risk a mangled mess. The sidewalk ploughs move swiftly and risk damaging anything in their path.
it is very time consuming to tow even a single car, it makes more sense to wake people up and get them to move it, from an operations stand point
I've been living in Quebec City almost all my life and they can manage all our snow without any sirens.
Very interesting!
Try being in Atlanta for a snowfall. There are no snow plows. There are no snow shovels. There are no tire chains or snow tires. It only snows about once every three years in Atlanta, but when it does, a few flurries will get school canceled and a 1/4 inch accumulation shuts the city down.
As someone who has no aspirations to own a car or do any significant driving, I'd be pissed that I'm being waken out of my sleep because of some irresponsible driver. Just tow the vehicles. Towing > Disturbing people's sleep/ overstimulating nervous systems
8 minutes of pro-grade filmmaking about snow clearing! Liked just for the originality and post-prod work... nice!!!
Pro-grade! You're too kind. Glad you liked it.
Those sirens are pretty crazy.
Theres an Episode on Mighty Machines that shows montreal snow removal
Saw that one!
in Winnipeg canada they have a "know your zone" program and APP / the city is broken into zones and MAIN streets have "snow route" signs
and when a snow event is called and the contractors are "activated"
first they clear the snow routes then announce the snow zone being cleared and you have a 12 hour NO PARKING on those streets and must park on a different street
if you fail to you get a parking ticket and a tow to a street nearby that is ether cleared OR in a different zone and must find your car
NO BEEPERS OR ALARMS ETC but the clearing is a 24 hour operation with 12 hour "windows" to clear your zone
main roads are cleared and trucked off residential roads are cleared to solid pack NOT the road surface and snow is stored in the area till melted OR left as a windrow infront of the properties
sidewalks ALL OF THEM are cleared with mini tractor snow plows
The sirens are just Canadians being polite. US governments would never go out of their way to reduce revenue.
Smartphone notification via apps could provide a better system...
Do they also use salt on the roads like most cities in Ontario? The salt is problematic in many ways, so I'm curious if a city like Montreal that has so much more snow uses it or manages with sand?
They do use salt, although not exclusively. Sidewalks seem to have more gravel or sand. They might change their strategies based on the temperature (I think salt doesn't work as well below -10C?).
@@OhTheUrbanity Oh cool thanks for answering!
in Quebec City they have flashing "No Parking" lights that turn on before snow removal nights, a way better solution than honking and sirens in my opinion, that could make a great video idk
i recorded what it looks like the other day lol, th-cam.com/video/PQU0v85ci2k/w-d-xo.html
I hope this isn't inconsidrate for the residents, but this looks like a very anxious and ear-harming job for the drivers! I really hope there's another way for thier sake.
4:04 THATS MY SCHOOL AND THE STREET I LIVE ON
Montreal has a much more efficient snowplowing service than Ottawa. As far as I could tell, they only plow sidewalks once or twice per winter, while Montreal does it consistently. I'll take a few noisy nights over having innacessible icy, slippery, mountainous snowy sidewalks.
I don't know where in Ottawa you live, but in Gloucester our sidewalks are ploughed at least once a week (or, more realistically, within 2-3 days of a snowfall).
Now, there is the unfinished pedestrian crossing on the Innes Rd overpass, that only gets cleared once a month or so, which is the big obstacle for me getting to work, but the other 95% of my run is pretty decent.
How about having a system where residents can provide a mobile phone number(s) to be associated with their license plate? Then they can send a single vehicle with an ALPR (automated license plate reader) down the streets to be plowed and a computer can call/text the numbers of the cars that need to be moved. Everyone gets a fair warning and no one has to listen to sirens.
takes too much time. got to decipher the plate - and if it's snowing they are often covered up or hard to read; then call the number, deal with the person on the other end and hope they are within running distance, etc.
I fully agree with O the Urbanity, I would add Montreal snow operation are almost insane. Why, because they now pour salt on the snow, saying sidewalk and unsafe when snow is only cleared. I come from the northern region and I lived in Quebec for a year or so once, and it's not that crazy. Montreal is a peculiar case because of the discurse on city policy is.
Yes, this is a big topic here. News would often ask citizen and then ask the city where the city is asking for forgiveness about not ahving cleared at 99.8% each street during a storm.
The siren are tolerated and in violation of noise law bc cardrivers lobby is all the city listen to except for salt on the snow. The latter is from people always asking for more and now we expect anyone with a disability totake a walk in the park during heavy blizzard.
Do you know how much budget is given to snow removal operation, it's big. With how much salt they are now pouring it doesnt matter if they plants salt resistant trees, it's basicaly aggression over the plant.
My point is, in Montreal a strong discurse is thinking that winter can be fought. Well try it and watch as the city budget is not able to take it.
I gotta say I always walk or talk the bus, I don't bike in winter considering how much salt they pour, it's destroying even your clothes and boots. Last, do you know salt is one of the main reason Champlain bridge and other big infrastrucrure failed before their planned replacement. The old plan stated not to use salt on the bridge and it worked for decades.
We're so dimwit.
I think in many cases it is better to leave a small amount of snow, rather than risk a thin layer of ice, ice presents a far bigger hazard, I remember back in winter this year, the whole of the path and road was just covered in ice that you could barely stand on, this is not desirable, there is a shop across the road, literally just a 2 lane road, getting to that shop takenover 5 minutes because every step lead to sliding around and nearly falling, I am young(ish) and fairly fit, walking on snow is a lot easier, you get grip at least, this keeps people out of cars too, as I'd prefer to walk in the snow than drive, but with ice many will choose driving simply beacuse it is impossible to make progress on foot at all.
Australia has a better system than that, they settled in a country that didn't snow could that be a possibility for Canada in the future?
90% of the population of Canada lives within 200km of the southern border.
Edmonton pushes the snow around to the sides of the roads except for a few higher density areas - and just leaves it as windrows. Shovelling sidewalks is a responsibility of the property owner in front of private property. Clearing publicly owned sidewalks and paths is the city's responsibility but they do a poor job of it - often leaving it covered in snow and ice all winter. No sirens though the lows themselves are loud. The sirens and honking I think is insanity. Who came up with that system?
If you want real peace and quiet move to Boston. They only plow the street's surface by pushing it to the sidewalk. Homeowners are responsible to have that sidewalk cleared of snow within 24 hours of the end of snow fall.
And if you don't remove all the snow the plow left on your sidewalk you'll get a fine from the city for $25 dollars. If you don't pay it along with your property taxes and water bill plus interest it'll turn into a lien at city hall and eventually your home can be auction off to clear that lien. But you still get a good nights sleep. ^ v ^
Here's a crazy idea...what if we got rid of cars as much as possible so snow removal doesn't have to be so crazy?
Lmfaooooo Toronto making you plow/shovel your own sidewalks with the excuse that the side walks are too small is hilarious, it definitely saves them money not being responsible. 100% Montreal has smaller if not same size. I've lived in so many cities around Ontario and every single one, it's the municipal responsibility to ensure safe accessibility.
The signage problem is easily fixed using alternate-side parking. That way the signs can stay up year around, with a secondary sign saying that they are only in effect between dates that will definitely cover snow season.
You could even plan ahead and state one or two days of the week for snow removal.
@@cmmartti The problem is that you typically have date parking (parking is forbidden on the even numbered side of the street on even days) or this "every Wednesday in snow season" all remove overnight parking. Often this is residential parking that you pay for, and the street is more often clear during the day than at night.
But if parking is free, then there is no reason not to make it inconvenient to use as your permanent parking spot.
I think it's much better to cause a little noise during the evening and night, when the alternative is that snow removal equipment is blocking the road during the day. But, I must say, that siren is quite nice (and tolerable). Horns in the other hand seem quite annoying. If there is a lot of cars, that may be understandable (it's much easier and faster to get people move their cars than to tow them away), but if there is just a few cars on the way, you could look at the license plate, find out the owner of the car and their phone number and give them a call. This would take about a minute per car, and would disturb the car owner only.
This alone is reason enough to move off the island, what a fucking scam for milking car tickets
itd be nice if they could just call the owner of the cars instead of blasting everyone.
I don't know if this counts as corruption, but after a major snowfall followed by very high temperatures, I watched snowplows in NDG plowing water on the streets. Complete waste of time and money.
As a country kid this is so dumb and complicated lmao
Yeah move your cars when the parking signs are up and you wont hear the sirens.
Yeah we will only do snow removal between 8am and 6pm because it wakes people up so it will take 2 weeks to clear the snow.
Stop Complaining people
Unfortunately all it takes is one person and everyone else has to hear the sirens. We don't even own a car.
@@OhTheUrbanity
Yeah thats why it sucks when 1 person can ruin the night of everyone on the streets because they are too lazy
I much prefer Quebec City's model, they use street light to indicate if the street will be cleared. That way people can move their cars without checking a website, and there's no honking involved!
you do get ticketed and towed
Sirens least of the problem, focus on corruption.
Man the people in Canada are pampered like babies , try living down here in the US and you will want to leave because down here you have to do everything yourself and you're lucky if the roads ever get plowed during the winter , we don't have people to clear our sidewalks for us and the snowplows do horrible work, if there is vehicles on the road and a big amount of snow hit the plows just either go around the vehicles or don't clear the road all together.
Another good reason for encouraging people to bike year round.
My personal feeling is do things like they do in Japan. They need to show proof they have a place to park their car in order to buy one. That would free up the streets... for travel. And snow removal. But this takes a lot of courage from city officials who are afraid of backlash from car owners.
Japan and Est Asia is much more community oriented. They have working public transit year-round. Cars are not really necessary if you live in a city.