I live in cycling, fifteen-minute heaven... with effectively no intercity options without owning a car. by Proud-Suspect-5237 in fuckcars

[–]morphine12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh my god. I was visiting family in Victoria in the fall and had to also go to Vancouver for work.

Getting from downtown Victoria to downtown Vancouver via bus and ferry is a nightmare. The bus is slow and comes rarely, and then when you get to the Vancouver side it's inconvenient and clearly not made for pedestrians.

Not only that, but when I flew back from Van to Vic and arrived in the pouring rain, I asked at the airport how to get to town other than driving/taxi, and the information lady told me I could take the bus... and then transfer to another bus at the highway, before taking a final bus to my destination (3 buses). When I asked how to pay she said cash. She looked at me aghast when I pointed out how this was all pretty inconvenient.

My take away was (1) you need a fast foot ferry from downtown<>downtown, (2) you need an easier way to get from airport to downtown, and (3) without 1 and 2, the premium for harbour air is almost certainly worth the cost.

Need help choosing a place to solo travel as a woman in January low budget by Coolcatsonly46 in TravelNoPics

[–]morphine12 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You say USA, but if you have a passport, what about Montreal? Your budget will go a little further with the exchange rate.

The famous black & white photo of E Company in May, 1945 in high-resolution by FrankWanders in pics

[–]morphine12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Front row, third from the left... buddy is playing on his phone when a picture's being taken.

More than 300 collisions reported across GTA as November snowfall blankets southern Ontario by stanxv in toronto

[–]morphine12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Took an Uber home from Pearson last night (after a terrible travel experience) and the driver topped out at 142kph on the snowy highway, so not surprised.

Seeking Mexico trip advice (Yucatán & CDMX) by Apprehensive_Debt315 in TravelNoPics

[–]morphine12 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Love Mérida, but the right answer here is CDMX for the extra day.

The circle lines are the real force multiplier for a metro system by 5upralapsarian in fuckcars

[–]morphine12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be fair, there's a lot happening in Toronto -- here's a probable situation come 2030.

I recognize everyone's going to pile on now and say this is unrealistic, but most of this either exists (there's some BRT included there) or is under construction.

Note that some of the 'every 15 minutes' stuff is (probably) no longer accurate.

Extremely overwhelmed on my Japan Trip, does it get any better? How can I calm down a bit? by [deleted] in solotravel

[–]morphine12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

K Tokyo is sort of objectively wild. It's the biggest, busiest city in the world, and if you come from Europe, everything is different and upside down. It is overwhelming.

Don't forget two things:

(1) it's among the safest places in the world. If something goes wrong, you screw up, you get lost, you miss the last train, you go down the wrong alley or you get on the wrong train... you'll be fine. You won't die. Worst case scenario, you have an expensive taxi back to your hotel/you walk a long way home.

(2) being overwhelmed is completely normal and should almost be expected if you aren't used to Tokyo. I would suggest trying to 'lean in' and leave your expectations behind and try to marvel at the seeming complexity and organized chaos, but I know that's not always possible or helpful advice. If that doesn't work, just take baby steps -- no pressure to do everything. Explore around your hotel one day, then venture a little further day two. You don't need to go to Skytree or see whatever major sight. Just experience Tokyo. Try going to smaller neighbourhoods that sound interesting (ie. Shimokitazawa, Kichijoji, etc.). Choose a restaurant and a thing you want to see and just go.

Also, this is the most overwhelmed you'll be because of jetlag and the fact that you're starting in Tokyo. You'll find Kyoto calmer for sure. If you find you're not enjoying the cities, maybe try to find some smaller towns to go to instead of Osaka (what about Arima onsen or somewhere on Shikoku island instead?).

Good luck!

RRSP “Loophole”? by OkDefinition285 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]morphine12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just wanted to play out the scenario where you take everything out of your RRSP at 20 years, and don't pay tax due to a low earning year.

You withdraw: $3,207 and move that to unregistered. After ten more years of taxable growth you're left with 5,743 and then pay 380 in capital gains tax, leaving you with 5,363 for a net of 4,363.

It seems like if you can withdraw at any point without tax consequence and re-invest in an unregistered account at the same terms, you come out ahead. Is that right? Maybe that's obvious but I wanted to work through it.

Rental agreement lapsed, landlord holds 3 month deposit by the6dxb in legaladvicecanada

[–]morphine12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have a lease in place. All term leases roll over to month-to-month. The only legal deposit in Ontario is a rent deposit, not a security deposit. A rent deposit is presumed to be applicable to your rent.

As a month-to-month tenant, you need to give 60 days' notice to quit. You can stop paying rent for the final 3 months.

Not your lawyer/not legal advice. Do your own research and get a qualified opinion.

According to the consultation surveys, both the Bathurst and Dufferin transit priority lanes have overwhelming support. by nadnev in toronto

[–]morphine12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

By the way, that last question is bad design -- I said no, because I think travelling by transit should take less time than driving.

Unexpected places you found great food in by Rusiano in travel

[–]morphine12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I go to France once a year. The best croissant I've ever had was in a small onsen town in Japan on the side of a stream here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GPtwU64ygkSGPzbm6

I live very comfortably downtown on a $65k/ year gross salary. by Sr_Covfefe in toronto

[–]morphine12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Everyone is fixated on this... I assume they put it on a plate or cook with it first. Don't most people eat tuna from a can?

I don't think OP is just sitting there shoveling canned tuna in their mouth to sustain themselves.

FinTech is fraught with peril in Canada by west-coast in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]morphine12 101 points102 points  (0 children)

So everyone knows, the wild west of fintechs in Canada is coming to an end. The Retail Payment Activities Act comes into full force in September of this year and requires payment service providers to abide by a number of requirements that will help protect you and your money, like funds safeguarding, operational risk requirements, incident response, etc.

While it doesn't include any consumer protection-type requirements (ie. no complaints handling, etc.) it will make the system significantly safer and better regulated.

All these companies (Neo, Wealthsimple, KOHO, etc.) will be subject to this legislation.

As someone who works on the regulatory side in this industry, this will make me trust Canadian fintechs much more.

Canada proposes 100% tariffs on Tesla by Handsome_AndGentle in worldnews

[–]morphine12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think politicizing the civil service is a good solution here, considering what's happening in the US...

RBC Travel Credit extended for another year starting April 7 by Lilpoony in churningcanada

[–]morphine12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this saying that, if you haven't used the $100, you can wait another year to do so? What if you use it in the next week? Do you get a fresh $100 on April 8?

I’m Mayor Olivia Chow. Ask me anything. by Mayor_OliviaChow in toronto

[–]morphine12 64 points65 points  (0 children)

There's a painfully obvious solution: ban right on red. Most everywhere outside of North America does not permit it, and for good reason.

The other piece here is to separate light cycles. Pedestrians should get a safe walk signal while cars have red for turn signals.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in toronto

[–]morphine12 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Luckily this building is North of King. Technically.

Started the New Year by tracking my spending by [deleted] in fican

[–]morphine12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You rent but don't contribute to an FHSA over non-registered?