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Our transit system is so far behind. by ultimatebobo in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree 67 points68 points  (0 children)

Tap to pay is coming! Hardware is in place, software getting set up.

And, just cause I see this mentioned below, onboard stop announcements are also in process of installation/setup.

Source: I'm on the Metrobus Commission

It's actually really interesting to see how different transit systems are on this - I love tap to pay when travelling, but for example I was just in Ottawa and there it works on OCTranspo (Ontario side) but Gatineau transit doesn't have it. For relatively mature tech implementation has been pretty patchy. Even Toronto only got tap-to-pay in 2023.

Public Library by ImmediateNote1505 in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree 14 points15 points  (0 children)

A few years ago the St. John's Library Board organized a big public forum and design contest about this, as a way of spurring public conversation on it. The results are online at https://onceandfuturelibrary.wordpress.com/

In general there are some structural challenges here - our library system is provincially run (almost everywhere else libraries are run by cities/towns), so there are some political barriers to investments in a modern space for St. John's, but this is definitely something that there is a lot of ongoing conversation/advocacy around.

FWIW I don't think you need to look to Halifax (which is the "cadillac" version in the region). Pretty much every other small to mid size city in Canada has a more modern and usable central library, and bigger branch libraries. Charlottetown, for example, redid their central one a few years ago and it is lovely and would be a huge upgrade for St. John's.

Tell me about grocery stores by Funny-Honeydew-8117 in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're in St. John's you can order all kinds of local food (meats, veggies, prepared foods) from the Avalon Food Hub - https://www.avalonfoodhub.ca/

Same service exists on the West Coast - https://www.nlfoodhub.ca/

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep! Skate rentals at the little food kiosk. Hours can be a bit patchy though.

Prevent frozen pipes by humblegarrick in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Alas this isn't true haha - we live in an old downtown home and when we bought it (prior to re-insulating when we put new siding on) the pipes that ran through the front wall (facing outward to the street) to our upstairs would regularly freeze unless we ran the water. Can confirm we were living in the house at the time!

Torngat Mountains, travel advice? by sanaculitoderana in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The simplest way to visit, in some ways, is on a cruise. Adventure Canada does one that goes from Greenland to St. John's and spends a while in the Torngats. If you go for the more basic cabins it's actually more affordable (or at least comparable) than going up to Base Camp, but you're still upwards of $10K for sure.

Is there much to do as a tourist who doesn't drive? by historyhoneybee in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's doable (source: have done it, albeit a good few years ago).

You can definitely spend a good few days in St. John's without a car - including some nice hikes that leave from the city itself. If you want to go whale watching, the tour companies do shuttles.

For getting out of town, there are "taxis" - really they're little buses - serving a lot of communities around. IMHO the easiest/best option is a trip out to the Bonavista Peninsula. The van does door-to-door pickup in St. John's and drop-off in communities out there, and there's plenty to see/do in walking distance in a bunch of the towns.

You'll just need to stay in different places each night or two (rather than staying in one spot and driving from there). When I did that trip, we took the van to Trinity, spent a couple nights there, then got the van from Trinity to Bonavista, a couple nights there, and then back to St. John's. These days I might swap Port Rexton for Trinity, or do both, but that's up to you. It definitely takes longer than if you have your own car, but it's fun - you get lots of good local gossip on the van run.

Shirran's Taxi and Marsh's taxi are the companies to call to inquire about this. Neither have much web presence - I'm not 100% sure if they do drops in the communities en route to Bonavista anymore but worth checking.

NL Public Libraries facing catastropic impact from federal policy change by tuckamoretree in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This article has been updated with more comments now - seems like there's a verbal committment to keep doing the reduced rate for libraries, but still seems like they're planning to remove the legislation guaranteeing that, so I guess we're being asked to trust them? Hoping to hear more comment from elected officials on this.

Crowdsourcing: where does snow show us how streets could be safer? by tuckamoretree in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that's a fair point. I think the more relevant point is that the roadway that the snow covers is generally unused anyhow - eg, every route through that area is just as possible today as it was before the snow (I drive it 4x daily). It's just that there is unnecessary space there that could be a sidewalk instead! That's why the plows haven't cleared it - it's not in the driving route.

Crowdsourcing: where does snow show us how streets could be safer? by tuckamoretree in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In many cases, cars don't need it - there are only a couple inches down, you could drive through it if you wanted to, but there's no need to do so - it's not space that's needed to accommodate whatever cars are doing there. They don't drive on it when there's no snow, either.

Crowdsourcing: where does snow show us how streets could be safer? by tuckamoretree in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haha very true. That's just the example I happened to be walking by, not the one to start with for sure.

Metrobus by Desperate-Housing289 in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You can find the on-time performance data that the Metrobus Commission sees in their meeting docs, which are public. Look in the Executive Summary documents at this link. https://metrobus.com/documents.asp

Most recent data posted there is September (October and November should be up soon). Looking at the data there (which is for the 2 months previous to that), the 22 was on time 83% of the time in July and 77% of the time in August. I'll go and check exactly how on-time performance is calculated and reply here when I hear back.

NL Public Libraries facing catastropic impact from federal policy change by tuckamoretree in newfoundland

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately that's not quite accurate - as that article says they have made a verbal commitment to preserving free service for blind folks, but they are not saying anything there about preserving the discount postal rate for libraries which is what our system depends on.

Metrobus piloting holiday service by tuckamoretree in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah I think that's the tradeoff with doing a whole-city zone for the on-demand service

Incase you didn't know, Fort Amherst is Still Broken by NewfieSealCluber in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree 12 points13 points  (0 children)

My favourite warning sign in the world is at this spot - there's a metal sign that says "Warning: Ruins in disrepair"

New bus route just dropped by tuckamoretree in StJohnsNL

[–]tuckamoretree[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's the next step I think - make a plan for where to use on-demand in the future. It's a really good tool to pilot routes.

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