The Vent - Part 2

[Sprailenes 47]

The executive chef at my work is from Philadelphia and his best friend lives in Toronto right now and he is totally floored by the stuff his friend tells him. He is floored that his friend (who makes good money) takes public transportation and enjoys it, he's floored that his friends wife gets a year of maternity leave. He is floored about all of the things we both tell him about Canada all of the time.

[Holliday 4]

LOL this is true. TTC Compared to COTA is like a dream. (COTA is Central Ohio Transit Authority) It runs around Ohio State University and other than that, nowhere else. When in Columbus, I miss ttc like no tomorrow. When in Toronto, I miss Buddy (read: I miss Buddy's car LOL!) At the same time, I miss having the ability to walk out my front door and catch a bus 24 hours a day. It really is a case of I want my cake and to eat it to

My sister lived in Ottawa for about 4 or 5 years with her now husband and Ive heard horror stories about how they'd had so many accidents hitting pedestrians. Is it as bad as I've heard?

Yeah, that has happened a bunch of times. People getting hit by buses, being dragged under buses, stuff like that. I kinda figured that sort of thing must happen everywhere though, and that the reason I've only heard it happening here is because I live here.

[JillA 2]

Planning to do a lot of off-roading?

You have us pegged !

Umm no - but as I don't fly, when we travel we travel by vehicle - so we need something really comfortable.

sorry just had to ask.

Why don't you fly? If you don't mind me asking.

No I don't mind at all - I just have a phobia about flying.

You and Whoopi Goldberg! I understand the phobia, it can be scary. I just couldn't imagine living life without flying, as I would be restricted to travel in North America (well unless I want to drive to South America which I don't) And I have seen so many beautiful countries, and want to see many more.

[JillA 2]

The executive chef at my work is from Philadelphia and his best friend lives in Toronto right now and he is totally floored by the stuff his friend tells him. He is floored that his friend (who makes good money) takes public transportation and enjoys it, he's floored that his friends wife gets a year of maternity leave. He is floored about all of the things we both tell him about Canada all of the time.

When I tell people about Canada and all the good there, most of them say "why did you move here, why didn't your SO move there" good question

[Sprailenes 47]

because our SO's are big babies and are afraid of the snow!

[Krikit 1,164]

because our SO's are big babies and are afraid of the snow!

OMG, don't even get me started!

Edited June 18, 2009 by Krikit

[Sprailenes 47]

I remember the first snow fall Mike ever witnessed he almost cried.

"JEEZUS HOW DO YOU LIVE!? IT'S ONLY OCTOBER!!!"

[trailmix 77]

You and Whoopi Goldberg! I understand the phobia, it can be scary. I just couldn't imagine living life without flying, as I would be restricted to travel in North America (well unless I want to drive to South America which I don't) And I have seen so many beautiful countries, and want to see many more.

You can always take a freighter!

[Emancipation 2]

because our SO's are big babies and are afraid of the snow!

Mental picture is of a kitten who gets it's paw wet and is trying to get the water off... ick ick ick..

[trailmix 77]

Trying to buy a new vehicle is almost as much fun as trying to buy a house.

[Sprailenes 47]

I was the worst when I bought my yaris! The guy said 300.00 a month and I thought it sounded good so I was like: "OKAY!"

And then my husband kicked me in the leg under the table.

I didn't know the game at all! We talked him down though.

I am a salesmans wet dream.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Sprailenes

[The_Dude 1,142]

because our SO's are big babies and are afraid of the snow!

I had been in -30 F before on a snowboarding trip. It was cold as hell, but I didn't whine or anything. Flash forward 10 years and i'm in London Ontario and it's nearing -10 C, and I'm whining like a baby. Something about the humidity that kills it for me, but then again, I have asthma

For the record, I volunteered to move to London first, and even today, I suggest we move to BC. But Mel tells me she flatly refuses to EVER live where it snows again.

[Flames9_RN 358]

I was the worst when I bought my yaris! The guy said 300.00 a month and I thought it sounded good so I was like: "OKAY!"

And then my husband kicked me in the leg under the table.

I didn't know the game at all! We talked him down though.

I am a salesmans wet dream.

They say to NEVER deal on the monthly payments, you deal on the price of the car!!

[thetreble 19]

I find people LOVE to complain just about anything and everything. OC Transpo was awesome, but then again I lived in Centreville so I don't know what other areas were like. I was on a bus every day for 4 years pretty much at any time I wanted to be. If I missed my bus, another one came in 10 minutes. The buses are very clean and the staff is good. The only time the bus did not come for me was my brothers VERY first game in the OHL for the 67s. He had just moved to Ottawa that day and we had a snow storm. I went to go take the bus from my area on Bank St and it never came..so I ran down Bank street quite a few blocks to the game. It was a laugh, actually! haha

Yeah, people sure do love to complain about anything and everything. However, I think the complaints about OC Transpo are incredibly justified, especially lately. They went on strike and all transit services were suspended from early December to mid-February. Lots of people lost their jobs, or couldn't visit family during the holidays, or had to walk 3-4 hours to and from work or school each day in a few feet of snow in very cold temperatures, students missed their classes and exams, etc. Those of us who don't use public transit were inconvenienced as well, because it would take 3x as long to get anywhere, and finding parking was nearly impossible. There was a shuttle arranged at different points of the city for students to be able to get to their exams, and the striking workers were threatening people and blocking the shuttles. A lot of businesses were hit VERY hard financially because patrons didn't have the time or energy to go out shopping or out for dinner or whatever else during the normally busy holiday season. It just wasn't worth the hassle. I think those are all pretty good reasons to complain.

Even when OC Transpo is up and running, I still think it's terrible. It might be great if you live in the downtown area (but even then, you're kinda within walking distance of most things you may need anyway, so it's convenience added on to an already convenient situation), or if you live near the Transitway. But for people who live in the rest of the city, it's very inconvenient and inefficient.

Well a strike is a strike. Companies, regardless of they are transit or other companies, go on strike all the time and things happen. Stelco workers went on strike all the time in the 50s and 60s and my mum's family was flat out broke because of it for awhile there. It didn't make it a bad company! It was the city's biggest employer and if not for it, many people wouldn't have been able to feed their families. While it the strike this past winter I'm sure sucked, they never went on strike in the 5 years I was in Ottawa so I can't comment directly on that.

I completely disagree though with it being terrible. If you think Ottawa has a terrible transportation system, I hope you are impressed with the one where you will be living in the US. I think you will find that in most places they are pretty non-existent period unless you live in a decent sized city.

Also, while I lived in centreville, I had to travel all over Ottawa in the 5 years I was there. It was always reliable. Also, just because I lived in Centreville, it doesn't mean everything is in walking distance. A 45 minute walk to Carleton wasn't something I could do every day.

However, I think people living in Ottawa need to realize how lucky they are that buses go FAR out of the downtown city limits. The airport has a bus that takes you right from there to Hurdman Station, and there are buses that go from Parliament Hill to South Keys...and that is FAR..that is an hour on a bus...it's not OC Transpo's fault that it takes long to transport people from one end of the city to the other, and I don't see how it could be more efficient than that.

The only thing I could say badly about OC Transpo is the train which is completely pointless as it's on a direct line with only a few stops outside the downtown area. They are supposed to re-vamp it sooner or later but it's billions of dollars to do so.

I was always under the assumption though in Ottawa that if you live far from downtown, you probably aren't taking the bus to go to work. Public transportation has limits and you can't really expect it to support people who live really close to the actual city limits.

[Krikit 1,164]

Yeah, our buses don't even go to any downtown. They just drive back and forth on the main 4-lane divided highway between cities. I think I saw one once.

And, Unions.... don't even get me started on those.