Regina Construction III

[HomeInMyShoes]

The issue is that the lot sizes and development style are not appropriate to a car culture. There is a distinct disconnect between what we want people to be like and how they actually are. Stop building this way and figure out a way to design stuff properly to work with the concept that every house has 2.3 cars.

It's not rocket science as to why the issue exists. You don't build and suddenly people think "I could take public transit instead of having that second or third car." Not when there is negligible usable transit in the city in the first place.

[StealthGirl]

I'd like to the city tell the developers their street plan needs to include streets that are more than a two cars wide (including the parking lane). I have family in Harbour Landing. One side of the street has sidewalk, the other side does not. Residents park on the street and, especially in winter, the street is hard to get down. Hopefully no one ever needs an ambulance on those tiny roads.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Autonomous vehicles don't work well in winter climates where the lines on the road are not clearly visible and the street surface is not clearly visible. How are autonomous vehicles going to deal with our streets for four months of the year when two lanes become a lane and maybe two-thirds on a good day. The day when autonomous vehicles work in Regina is a long way off.

I ride public transit. To work every day, except when clients live off of bus routes or time does not permit when working with multiple clients. Which thankfully isn't very often. I love not having to park and getting to read and relax on the way, but then I am served by two bus routes and live within a distance to work that makes the bus ride no more than fifteen minutes. In that respect I am very much in the minority for access and usability of transit within Regina.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

I often use public transit and though improvements can always be made, I am happy with my experience. I think we need to force people to think long term more often than we do because our shortsighted behavior will end up costing us in the end. We do live in a car culture but it should not be enabled nor should we ignore the autonomous vehicle revolution coming in the next couple decades that will end up taking many vehicles off the road. Progress isn't just about changing our behavior, but adapting to the cultural and economic changes happening with or without us. Its about time our city gets in the forefront of these issues and not lag behind as usual.

I wish I was young and naive again...

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Would a new covered Transit Hub on the spot where the Rose Office Tower proposal was going to be be a good spot for them regarding all the transit funding from the federal government?

Something like this maybe...



or



or

[Stormer]

The future for Regina is not mass transit but autonomous car sharing. It will still be a massive upheaval.

[Draftsman]

Perhaps we should have a Regina transportation thread?

In the meantime, I will add that I gave up owning a car 15 years ago. I used to walk to work until my health wouldn't allow that. I have however used Regina Transit to go to and from work daily for the past 11 years and have no complaints other than the frequencies could be better on some routes. Unfortunately though, the number of riders on some routes doesn't make it possible to run more buses on them. I live on two bus routes, but one ends at supper time and the other has been reduced to once-an-hour in the evening, and even at that, ends at 9:00pm. To have better service we need more riders, but without riders, cuts are made, such as what I have experienced in my neighbourhood. Hopefully with the additional funding from the Feds they can do more than just build better maintenance facilities or hubs, but also make ridership more attractive.

[jigglysquishy]

Originally Posted by Stormer

The future for Regina is not mass transit but autonomous car sharing. It will still be a massive upheaval.

Disagree.

Autonomous vehicles won't fix the problem of single occupancy vehicles being incredibly space inefficient and road space being limited. Mass occupancy vehicles (autonomous or otherwise) is a neccessity. We're never going to widen Victoria Avenue downtown.

[pappcam]

Do people go to places besides work? Groceries? Movies with the family? Out for supper? Vacations? Trips to a friend or relative out of the city?

How will mass transit work or be more convenient in those situations? Vehicle ownership is not disappearing.

I'm not sure what sort of bubble some of you live in where you think anyone can magically get anywhere when they need to.

It would be nice to talk actual construction in here without looking down on everyone at the same time.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

Lol thanks for thinking 34 is young. Anyways, your age and irrelevance is sure showing with your ignorant comment. Hope I don't get that out of touch and boring when I am your age. I work in the tech sector and see how fast things move. My advice to you would be to try to keep up and not be left behind.

Don't worry. I understand what is relevant to you from your post history.

I'm far from "out of touch" with anything technical as I also work in the technical world but I'm also not out of touch with how the real world works.

[Festivus]

Originally Posted by jigglysquishy

Disagree.

Autonomous vehicles won't fix the problem of single occupancy vehicles being incredibly space inefficient and road space being limited. Mass occupancy vehicles (autonomous or otherwise) is a neccessity. We're never going to widen Victoria Avenue downtown.

Keep in mind that you don't need parking lanes with autonomous shared vehicles. They drop you off and then leave.

I do agree that larger multi-person vehicles like buses are better, but self-driving cars are still great if they are shared among the population.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by pappcam

Do people go to places besides work? Groceries? Movies with the family? Out for supper? Vacations? Trips to a friend or relative out of the city?

How will mass transit work or be more convenient in those situations? Vehicle ownership is not disappearing.

I'm not sure what sort of bubble some of you live in where you think anyone can magically get anywhere when they need to.

It would be nice to talk actual construction in here without looking down on everyone at the same time.

You're limited by your lack of imagination.

Think Uber + no driver. In the future there will basically be shuttles. So you book a vehicle and it will take you wherever you go. Personal ownership of vehicles will probably be limited to affluent.

Not to mention there will be driverless buses driving routes still.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

You're limited by your lack of imagination.

Think Uber + no driver. In the future there will basically be shuttles. So you book a vehicle and it will take you wherever you go. Personal ownership of vehicles will probably be limited to affluent.

Not to mention there will be driverless buses driving routes still.

I have an imagination but I don't pretend that all I imagine will actually happen. I don't see any current or even "on the horizon" technology that will deal with the conditions that we deal with in our climate and location. Battery technology hit a wall and is having trouble keeping pace with our world.

I hope that something can be done about the issues I think we're up against here but I'm not sure I'll see them in my lifetime.

[Festivus]

Originally Posted by pappcam

I have an imagination but I don't pretend that all I imagine will actually happen. I don't see any current or even "on the horizon" technology that will deal with the conditions that we deal with in our climate and location. Battery technology hit a wall and is having trouble keeping pace with our world.

I hope that something can be done about the issues I think we're up against here but I'm not sure I'll see them in my lifetime.

Have you seen the recent ranges that batteries are allowing cars to travel?

Tesla's Model S sedan has a range of 542km, and the ranges keep increasing each year.

Yes of course self-driving cars can't navigate our winter roads yet. But they couldn't do any roads 10 years ago. The tech is advancing rapidly, and it's something that will be solved. Human brains are just biological computers, and we will be able to design the same capabilities on silicon. AI-driven cars are already safer on dry roads than humans. Eventually they will be as safe on winter roads, and then safer.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by Festivus

Have you seen the recent ranges that batteries are allowing cars to travel?

Tesla's Model S sedan has a range of 542km, and the ranges keep increasing each year.

Yes of course self-driving cars can't navigate our winter roads yet. But they couldn't do any roads 10 years ago. The tech is advancing rapidly, and it's something that will be solved. Human brains are just biological computers, and we will be able to design the same capabilities on silicon. AI-driven cars are already safer on dry roads than humans. Eventually they will be as safe on winter roads, and then safer.

Is that the same as manufacturers estimated fuel economy? Is that in perfect climate conditions?

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Festivus

Have you seen the recent ranges that batteries are allowing cars to travel?

Tesla's Model S sedan has a range of 542km, and the ranges keep increasing each year.

Yes of course self-driving cars can't navigate our winter roads yet. But they couldn't do any roads 10 years ago. The tech is advancing rapidly, and it's something that will be solved. Human brains are just biological computers, and we will be able to design the same capabilities on silicon. AI-driven cars are already safer on dry roads than humans. Eventually they will be as safe on winter roads, and then safer.

And we'll end up like this;

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by pappcam

Is that the same as manufacturers estimated fuel economy? Is that in perfect climate conditions?

This article has interesting analysis of range loss in cold weather. It says it could be up to 25%. It does not say they tested it in Saskatchewan conditions (-35C) but I doubt it. I could see range being 40% less on the highway in SK on a cold winter's day. Internal combustion engines use waste heat form the engine to warm the cabin. Electric cars must use the battery.

https://www.teslarati.com/energy-saving-tips-tesla-subzero-weather-using-seat-heaters/

Edit: here is a guy in Calgary confirming the 40% range loss, but he still loves it, especially the instant heat.

I honestly can say my Tesla Model S is the best winter car I've had.
Pros:
Never worry about it "starting" (regardless of it being plugged in). At our family Christmas get together, 3 others couldn't start their car that day... Nice not having that worry!
Near instant heat - when it's -30 outside, it's nice to have warm air blowing on you right when you get into the car
Ability to remotely heat car - not much different than remote start, but coupled with the near instant heat, it doesn't take long to warm the interior right up and even melt the windows. This can be done from anywhere as it doesn't rely on radio waves like most car starters.
Related to both above points, a gas car is so inefficient at warning itself until you start driving. Not having to stand outside to fill with gas. My wife's gas car (until Model 3) ran out of fuel one time, because she didn't want to deal with the elements and tried to push it to make it home.
Great AWD system - no mechanical pieces to get in the way/slow things down
Even without AWD, my local friends tell me their RWD Tesla's do great
Tesla specific: autopilot - works "most" of the winter, and is so nice when traffic is backed up and slow due to an accident (put winter tires on people!)
Cons:
Range decrease - while the car isn't affected by wind chill, our temps have gotten very cold regardless. At -30 I'm losing about 40% of my range. I still have plenty for around town, or to travel where Superchargers exist, but doing road trips north or to rural Alberta would be a challenge right now. Tesla specific: the folding mirrors don't like our winters, they get stuck very easily.
I don't hear other EV owners having any other complaints in this weather either (per Electric Vehicle association of Alberta)

[StealthGirl]

Originally Posted by pappcam

Do people go to places besides work? Groceries? Movies with the family? Out for supper? Vacations? Trips to a friend or relative out of the city?

How will mass transit work or be more convenient in those situations? Vehicle ownership is not disappearing.

I'm not sure what sort of bubble some of you live in where you think anyone can magically get anywhere when they need to.

It would be nice to talk actual construction in here without looking down on everyone at the same time.

Living in my neighbourhood in the SE, it's a 40 minute trip to get downtown. That's a good chunk of time. For parents who have to drop off or pick up at daycare before/after work, that's not convenient. We have a car culture for a reason.

As for going out for supper or going to movies, it's a real time suck that nearly every bus route has to go through downtown. I live in the SE. If I want to go to a movie at Southland Mall, I'm not going to take the bus; that's a trip downtown and a transfer to go south.

Has anyone else read about REAL's plan for Evraz?

https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/real-searching-for-ideas-to-chart-future-of-evraz-place

[Stormer]

Interesting take on autonomous transport in today's Edmonton Journal.

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/elise-stolte-dont-let-a-broken-shuttle-fool-you-edmonton-risks-getting-blind-sided-by-self-driving-technology

[Festivus]

Originally Posted by Stormer

This article has interesting analysis of range loss in cold weather. It says it could be up to 25%. It does not say they tested it in Saskatchewan conditions (-35C) but I doubt it. I could see range being 40% less on the highway in SK on a cold winter's day. Internal combustion engines use waste heat form the engine to warm the cabin. Electric cars must use the battery.

https://www.teslarati.com/energy-saving-tips-tesla-subzero-weather-using-seat-heaters/

Edit: here is a guy in Calgary confirming the 40% range loss, but he still loves it, especially the instant heat.

Yeah there is definitely a range reduction in the winter. But there are positives that gas-powered cars don't have, like you mentioned.

In the end, I have no doubt that major automakers are going to leapfrog Tesla anyway as they have the mass-production capabilities to really improve on the technology. Not that Tesla is a slouch, the model 3 is the 5th top-most selling car in North America in 2018, behind the mainline models like Civic and Corolla. And while Tesla had some huge manufacturing issues in 2017, it looks like they've finally got around them and are pumping out thousands per month now.

I think it's possible that Telsa will eventually get left behind due to the size of the others, but even if that happens they will have done a really positive thing by pushing this tech forward.

We'll never get as good performance here in SK as in California, but if we're already getting ~300km per charge in the winter now after only a few years of production, imagine what the German or Japanese manufacturers will be putting out in 5 or 10 years.