[St. John's] Transport development (Highways, Airport, and Public Transit)

[statbass]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

BOO!!!!! they even point out that the transit system is part of the problem! TIME TO FIX IT!

St. John's Tied as Drunk Driving Capital of Canada

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=41977&latest=1

One bright side to this report is that, hopefully, this will kick start a proactive approach to reduce drunk driving rates in the city and in the interim improve our public transit system. Public awareness plays a big role in this as well - for whatever reason people here rationalize (I use that term very loosely) that they didn't have enough to drink to impair their driving. We need to look at other jurisdictions to see how to improve this. This is definitely a black-eye on the region.

[jeddy1989]

I was wondering too, if maybe this had to do with a huge crack down that has been happening on DUIs here. They will be going on what information police give them and the police are doing a good job IMO. Still needs to be curbed though.

[statbass]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

I was wondering too, if maybe this had to do with a huge crack down that has been happening on DUIs here. They will be going on what information police give them and the police are doing a good job IMO. Still needs to be curbed though.

Good point - there is reason to believe a silver lining exists in this story. I guess it all boils down to what side of the fence your on. Some activist groups may look at this from a negative persepective while, say, government could swing it in the other direction. Ah, the power of political persuasion....

[Chew]

Yeah, the DUIs can be looked at either as a huge problem that's increasing or a problem that is steady or declining and seeing more of the offending drivers getting caught.

Accidents involving impaired drivers is probably a much more relevant statistic.

[mrjanejacobs]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/20...3Bs-boosts-Metrobus-subsidy-by-%242.5M/1

Asked about the St. John’s Board of Trade’s call for a regional transit strategy, Hann noted he’s been calling for such a plan for the past four years.

Pft.

On the topic of the new West Jet route from St.John's to Dublin. One word: Ryanair. Based out of Dublin, they're one of the cheapest budget airlines in the world. I flew from Brussels to Dublin once for 24$, all in.

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by mrjanejacobs

Pft.

On the topic of the new West Jet route from St.John's to Dublin. One word: Ryanair. Based out of Dublin, they're one of the cheapest budget airlines in the world. I flew from Brussels to Dublin once for 24$, all in.

You didn't pay the extra $5 for a seat?

Ron.

[mrjanejacobs]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

You didn't pay the extra $5 for a seat?

Ron.

I had a perfectly acceptable seat, surprisingly. They survive by redefining efficiencies and throwing customer service out the window. Though they never guarantee customer service, so no one is angry when they don't get it. They'll charge you if you are late for boarding, if you don't have your boarding pass printed when you arrive, if your bag is 1lb over and they only fly to suburban airports outside major cities. But whatever, if you avoid all penalty charges in the terms and conditions, you can fly across the European continent for pennies!

[statbass]

Originally Posted by mrjanejacobs

I had a perfectly acceptable seat, surprisingly. They survive by redefining efficiencies and throwing customer service out the window. Though they never guarantee customer service, so no one is angry when they don't get it. They'll charge you if you are late for boarding, if you don't have your boarding pass printed when you arrive, if your bag is 1lb over and they only fly to suburban airports outside major cities. But whatever, if you avoid all penalty charges in the terms and conditions, you can fly across the European continent for pennies!

There is another airline is the US that uses the same business model, I believe they're called Spirit Airlines. Baseline charges are low - seat plus 2 bags of luggage. But if you want more services (e.g. meal, entertainment, etc.) you pay extra. So it's basically build your own flight, it tailors to the specific flyer. Pretty lucrative model if you ask me. I wish something like that existed here in Canada.

[jeddy1989]

New Parking Meters for St. John's

The city of St. John's will spend the next couple of weeks installing new parking meters. The process has already begun at Churchill Square. The digital meters include credit card and park card options and also take coins. In 2012, the city announced it would have to replace over 1,000 of its meters because the new lighter weight coins didn't work in them. It was pegged at that time to cost around $300,000.

Councillor Bernard Davis says the meters were designed so they won't have to be replaced with the development of new coins.

Those currently using park cards will need to get new ones, Davis says it comes at no extra charge.

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=42316&latest=1

[mrjanejacobs]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

New Parking Meters for St. John's


http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=42316&latest=1

The new meters are still pretty outdated compared to the meters in use in downtowns across the country.

[jeddy1989]

This was posted in the Canada section:

Originally Posted by ThisIsJustePourDire

Hello Everybody!
While I was on John Hearn Architects website, I found the renderings for the St. John's International Airport. I live in St. John's and I am very excited about this expansion

Here are the renderings
http://www.jharchitect.ca/airport2-1.htm

Enjoy!
Patrick

Looks great When it's done it wont look like an extension, It will look like the whole building was built the one time. nice to see it expanding.







It's actually quite an extension!



Now:

[Marty_Mcfly]

It's a huge expansion indeed, I really can't wait for it to begin and be done.

Also not sure if I've ever seen ThisIsJustePourDire post here before...if he hasn't I hope he reads this so I can encourage you to jump into our conversations more often

[Townie709]

It really does double the size of the current airport! Looks like it might put us on par with Halifax Stanfield in terms of size. It's a huge expansion, and judging on current trends in tourism as well as westjet testing the waters of European expansion, it's necessary too! Here's to hoping he plan allows for a permanent customs area so we can entertain more international flights without having to close off half the baggage drop area

Looking forward to this over the next few years! Thanks, ThisIsJustePourDire! Please join us over here it he St. John's section sometime! We can always use an extra voice to keep this place alive!

[statbass]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

It's a huge expansion indeed, I really can't wait for it to begin and be done.

Also not sure if I've ever seen ThisIsJustePourDire post here before...if he hasn't I hope he reads this so I can encourage you to jump into our conversations more often

I've noticed the name on our local threads before, so she/he does contribute to our discussions. With what frequency I'm not entirely sure.....

[ThisIsJustePourDire]

Originally Posted by Townie709

It really does double the size of the current airport! Looks like it might put us on par with Halifax Stanfield in terms of size. It's a huge expansion, and judging on current trends in tourism as well as westjet testing the waters of European expansion, it's necessary too! Here's to hoping he plan allows for a permanent customs area so we can entertain more international flights without having to close off half the baggage drop area

Looking forward to this over the next few years! Thanks, ThisIsJustePourDire! Please join us over here it he St. John's section sometime! We can always use an extra voice to keep this place alive!

Hello! I have been following along ever since October but I have never really has anything to say. I live in St. John's in Southlands and I'm 13 years old.
Ill post some pics of the new Southlands Community Centre soon!

Thanks,
Patrick

[crackiedog]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

It's a huge expansion indeed, I really can't wait for it to begin and be done.

Also not sure if I've ever seen ThisIsJustePourDire post here before...if he hasn't I hope he reads this so I can encourage you to jump into our conversations more often

My question is, why couldn't they have built it to this size when they did the last expansion. The last expansion occurred what, about 13,14 years ago? It should have been expanded to what they want to do now, at that time. Where is the forward thinking? Same thing is happening with the convention center expansion being constructed right now.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by crackiedog

My question is, why couldn't they have built it to this size when they did the last expansion. The last expansion occurred what, about 13,14 years ago? It should have been expanded to what they want to do now, at that time. Where is the forward thinking? Same thing is happening with the convention center expansion being constructed right now.

They've stated why... 13 14 years ago the projected growth of the economy and of airport traffic was much much lower. A lot has changed since the 20 years ago when they would have gotten the data for the previous expansion...

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by crackiedog

My question is, why couldn't they have built it to this size when they did the last expansion. The last expansion occurred what, about 13,14 years ago? It should have been expanded to what they want to do now, at that time. Where is the forward thinking? Same thing is happening with the convention center expansion being constructed right now.

I agree, to an extent.

The Hibernia project got moving in the spring of 1990, numerous other discoveries poured in over the following years. Everyone knew what was coming.

The airport, Mile One, the convention centre... everything was too small. The boom was well underway when the airport was expanded, and more should have been done then.

I mean, the Atlantic Accord was already in the works at the time.

There's a bad habit here of building first and asking questions later. Just fill in subdivision after subdivision and, you know, maybe in 20 years we'll be big enough to have proper bus service. That's not how it should be done.

And always underestimating ourselves and building too small is just another symptom of that... lack of regional planning and optimism.

[Horsell]

Building big on speculation isn't always a good business decision however a bit of forward thinking and planning could go a long way.

In the case of the airport I think the possibility of expansion was built into the original design but what I see from the above renders is that when the extension does take place you are going to see a fair bit of tear up of the existing building, similar to what we are seeing with the convention centre.

Mile One Centre could have been better planned to allow for expansion if conditions changed but it doesn't look like that would be possible now with the way it is configured. The IceCaps sure would like another couple of thousand seats.

The bottom line in many things we see around here is that there is no vision of the future and what "could be". Planning is a joke at best.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Horsell

Building big on speculation isn't always a good business decision however a bit of forward thinking and planning could go a long way.

In the case of the airport I think the possibility of expansion was built into the original design but what I see from the above renders is that when the extension does take place you are going to see a fair bit of tear up of the existing building, similar to what we are seeing with the convention centre.

Mile One Centre could have been better planned to allow for expansion if conditions changed but it doesn't look like that would be possible now with the way it is configured. The IceCaps sure would like another couple of thousand seats.

The bottom line in many things we see around here is that there is no vision of the future and what "could be". Planning is a joke at best.

Exactly... this IS a part of their plan... they designed it so we could expand the airport when we got to that point, it just so happens that it happened faster than predicted and now we're there ... and they are just continuing with THE PLAN because they PLANNED for this LOL

The convention centre on the other hand is a different story, they didn't own the land and it was difficult for the planners to figure out how to connect to the current design and it is most definitely being built too small and where would they expand from here?