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Try to get around the Montreal subway on a wheelchair or pushing a stroller. You can't. There are multiple flights of stairs to get anywhere. Accessibility has

Try to get around the Montreal subway on a wheelchair or pushing a stroller. You can't. There are multiple flights of stairs to get anywhere. Accessibility has not yet been discovered there. There are no old people on the Montreal subway for some reason?

simlevesque 3y ago
There are elevators. They are being retro-fitted and sometines it's not simple at all to add them but they exist. > They are located in 25 metro stations. https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess
- orangepurple 3y ago
  That's a good start but if you're old or with multiple young children it requires careful planning. I drive into the city with my family rather than trying to remember exactly which stations I won't be trapped in.
  - hyperbovine 3y ago
    If you’re old or have young kids life already requires careful planning.
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      No reason to avoid adding to the scope and complexity of that planning, then?
  - jszymborski 3y ago
    That sounds stressful. Just an FYI for your next trip, every metro map has a little symbol indicating whether a station has an elevator.
  - sottol 3y ago
    Babybjörn or similar carrier and a backpack for accoutrements is imo often superior to a stroller once your young one can sit up.
    - orangepurple 3y ago
      I agree but if you have 3 under 5 one of them is bound to get tired and spontaneously turn to jello
euroderf 3y ago
FWIW retrofitting is difficult in Berlin too, so they make a point of indicating which stations (fewer than half) are accessible.
jszymborski 3y ago
Accesibility is certainly not where it needs to be for our metro, and elevators at every station is long overdue. That said, the STM _has_ been installing elevators, and currently 25 stations have elevators, which is a lot more than even a few years ago [0]. Five additional stations are under construction [1]. [0] https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess [1] https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-metro-projects/universal-accessibility https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-metro-pro...
thriftwy 3y ago
I wonder if it is cheaper to buy every disabled person an Uber pass than refit large subway systems to make them accessible.
- asvitkine 3y ago
  That doesn't solve things for strollers... (Hint: you also need a car seat in the car for the baby.)
  - sottol 3y ago
    See above, 95% of parents could use an on-body carrier. Baby in the carrier and older kids walk, they'll drag your speed down a bit but you'd probably not stroller for hours on end. Plus you don't need that huge SUV to fit that stroller and awkwardly park it in the entrance of restaurants and so on.
    - hotnfresh 3y ago
      My wife and I always marvel at how much shit other parents carry. I don’t get it at all. Why make things harder than they need to be? We rarely used a stroller except when our kids were quite young and we were gonna do a lot of walking. Like at the zoo or something. Then, we’d use a cheap little light stroller, not one of those giant monster cargo ones most people have. On-body carriers were better in other cases. And when they could walk, we made them walk, frequently, to get them used to it, carrying less and less over time. If I went out solo with a young kid, I usually could fit everything I needed for 3-4 hours away in my pockets, easily. We had the usual giant diaper bag with the first kid but rarely used it, and I think we got rid of it before having more kids and didn’t replace it. There was just no need. IDK what all these parents are carrying around in their cargo-strollers and 20 gallon diaper bags. Kids can travel really light if you’re only gonna be out during the day.
      - hylaride 3y ago
        I live in a central city without a car. Our stroller was used for carrying groceries and getting our daughter to/from daycare in a reasonable amount of time. But our sole focus deciding on the stroller was good storage for grocery runs and otherwise compact enough to use on dense city sidewalks or lug down the subway. I too scratched my head when suburbanites brought out their huge strollers from their huge cars/SUVs and essentially lounged at their destinations.

simlevesque 3y ago

There are elevators. They are being retro-fitted and sometines it's not simple at all to add them but they exist. > They are located in 25 metro stations. https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess

orangepurple 3y ago
That's a good start but if you're old or with multiple young children it requires careful planning. I drive into the city with my family rather than trying to remember exactly which stations I won't be trapped in.
- hyperbovine 3y ago
  If you’re old or have young kids life already requires careful planning.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    No reason to avoid adding to the scope and complexity of that planning, then?
- jszymborski 3y ago
  That sounds stressful. Just an FYI for your next trip, every metro map has a little symbol indicating whether a station has an elevator.
- sottol 3y ago
  Babybjörn or similar carrier and a backpack for accoutrements is imo often superior to a stroller once your young one can sit up.
  - orangepurple 3y ago
    I agree but if you have 3 under 5 one of them is bound to get tired and spontaneously turn to jello

euroderf 3y ago

FWIW retrofitting is difficult in Berlin too, so they make a point of indicating which stations (fewer than half) are accessible.

jszymborski 3y ago

Accesibility is certainly not where it needs to be for our metro, and elevators at every station is long overdue. That said, the STM _has_ been installing elevators, and currently 25 stations have elevators, which is a lot more than even a few years ago [0]. Five additional stations are under construction [1]. [0] https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess https://www.stm.info/en/elevatoraccess [1] https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-metro-projects/universal-accessibility https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-metro-pro...

thriftwy 3y ago

I wonder if it is cheaper to buy every disabled person an Uber pass than refit large subway systems to make them accessible.

asvitkine 3y ago
That doesn't solve things for strollers... (Hint: you also need a car seat in the car for the baby.)
- sottol 3y ago
  See above, 95% of parents could use an on-body carrier. Baby in the carrier and older kids walk, they'll drag your speed down a bit but you'd probably not stroller for hours on end. Plus you don't need that huge SUV to fit that stroller and awkwardly park it in the entrance of restaurants and so on.
  - hotnfresh 3y ago
    My wife and I always marvel at how much shit other parents carry. I don’t get it at all. Why make things harder than they need to be? We rarely used a stroller except when our kids were quite young and we were gonna do a lot of walking. Like at the zoo or something. Then, we’d use a cheap little light stroller, not one of those giant monster cargo ones most people have. On-body carriers were better in other cases. And when they could walk, we made them walk, frequently, to get them used to it, carrying less and less over time. If I went out solo with a young kid, I usually could fit everything I needed for 3-4 hours away in my pockets, easily. We had the usual giant diaper bag with the first kid but rarely used it, and I think we got rid of it before having more kids and didn’t replace it. There was just no need. IDK what all these parents are carrying around in their cargo-strollers and 20 gallon diaper bags. Kids can travel really light if you’re only gonna be out during the day.
    - hylaride 3y ago
      I live in a central city without a car. Our stroller was used for carrying groceries and getting our daughter to/from daycare in a reasonable amount of time. But our sole focus deciding on the stroller was good storage for grocery runs and otherwise compact enough to use on dense city sidewalks or lug down the subway. I too scratched my head when suburbanites brought out their huge strollers from their huge cars/SUVs and essentially lounged at their destinations.