Parking Hell
I still haven’t gotten my parking sticker for Le Plateau. I’m petrified that when September 30th comes around I won’t have one. If that happens, I am SOL. So I called Accès Montréal yesterday and they claim it was mailed a few months ago. Huh. Never got it. So they will mail another one.
Which got me thinking, even though your licence plate is written on the sticker, a black-market sticker I bet would fetch a pretty penny. Maybe someone stole my sticker? Just try and park near my apartment say on a Thursday or Friday night when everyone is out eating at a local resto? It’s Hell on Earth!
If I had 10 cents for every time someone from outside of Montreal stares at those parking signs trying to figure out if they can park or not, I’d be rich.. almost rich enough to actually pay for another parking sticker.
Rule of thumb, if there is lots of space to park, you can’t park there.
If I happen to crash at my girlfriend’s who lives in the West Island and I drive early morning back to my place, do you think I can find a place to park? Even with my sticker it’s nuts. One morning I parked 3km’s from my place. So I’ve taken to taking the train back. No joke. Better for the environment and my nerves.
Main reason why I don’t want to own a car is because of the parking situation in the Plateau. Even with a sticker, it can be hard to find a spot if you get home after 7 at night. Good luck with that. Moving it twice a week from one side of the street to the other for the street cleaners or worse, clearing it after a storm in the winter to move it for the snow removers is a huge pain that I don’t really want to deal with for the odd time that I would need the car to go to IKEA. If I wanted to walk three blocks to go get my car, I would join CommunAuto. On the other hand, the bus stop is only a block away!
Oh ya, I forgot to mention about moving the car from one side to the other. The best part about November, is you no longer have to move it!
The irony of my car is that I only really use it to get to bike races and to go skiing. I’ve had it 3 years and it doesn’t even have 50K on it..
I’ve also heard great things about CommunAuto. If someone uses it, it would be a Fab story idea.
Justin,
Ever tried stripping one of those permits off a car (preferably your own)? At the end of the year perhaps? When selling it maybe?
I guess not. If you had you would *know* how difficult it is.
Oh ya, I strip mine off every year. I use a metal scraper for my cross country skis. Works rather well.. That, and lots of WD 40.
But if I was going to sell them, I’d sell them as soon as they arrive.. I wonder how hard they are to make. Hmmm… ;-)