QdesS vacuum poubelles going nowhere
The famous high-tech garbage system for the Quartier des Spectacles is going nowhere, Complexe Desjardins having bowed out of the project even before they built it. Now the system has to terminate in a building that doesn’t exist yet.
Blork 10:04 on 2012/08/24 Permalink
They should terminate it at Mayor Tremblay’s office.
Ephraim 14:43 on 2012/08/24 Permalink
This system is a giant fiasco and just so ready to be abused. What happens if someone puts something nefarious into the system? Something on fire or worse. It whisks it under the streets to a building…. it just doesn’t sound like a safe idea.
Doobious 18:43 on 2012/08/24 Permalink
Same sort of screw up as the failure to acquire needed lands around the Dorval Circle before starting construction. You’d think the *occasional* head would roll when shit like this happens, but no. All we get is excuses.
steph 19:10 on 2012/08/24 Permalink
instead of naming a park after Tremblay, we should name this high-tech system after him. Is this a system that has been tested and tried in other cities or is it a Montreal innovation like bixie?
Kate 19:24 on 2012/08/24 Permalink
I’d had the impression it was a Scandinavian invention but La Presse says it’s of Spanish manufacture. No idea whether similar systems are yet in operation.
Chris 08:03 on 2012/08/25 Permalink
steph, bike-share systems like bixi are hardly a Montreal invention, they are in fact decades old: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_sharing_system#History
Kate 15:16 on 2012/08/25 Permalink
Chris, that is true, but we sort of reinvented the wheel by having a Quebec industrial designer produce the Bixi bicycle rather than putting in an order for Velib’ bikes or some other existing design.
As it turns out, it’s not the bicycles themselves that have been a thorn in the side for the international Bixi works, but the software that manages the system. I think there’s a story we haven’t yet been told about why Bixi fired their original programming company and have found themselves unable to install the New York City system because of programming issues.
Chris 16:35 on 2012/08/25 Permalink
Kate, while I appreciate the “reinvented the wheel” pun, I think it was more of a slight evolution than a reinvention, but, yes, I’m sure there is some untold story re the NYC installation… :(
Doobious 18:24 on 2012/08/25 Permalink
Does anybody know what the deal is behind the apparent falling out between Bixi and the 8D software people? It’s a shame they can’t seem to figure out how to get along, considering how the software running the Montreal system seems pretty much splendid.
mare 19:29 on 2012/08/25 Permalink
Bixi met a guy in a bar that said they could develop the same software for less, and didn’t want royalties. So 8D sues them at the superior court for copyright infringement. Bixi also found out that cheaper is not always better.
http://www.8d.com/content.php?section=news&subssection=release&id=39
Raymond Lutz 07:09 on 2012/08/27 Permalink
Any insiders around here knowing the amount 8D is asking for its solution? royalties for installed units, up front for initial deployement, etc… Maybe those were excessive…
The technical difficulties of such a project are on par with a final student project in engineering…
a team of good students can throw a bunch of boards and write a lot of glue code and voilà…
–The armchair engineer
and
Doobious 20:08 on 2012/08/27 Permalink
Thanks, mare. I’d be curious to hear Bixi’s side of the story too though. It’s really too bad they can’t seem to come to terms, as delays in rewriting the existing software are causing Bixi to lose face in the marketplace.
I think you’re oversimplifying the situation, Raymond. See the list of functions in the article mare linked.