Metro Suicides And No Green Love For Light Bulb

I don't get something. Suicides in metro systems - and it certainly is a complicated issue to examine -  in Canada take place more often than we care to admit and debate. It always befuddled me how we don't have protective gates in the Metro. It struck me as naive if not careless for the city to not block the platform. Another thing. Why don't the rail cars slow down instead of zooming in?

To both questions it comes down to: Cost and delays.

To which I would counter, it's money well spent to protect lives considering how much we waste on other projects. At least with this we can have a direct impact on people's lives. It's an easy thing to quantify. As to the delays, I'm sure people would be more than happy to forfeit 30, 60, 90 (whatever) extra seconds of their lives if it means keeping them safe.

Consider the opening of Dr. Mishara's thesis on the subject:

Objective: To understand the characteristics of persons who commit suicide in the Montreal subway system (the Montreal Metro), their personal and psychiatric histories, and the nature of the event in order to develop better prevention strategies.

Method: Systematic analysis of coroner’s office investigations of the 129 suicides in the Montreal Metro from 1986 to 1996.

Results: Of the 129 people who committed suicide, 81% had expressed a prior suicidal intention, 66% had previously attempted suicide, and 9% had attempted suicide in the metro. One hundred and five of the victims had serious mental health problems, most frequently depression; 73% had had inpatient psychiatric treatment, and at the time of death, 27% resided in a mental health treatment institution. Recent adverse life events included failed relationships, work problems, and family difficulties.

Conclusions: Suicide victims intentionally go to the metro to kill themselves, often tell others beforehand, and are generally in treatment for serious psychiatric problems. Possible prevention strategies include modification of the environment and procedures in the metro, changing public conceptions of metro suicides, and modifying practice in psychiatric facilities.

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Quebec should entertain other bids for the construction of new metro cars. I don't see why it should be otherwise. I further don't understand how Bombardier should get the contract outright; especially if we can do business with a company with lower costs associated. Doesn't it behoove us to seek out the best cost to quality offer? Or do we want to be like the Montreal Canadiens and be myopic by restricting who we hire and deal with?

Quebec is the only place in North America, possibly in the world, that operates on rubber tires as opposed to steel wheels. I'm not sure about the "environmental" viability of this seeing Quebec wants to go green. Moreover, isn't steel better and less costly to maintain over the long run? Anyone?

Tendering contracts for city metros can be a complicated process. Stever Munro does a good job describing it giving the reader some insights into it. I pulled out this comment from the blog:

RE: N. Clawson’s comment about the “durability” and “reliability” of the Vickers-built metro cars in Montreal.
Yes, it is quite a miracle that these original Vickers from 1966 are still (though not for long) serving dutifully as the backbone of Montreal’s metro system. But you seemed to have fogotten that over 1/2 of Montreal’s metro fleet are MR-73 built by Bombarider in 1974 – and these are much more preferred by Montrealers.
Also, Montreal being one of the few cities in the world that operate rubber-tired cars, a lot of effort were put into the system to prolong its service life.
Myself as an ex-Montrealer who used to ride the Green line (1966 Vickers) everyday and the Orange line (1974 Bombardier) on weekends, I can tell you that the TTC subway cars are much more comfortable and spacious than Montreal’s.
As for reliability, Montreal metros are known to breakdown often. Delays and shut-downs are common place in Montreal, and these inconveniences (minor or major) have become a part of the daily life of a metro user like myself.
As the saying goes, grass is always greener on the other side.

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I was at Canadian Tire today (insert commercial riff hear). I went to buy one of those "twirly, ener-saver" bulbs that are supposed to last nine years.

I brought the burnt bulb to make sure I purchased the right one - going to buy a simple 100w bulb is so 90s, you know? Nothing is more aggravating than buying the wrong light bulbs. It's like buying all the special ingredients for a gore-met meal and realizing you forgot to buy fucken salt; make that sea salt.

At the cash I asked the girl if she had a "poubelle" that's French for trash can for you illiterate hicks and hacks. She pointed me to three recycling cans. One yellow, one blue and the other black. I followed the picture instructions but didn't "twirly light bulbs" on any of them. So I went back and asked her which garbage can should I use. She glanced over and told me she didn't know.

Nice. Not even the effen staff knows. Shouldn't they be given a one day training course to know this stuff? Let's be green and lost. Together.

Green, red, fuscia - whatever - it all ends up in the same garbage heap I'm guessing. Reminds of the scene in The Simpsons when all the different varieties of Duff beer went through the same funnel and came out of one tube. Hilarious.

I took the bulb home and threw it in a Glad garbage bag. And that was that.