There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada • Hacker News Board

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#391

Post by VVertigo » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

pbourke wrote: post #378

philistine wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for eloquently describing why Canada has chosen a different path than the USA. Banking, for example, is such a clear-cut case of competition not being detrimental for Canadians. For example, I've seen Americans laugh at Canadians on Reddit for not having the Cash app when our equivalent service is available directly from our banks (with a shitty UI, sure) and free. I pay my plumber with e-transfer and could…

> Banking, for example, is such a clear-cut case of competition not being detrimental for Canadians How much does the average Canadian pay per month for their chequing account?

There are a lot of free options: even more if you consider ones that require a minimum balance. The paid ones though are typically $10-15.

Where they really get you though is in service fees. If you overdraft or do any one of a myriad of options you can get hit with penalty fees. Basically you just have to treat the minimum balance as a hard zero.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#392

Post by swader999 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 1:55 AM UTC

Kluny wrote: post #389

swader999 wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still think it's two weeks max before those routes are passable with temporary measures even with unions.

I dunno, hope you know more about road engineering than I do. This is a section of the Coquihalla. https://www.instagram.com/p/CWWz8QCP4Mm/?utm_medium=copy_lin...

There's still a road to the left so that section is passsable almost immediately. They deal with mudslides and washouts fairly quickly most years. I realize though that some of these are more extensive than the past.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#393

Post by pbourke » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 1:56 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #236

lhorie wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, "boonies" might have been a bit of a callous choice of words. Reading more about it, it sounds like the folks at Abbotsford, Hope and surrounding areas are having a pretty lousy time right now.

To me the 'boonies' in Canada is west of Timmins, East of Wawa and North of Desbarats in Ontario, and anything North of Kamloops in BC. The roads in BC are very critical infrastructure, there aren't that many of them to begin with and there are a lot of choke points on the downslopes of mountain ranges where you have to pass through, unfortunately it looks as though that's where the road outages are. Canada is an ama…

> west of Timmins

Yep. Sudbury to Kenora is some lonely road with a few “no services next 150km” stretches

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#394

Post by Dylan16807 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:25 AM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #355

swader999 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That section in the Twitter link can be fixed fast is what I'm thinking but then I remember that B.C. is heavily unionized and my optimism fades.

How you managed to convert devastating footage of washed away bridges and roads into an attack on unionisation is something future historians are going to have to work very hard to explain.

It's just a chunk of freeway.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#395

Post by cmrdporcupine » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:29 AM UTC

pbourke wrote: post #393

jacquesm wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me the 'boonies' in Canada is west of Timmins, East of Wawa and North of Desbarats in Ontario, and anything North of Kamloops in BC. The roads in BC are very critical infrastructure, there aren't that many of them to begin with and there are a lot of choke points on the downslopes of mountain ranges where you have to pass through, unfortunately it looks as though that's where the road outages are. Canada is an ama…

> west of Timmins Yep. Sudbury to Kenora is some lonely road with a few “no services next 150km” stretches

When I was young and poor and crazy, I did the Greyhound trip to/from the GTA to the prairies a couple times and that is just the most insane stretch of highway ever, so mind boggling how long it takes.

Lakes and rocks and lakes and rocks and lakes and rocks and trees and rocks and lakes...

Sleeping pills, muscle relaxants, reading the entire Dune series from beginning to end, and waking up finding that you've fallen asleep and snuggled up to the nice old lady sitting next to you.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#396

Post by tjr225 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:29 AM UTC

iainctduncan wrote: post #312

lhorie wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I just found out about this literally from the link at the top of this page, a couple of hours ago. Not exactly enough time to become an expert in supply chain logistics in a province I don't even live in. I'm reading now that there's already some stress due to displacements from the Lytton fire earlier this year, and displacements from Abbotsford, Merritt, etc are not gonna help the situation. I'm still…

Look, it's not "roads blocked". We're not talking "move the dirt and it'll be ok". The roads are GONE. Bridges and huge sections of the most important highways are now rubble floating down rivers with nothing there anymore . This is in some of the most difficult terrain to rebuild in that you could have. People who know what they are talking about are saying we are short highways through the winter. Here's some chopp…

> City folks who think this was just some rain are nothing but evidence of how disconnected city people can become from the infrastructure on which they depend.

This is a really funny angle. I would think the city people are keen on how internationally connected they are as a coastal port city. Vancouver also has international access to the US. Vancouver can get goods from Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, San Diego, Alaska, Mexico, China, etc. Highways to the East and North being out won’t change this whatsoever.

Isn’t it the rural folks who live inland who are dependent on port cities and road infrastructure that goes over the passes going to be the most screwed? Which crops/goods are being shipped from central Canada to Vancouver during the winter months?

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#397

Post by Dylan16807 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:32 AM UTC

cf100clunk wrote: post #191

arcticbull wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dire in what way? Vancouver still has the YVR airport, a seaport, ferries, a downtown float plane airport and both road and rail access to the US. There will be some impact to prices, I imagine, while the road and rail links to the rest of Canada are rebuilt.

Dire for Merritt (evacuated), Princeton (under water), Hope (all highways closed or curtailed), Abbotsford (under water), Chilliwack (under water), Fernie (no highway access) and a host of other places on the mainland and on the Island that are vital transport, agricultural, forestry, tourism, and mining centres. You mentioned prices, so scale it up to international economics level.

zaptheimpaler specifically said they were talking about the reporting on Vancouver, not elsewhere.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#398

Post by ianai » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

macromagnon wrote: post #383

megablast wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep driving your car, pretending you’re not destroying the planet.

Transportation accounts for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions [1] and that includes rail/air/marine travel so it doesn't seem to be as simple as getting people out of their cars. [1] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emiss...

Probably a better metric for us average people is to ask what produces most of our personal emissions. Yes, won’t correct the problem. But will give people a sense of agency instead of yet another way to feel helpless. It’s going to take an “all of the above, all hands on deck” response.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#399

Post by katbyte » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:54 AM UTC

VVertigo wrote: post #391

pbourke wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Banking, for example, is such a clear-cut case of competition not being detrimental for Canadians How much does the average Canadian pay per month for their chequing account?

There are a lot of free options: even more if you consider ones that require a minimum balance. The paid ones though are typically $10-15. Where they really get you though is in service fees. If you overdraft or do any one of a myriad of options you can get hit with penalty fees. Basically you just have to treat the minimum balance as a hard zero.

You can be pre approved for over draft and pay no fees

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#400

Post by jrace » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:56 AM UTC

I live inthe interior, about 5hrs from Vancouver, and we are only cut off from Vancouver and Calgary...but our grocery stores are now out\very low on vegetable and dairy.

I suspect some panic buying, but very sobering to see how fragile our food delivery system is.