Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues, lifehacking | Tags: advertising, conservation, cost benefit, cost to consumer, decluttering, effectiveness, environmental, flyer, GTD, improvement, incremental improvement, learning, lifehacking, money, newspaper, recycling, save money, social responsibility, sustainable living, tips, waste
I don’t like clutter. I know advertising works (which explains the billions spent on it) the question is… Why would I subject myself to advertising and allow my house to be cluttered just to give someone else my money?
Four times a week we receive a community newspaper. Now the paper is mostly ads, advertisements, paid advertising and ads. There are relevant local articles, but it hardly seems worth the “filtering” to get to the content. Out of 40 printed pages, I’d guess 4 or less actually contain news. Now I don’t believe in mindlessly reading advertisements (and don’t know anyone who will admit to this), but I must admit my relationship to the printed newspapers that appear on my mailbox has been undergoing a transformation.
I was curious what the impact was on my time and on the environment to handle all the paper associated with the unsolicited flyers and community newspapers I receive. To try and estimate the impact on my city, I’m assuming everyone in town does exactly what I do, and I’m believing the newspaper’s circulation figures (averaged to 40,000 per paper) which I found on the Internet. You will see some high dollar figures here, and this is because the cost to consumers is generally left out of the equation and ignored… Retailers don’t incur that cost, it is the consumer’s problem, so why would anyone bother to track or estimate that cost… This is only a rough but fair estimate. Now I’d love to make this more accurate, so if you take issue with the numbers, do us all a favour and contribute some research. Here is the transformation in chronological order:
Handling Flyers and community newspapers (original version 1.0)
Initially we would bring the paper in, sort through the flyers “in case there was something good there”, and put the papers on the coffee table to be read. Then I would flip from front to back through the paper making sure I didn’t “miss anything. So including all the “handling time” bringing in the paper, reading through it. Picking it up off the floor after the small children decorated the room with it. Recycling it. I probably spent 30 minutes per paper and ended up skipping half of the papers completely. The time spent “reading the paper” was time I didn’t spend with my kids etc, so I’m going to think of that cost to me as $20/hour for my like many people earn. The 150 grams estimated weight of the paper is based on Canada Post’s “weight restriction” for mailing community newspapers (mine is probably larger) and 37 grams of flyers. So 150 grams 4 times a week is 0.6 Kg per week or 31.2 Kg per year.
- My yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 52 hours $1040
- My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 31.2Kgs (68.8 lbs)
- My city’s yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 2,080,000 hours $41,600,000 (this is the cost of consumer’s time!)
- My city’s papers and flyers sent to recycling: 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs)
Handling Flyers and community newspapers (updated version 2.0)
Then I recognized the time I was spending “tidying up” these papers all over our living space and I wanted to get the papers re-routed to recycling at the earliest point possible. What I would do is “intentionaly” sit down and skim the newspaper articles for 5 minutes, if there was relevant content I save the paper for my wife and tell her what is worth reading, if not, I recycle it and all of the flyers stuffed inside before the paper even makes it up the stairs to our living space. (Sorry advertisers, your advertising budget was not effectively spent). But this skimming is still an interesting activity to me, I’m not doing it because I am (at that moment) interested in reading the paper or learning something specific, I’m “reacting” to the newspaper being delivered to my door. I’m voluntarily spending at least 20 minutes per week filtering out advertisements…. Hmm, how is it that someone else is “making me” spend time reading their paper…. That wasn’t my idea. Hey I could have used that time for something I WANTED to do.
- My yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 17 hours $340 <reduced>
- My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 31.2Kgs (68.8 lbs) <No change>
- My city’s yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 680,000 hours $13,600,000 <reduced>
- My city’s papers and flyers sent to recycling: 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs) <No change>
Handling Flyers and community newspapers (New Era version 3.0)
So I noticed that when those friendly guys from the “Globe and Mail” would call, I would answer. ”Not really interested, I use the Internet.” and they would simply drop it and let me go with no more “sales”… hmmm.. Maybe I could just use the Internet and replace my local community paper… So I testsed this. What I could find online (in several locations) had all the information with much less advertising. In many cases it offered more than the news (videos and such). I bravely asked my wife what she thought and when I learned that she really didn’t use those grocery store flyers I’d been saving for years, our course was set. We put a “No Flyers or Newspapers” sign on our mailbox and suddenly our house is neater, our recycling is lighter, and I’m facing much less temptation to purchase things I would not have otherwise purchased. I’m estimating that I only spend 15 minutes per month looking for local news and information. Only God knows the value of the “impulse purchases” I’m not making.
- My yearly time spent not “handling” newspapers and flyers: 3 hours $60 (Internet time) <reduced>
- My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 0 Kgs (0 lbs) <reduced>
- My city’s residents potential yearly time spent not “handling” newspapers and flyers: 120,000 hours $2,400,000 <reduced>
- My city’s could potentially save 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs) of paper from going to recycling (or worse) <Join Me! It’s free!>
Adding back “The Internet”
Sure there is time spent on the Internet to find local information, but I don’t think it is the same as putting a paper on your doorstep. I think that when someone is actually pursuing information, and not just having it “forced” on them, they are able to dig deeper and learn more. Sure I will likely look up some local events using the Internet, maybe 15 minutes per month when I NEED to know something specific. But that is one of the major points I’m making. Newspaper delivery was someone else’s idea that consumed my time and wasted paper.
Other Resources for breaking your flyer addiction
- I liked the vision expressed by http://www.reddotcampaign.ca
We are fortunate to live in abundance where one of our major issues is TOO MUCH STUFF! And to keep us buying more, Canadians are inundated with $19 Billion worth of advertising each year. If the old adage is true, “half of all marketing works great, if only we knew which half“ why don’t advertisers spend more resources understanding which half works and spend the other half supporting community?
- Another small but useful site is: http://www.iwilltry.org/w/index.php?title=Flyers_against_flyers_campaign which advocates convincing your neighbours to join you in giving up flyers. They had some great images you could print out and tape to your mailbox (download the originals from their site).
- The Canadian national “Do Not Call List” operated by the government of Canada promises to reduce phone based solicitation. https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/
- The “Canadian Marketing Association has a “Do not Contact Service” designed to get your name on a list their members might check before sending out mailed advertisements. http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=47|K=224217
- A ?grassroots? attempt to produce a better “do not call list” http://www.ioptout.ca/ trys to overcome limitations with the “Do Not Call List” (charities are not restricted etc).
(Use the comments to evaluate the usefulness of these links).
Please comment to let me know what you think of all this. Do you have paper taming tricks? ways to find local information that work for you? Would you consider joining me with a simple “no flyers or newspapers” sign on your mailbox? Why or why not?
Cheers,
Greg
Filed under: Quality, Excellence & Design | Tags: clearance, freeway, government, improvement, incremental improvement, overheight detection, overpass, planning, prevention, quality, safety, social responsibility, traffic
This was a blog post that was going to start out as criticism, but as time has progressed, the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation has addressed the problem admirably and taken the wind out of those critical sails, so you will get to hear the story of what they did to improve the quality of one of BC’s freeway overpasses to prevent accidents and protect infrastructure.
The story
In the 1960s, the overpasses above Highway 1 were built to similar design and varying clearance. Perhaps in those days it was inconceivable that trucks would stretch 4.4 Meters (almost 15 feet) into the air, or perhaps years of additional paving shaved inches off of that clearance. Whatever the case, we find clearance signs with various “heights” recorded on most of the overpasses East of Vancouver 4.6 Meters being the most common I’ve observed.
Overpass Clearance (one of many)
Overpass clearance - 2
Overpass clearance - 3
Year before last, some surprised trucker plowed into the Glover Road freeway overpass Eastbound on Highway 1 in Langley. That particular overpass was a little lower than some of the others, so conceivably he might have driven quite some way before having his big rig stopped (the hard way). The damage to the overpass was significant enough that traffic on Glover Road was reduced to 1 way alternating traffic for the several months it took for repairs.
I’m sure someone in the Ministry of Transportation thought “Wow, that was shocking, that guy’s truck just hit the overpass. Hope that doesn’t happen again…”
Last year, another surprised trucker plowed into the same Glover Road overpass. Same damage, same road closure with alternating traffic. The repairs made one side of the overpass solid, presumably to lend additional strength to the bridge (under siege). Since that second repair, there have been additional precautions taken, which together have formed a system to try and prevent this from happening again.
Overpass under siege (repaired again)
Preventing the collisions
First there were 2 signs positioned further up the road on either side which re-stated the clearance information printed on the bridge. With advance warning a trucker could conceivably stop before hitting the bridge. The signs used bright contrasting colours to draw attention.
Bright clearance signs (with enough room to stop)
Next, a bunch of yellow and black reflective signs were added to the bridge to draw attention to the bridge.
So if a trucker was overheight, knew he was overheight, read the signs, did the math and stopped in time he could avoid hitting the bridge. But what if he didn’t know he was overheight?
A series of bright yellow warning / informational signs were deployed, starting with a sign warning trucks to use the right lane for the overheight detection system.
Truckers Keep Right for overheight detection system
Then the overheight detection system which triggers a flashing overhead sign that would warn when a truck was overheight.
Glover Road Overheight detection system uses beams (of light) when interupted, flashing signals are triggered.
When flashing give that overheight truck that isn't stopping lots of room
Then a small pull-out was built where trucks could pull off the freeway to check their loads. It had a large bright yellow “pull-out” sign for easy identification, and a series of bright yellow signs warning that the pullout was approaching. At the pullout there is an informational sign intended for those who have used the pull-out (my eyes are good, but at 100km/h that font is too small even for me 
)
overheight truck pullout ahead
overheight truck pullout ahead (getting closer)
overheight truck pullout NOW! (no seriously, NOW)
So now overheight trucks can be detected and “flashed”, and there is an illuminated pullout available for these trucks. Assuming that works and the driver notices he is overheight, this challenge remains for a driver who is overheight. He either needs to back up the freeway for 2-3 miles, or he needs a crane to unload him so he can drive underneath the bridge.
Now the Ministry has added a “detour route” informational sign West of the 200th street interchange in the same bright yellow colour, warning drivers of overheight vehicles to detour off of the freeway.
Good job guys, hopefully we don’t see another accident at that freeway overpass like the last two.
The unmeasured cost
Glover road was reduced to single lane alternating traffic next to a university on the main road leading from Langley to the Albion ferry crossing (on the Fraser river). Thousands of people had to wait each day while traffic changed direction to cross the freeway. This took them away from their families, their jobs, their volunteer engagements. This time was simply lost. Add to that unmeasured cost, the construction costs and the real cost of not putting signage up after the first incident becomes more apparent. The albion ferry is reported to have moved about 4,500 people per day, so this number would be reasonable for forming an estimate. Assuming a 1 minute delay for 4500 cars per day for 180 days (2 years 3 months out of service each year), with commuters earning $25/hour, the inconvenience could have cost citizens. $337,500 over 2 years. That number will never appear in a government balance sheet, but it is a cost that was paid by citizens, and it is a cost we may be able to avoid paying in the future thanks to the improvements brought by the Ministry of Transportation.
Traffic congestion HWY 1 Eastbound
I find it ironic that the train bridge overpass to the East of Glover Road (bearing scars from previous impacts) is even lower… We’ll wait and see if that has been taken into account.
The "even lower" railway overpass to the East (notice the repairs from past collisions...)
Cheers,
Greg
Filed under: Quality, Excellence & Design | Tags: bad design, card swipe, door, effectiveness, excellence, Good design, handle, incremental improvement, label, magnetic strip, pull, push, quality
Things are designed for their beauty, their cost, their useability and sometimes just for fun. It is surprising how often we come across things that seem badly designed given the possibility for greatness in design.
At my work we have all struggled to use our very beautiful entry doors. They are polished and shiny with hidden hinges. They are completely symetrical, so that from either side of the door, the door appears the same. So we are all pushing and pulling when we should be pulling and pushing. I expect some designer won an award for the doors, but it wouldn’t be a useability award. Here they are:
My co-worker tackled the challenging doors with an office labeler and some discretely placed hints that have so far not been disturbed by the interior design police.
Sometimes the ingenious methods people come up with to deal with bad design are as enjoyable as good design would be. How many cents did it take to solve the design problem. 5?
In this next photo, can you spot the problem with the card swipe instructions here:
Thats right, the diagram adjacent to the cardswipe indicates that the magnetic strip needs to be on the left… BUT in the digital image on the right, the orange screen clearly displays the magnetic strip on the right. Left? or Right? Well I assumed the hardware was more closely tied to the diagram attached to it and believed the diagram. ”wrong!” It was the digital image on the orange screen that got it right.
Now how many thousands of dollars go into deploying something like a gas pump, and how many people reviewed the design etc. before it got to me the customer. (And how many thousands of people a year have to re-swipe their card because of this bad design?)
I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did, I’ll post more as I find them, so be sure to check back.
Cheers,
Greg.
Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: british columbia, effectiveness, election, environmental, First Past The Post, government, green party, improvement, liberal, may 12th election, moral, NDP, planning, prevention, proportional representation, provincial, social responsibility, stv, sustainable living, vote
We are in the last days going into the May 12th provincial election here in BC.
I thought I’d share some final thoughts…
Vote Here (flickr credit: myJon)
If you care about the environment, and have concerns about the unbalanced power held by corporations, especially in light of what appears to be the Liberal agenda to sell out public infrastructure / legacies to corporations, then you should definately watch the video here: http://www.callingfromthecoast.com
In the last election I Did not vote Liberal because they basically said “You don’t want the dishonest NDP do you?”, and I didn’t vote NDP because they basically said “We hate everything the Liberals stand for”, so I voted Green because they spoke of a triple bottom line of Economic, Ecological and social responsibility. It was the freshest thing I had heard in Canadian politics since the Reform party was formed.
This election, I think I must stop the Liberals who seem to want to sell everything they can to greedy corporations. BC-rail, BC-Hydro transmission, BC-Gas, BC-Tel… “What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?” There is more to life and government than money. Much more. Justice, compassion, vision, planning, responsibility, leadership, inovation. Money? come on some of the things being sold are irreplacible.
I’m not impressed with the green party this election, because our local candidate keeps mentioning the legalization of marajuana on par with other issues. Serious hit to your credibility guys. THAT green agenda is something entirely different than the one I’m concerned with.
This leaves me with the NDP. I don’t think their record is much worse than the Liberals, and when I look at the Millenium line and much of the provincial land reserves, the NDP deserve full credit.
The only thing I’m excited about this election is the STV, the “BC-STV” to be precise. After researching it, I’ve now blogged about BC-STV here, and here.
BC-STV in 3 easy steps. (video)
1. At the polling station you mark your choices 1,2,3,4…. instead of marking an X by only one candidate.
2. Your riding or electoral district is joined with others to contain more than one MLA. (same total number of MLAs)
3. Your vote goes to your first choice. If there is a surplus of votes for that candidate, or if that candidate is eliminated, then your second choice comes into play (and so on). Your vote goes farther. The BC Citizens Assembly on electoral reform explains this in detail in their website. Read their PDF “how the votes are counted”
BC-STV gives British Columbia the opportunity to have proportional representation in the legislature. It will likely weaken the “2 party pendulum effect” we have been seeing where policy swings far to the left and far to the right. This should lead to more moderate and stable government policy. This should reduce the party rhetoric because MLAs are going to have to work WITH each other.
By the way “The Corporation” is pretty much required viewing if you want to be informed about the world around you. Check out the copy at your local library.
Cheers friends, make me proud, vote for BC-STV and give that first video a watch.
Greg.
Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues, lifehacking | Tags: cost benefit, environmental, free, lifehacking, money, save money, social responsibility, sustainable living, tips
I’m going to let you in on a little secret… The beauty of this secret is that it scales really really well, so the more people you tell, potentially the more people who can contribute and benefit.
freecycle logo
I’m talking about free-cycle. You probably have a free-cycle group operating in your area. The concept is really simple. If you want something, you ask for it, and if somebody wants to give you that thing, they will contact you to come and pick it up. If you have something you want to get rid of, you post it and people will contact you to come and pick it up.
Our family started with a micro-wave stand. We probably could have got $15 bucks for it, but really… I don’t want to operate a garage sale, I don’t want to fight with someone over whether I’ll take $12.50 rather than $15, and well I really just want to get rid of it so it doesn’t waste my space. My “interest” is unloading something I don’t want to keep in my house. The other person’s “interest” is in getting a free microwave stand. The environment’s “interest” is that a piece of furniture did not need to be manufactured, stored, shipped and sold. (We’ve previously talked about “The Story of Stuff”) The object’s “interest” is that it becomes useful rather than just wasting space. Sound “interesting?”
This truly is “re-cycling” something useful to another person. Because there is no exchange of money or other consideration, the opportunity for fraud / theft etc is super low (making this safer than other systems where money is exchanged for goods).
It works quite well, and I’m really pleased with the free wooden rocking chair I’m looking at across the room. Not everything you ask for will be given. ”Lego” is a hard sell. Nobody wants to give up their “Lego”! It is an email group. So don’t use your work email. use a “junk email” that can receive a steady stream of offers.
Getting started with free-cycle.
1. Chose a “junk” email address to use, because you are going to get lots of emails.
2. Find a group in your area by visiting free-cycle.org and typing in your city
3. Read the “rules” (guidelines) so you learn what kind of behaviour fits with free-cycle
4. Start reading and respond to items that interest you.
It is better to give than to receive. Freecycle helps you do both in a way that is responsible; socially, fiscally and environmentally.
Cheers! Enjoy the free stuff.
Greg.
Filed under: Quality, Excellence & Design | Tags: cost benefit, format, free, office, open, open standard, save money, software, standard, tips
I’m speaking generally in this article and not attempting to show too much favouritism, but I am painting history with a pretty broad brush so I appreciate your accomodation of that.
IBM clone PC
IBM PC vs Apple Hardware
Until recently the “IBM PC” has absolutely killed more proprietary hardware (like Apple products) in affordability.
Our family owned a Laser 128 apple clone, but apart from that we have over the years owned 1 TRS80, 2 386s, 1 486, 2 Pentiums, 1 Celeron, 1 Athlon64, 2Athlons, 1 zeon AND zero apples. Now this is with all the exposure to Apples in the school system (hence the Laser 128)
There was only 1 “Apple” computer company making hardware, but there are many many computer companies building “IBM clones”. We could purchase a 386 for $1500 or we could purchase the same computer from Apple for double the price. IBM decided to “open” the form-factor for their IBM PC so that low cost manufacurers overseas could “clone” or copy the hardware without paying licensing fees or battling an army of lawyers. Suddenly this meant there were 5 -10-15-20 soundcard manufacturers, and 20 video card manufacturers, and 10 hard drive manufacturers and 40 Motherboard manufacturers all able to design compatible products and compete on features and price. While Apple design has remained compelling, it is like Ford’s model T. “Any colour you like as long as it is black”.
I attended a wedding a few years ago and listened to a man chatting at a table who had worked for IBM for years comment; “It’s really too bad that IBM opened up their PC design, they could have made a killing if they had just held onto that and not let others use their design and build components”. He missed it. He didn’t understand that it was precisely because others could have the blueprints that we had commodity computers and incredible demand. (Understand there is high demand for affordable computers, and very little demand for unaffordable computers)
Open Standards let us cooperate and work together
There are lots of smart people out there. They don’t all do things the same way, we have chaos or war unless people can agree on how to work together. that is why we have “standards”. Those attempts to get everyone playing by the same set of rules so we can work together. Some examples;
- A green light in traffic means…?
- In my country we drive on which side of the road?
- A Meter is exactly how long?
- Do you use POP3 or SMTP for receiving or sending email?
- Are you reading an HTML web page right now transferred by HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)?
So standards are smart right? They allow people who are willing to negotiate or compromise to choose a common method (often it is not the “best”) but it is reasonable for the greatest number of people who are willing to collaborate.
Open versus closed design
Some silly companies think that cooperating with others reveals “weakness”. They think that they are smarter than everyone else. They think everybody should do things their way and they work hard to avoid cooperating with others. Lets call them “big brothers” because they like to be in charge of the customer and remove choice. Here the 2 philosopies collide. The collaborators and the “big brothers. Collaborators try to make things like software and file formats work with others including “big brother’s. The “big brothers” work hard to obscure and continually update their formats to make them difficult to copy. Big brother is all about control. Ironically Apple chose imagery from 1984 for their 1984 Superbowl ad where they were urging people to break free from the IBM PC. ROFL! OK, when it comes to file formats, there are many “big brothers” out there. Kudos! It was a brilliant Ad anyways Apple! (as was this um… “modification“)
Big Brother knows best!
Office document formats and the battle for useability
For years, Microsoft’s office formats have been the only game in town. MS Word, MS Excel etc. If you try exporting to another format, they you “lose features” and the docs never did look quite right. Microsoft is no longer the only game in town, but they are holding on hard to the idea that they know best, that cooperation is not as good as being uncooperative inovation. Every version of Microsoft office introduced new formats that would not work with the old versions of the program (or would not work well). In order to make things work, you would have to “upgrade” to the new version. (Now there was nothing wrong with the old one, its just that Auntie Sue bought a new computer that had the new version and now you can’t read what she writes..) So pull out your wallet and pay money every year to be able to continue doing the same things you did last year. That is how the “big brothers” make your life. Expensive and difficult.
Enter the giant killers.
Open Office has been looming on the horizon for years. Their converters for MS Office documents have been getting better and better. Now you can use free software that works pretty much as well as the MS Office programs, and it can convert to and from those formats. Open Office saves you paying hundreds of dollars to Microsoft, and new versions address the version issues Microsoft creates.
Google has created an online system called Google Docs that allows you to create, upload, edit and download documents online. No software other than your web-browser is required, and there is a a high level of compatibility with other office formats.
These companies are making your life easier, more affordable, and are being open and transparent about their formats so that you have fewer hassles. Their “open design” is translating into “Good design” and putting money back in the wallets of people who have been paying “rent” on their software for far too long.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: BC, BC-STV, BCSTV, british columbia, cost benefit, democracy, effectiveness, election, government, improvement, incremental improvement, provincial election, quality, single transferable vote, stv, voting
British Columbians have a unique opportunity to improve the quality of our electoral system on May 12th when our province holds its next provincial election. Under the slogan “Power up the vote”, the BC Citizen’s Assembly is advocating the “Single Transferable Vote” this may be the single most significant opportunity to improve how we vote. Their website tries to anticipate and answer questions about the STV.
The Citizen’s Assembly was charged with making a recommendation directly to the citizens of BC, to improve our voting system. through a process detailed on their website, the BC Citizen’s Assembly determined that the BC-STV system would bring us the most advantages.
Current system
In British Columbia currently there is the system of “first past the pole” the candidate with the most votes wins. Truly it is the simplest system, but upon comparison with other options it is clearly far from perfect. Consider a hypothetical situation with the current system where in a riding there were 4 candidates each receiving 24%, 24%, 25% and 27% of the vote. It is clear that the candidate with 27% of the vote is the winner. However, it is also clear that 73% of the votes were “wasted” / “unrepresented in government” and that the majority of voters preferred someone other than the winner. Here is how the BC Citizen’s Assembly put it…
British Columbians believe that it isn’t fair that a party can form government without having the most votes, or that our province could be left without an official opposition – even if we voted for one. We don’t think its fair that a party can govern as if it had majority support when it doesn’t, or that a majority of votes do not elect anybody, or that some regions may have no representation in government at all.
Regardless of how we vote, British Columbians think elections should be about fair results, greater choice, effective local representation and accountable government.
Proposed system
Basically you only get to vote once, but your vote is more powerful. If you picked a losing candidate, your vote keeps on working to better represent your vote. Check out the 4.5 minute video below. It is brilliant.
Why is there another referendum after the one held in 2005?
In the referendum in May 2005, STV received 57.7% of the total vote and a clear majority in 77 of 79 electoral districts. Although it far exceeded the first bar of receiving majority support in at least 48 constituencies, it narrowly missed the second unprecedented 60% province wide threshold. Clearly this created a problem because only 42.3% supported retaining the current system. Given the results it was entirely appropriate that the people of BC be further more opportunity to explore STV. The question will be put to all the voters in BC in a second referendum, held on May 12, 2009, in conjunction with the next provincial election. If the voters clearly endorse the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendation, the government has promised it will introduce legislation so that the new electoral system could be in place for the following provincial election in May 2013. http://www.bc-stv.ca/
Vote for the BC-STV
From what I’ve learned in my research, the BC-STV is an improvement that would give British Columbian voters better representation by popular vote. It seems like a brilliant idea, let me encourage you to;
1. Vote for the BC -STV on May 19th 12th. [Updated, Thanks!]
2. Explain the BC-STV to at least 3 other eligible voters so they can be informed.
Happy Voting! Oh, and check out these related videos on Proportional Representation featuring John Cleese and one of the Royal Canadian Air Farce: https://stv.ca/humour
Greg.
Filed under: Quality, Excellence & Design | Tags: bus, carpool, collectivo, environmental, excellence, freeway, government, interstate, mexican, mexico, money, roads, sustainable living, taxi, tips, traffic, transportation, travel
For those of you who know my passions, you will recognize the sparkle in my eyes since traffic is the topic.
I couldn’t believe my eyes as we left the Cancun International Airport. A divided highway with overhead lights on the median. Not only in the city , but in the country stretching for many kilometers. The highway was well marked, well signed, well maintained and in most ways as safe as any other north American Highway.
Good Highway in Mexico South of Cancun
Illuminated LEDs embedded in the roadway guided vehicles to merge. it was impressive even if this tourist highway was not typical of highways elsewhere in mexico.
This highway was a “1/2 freeway” not Interstate standards, but pretty close.
The highway was limited access, had some at grade crossings as well as overpasses. Also seperating it from freeway standard was the provision of the uturn “retournos” where traffic could exit the fast lane, turn around and enter the opposite fast lane. The roadways in mexico often use metal speedbumps embeeded at different interfals where traffic is expected to stop for a police check or an at grade intersection.
Mexican Police checkpoint
I noticed other modes of transportations in cities. Playa del Carmen had more scooters than I’m used to. and more bicycles. Playa had dedicated bidirectional bicycle lanes seperated from traffic by a curb. Practical tricycles pedalled by union tricyclests carry many local deliveries.
Taxis (Playa is a tourist area) are plentiful as well as busses and collectivos. The taxis were similar to anywhere else except for the reputation that Mexican taxi drivers have for being daring. Taxis are not metered there, so negotiate your price before you get it and pay when you get there.
The busses are like the greyhound or charger coaches seen in Canada and USA. Plush seats, airconditioning, TVs, curtains (some seatbelts). Taking a 20 minute ride between towns cost only $1.80 which is a bargain considering a similar trip would cost $5-15 in Canada. It seems that those busses run very regularly. Hourly or every 15 minutes. In Canada you are lucky to get 1/2 a dozen busses in a day. So as a Canadian I can’t help feel like we are being ripped off here. A poorer country like Mexico can make nice regular cheap bus service an option? (Maybe everybody owning a car up here has made that a difficult challenge for the operators here?) I wonder what I’m missing here?
Mexico has something special I haven’t seen elsewhere in North america. Collectivos are 15 passenger vans that operate somewhere between bus and taxi. Heading down the freeway they will pick up people who need a lift as long as there is room left. When full, the collectivo will travel at alarming speeds to get you to your destination and it becomes more like a taxi at that point, leaving main roads to drop you at your destination.
Collectivo
Those are the neat observations I made about Mexican transportation. Thanks for listening, I’m glad I could share some of the things that impressed and surprised me.
Peace
Greg.
Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: culture, mexican time, mexico, time, travel
Before our visit to Mexico, we were cautioned to accept “Mexican Time”. Learning to relax and enjoy the ride has made all of the difference in our trip. It works.
(flickr credit: Omar Omar)
In Mexico there aer some things that run precisely on time like busses and airports and lunchbreaks. Other things are scheduled a little more vaguely;
I was told I was scheduled for 10:30 or 11AM if they come today. So it was a definate appointment with a variable start time and optional existence (it never happened) ”Es Mexico”. I noticed on the appointment slip that if I cancelled there was the threat of a $20 USD cancellation fee. <insert fist shake here>
Some evening entertainment scheduled for 9:45 had people arriving from 9:45 to 9:55 with 3 seperate welcomes from the MC who each time indicated there would be further delay before starting. (after stating that “this is the main event”)
An information session was first “promised” to last only 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then in reality it lasted 45 minutes.
I noticed at the beach that the “dive shop” which would lend kayaks and snorkelling gear was steadfast about not allowing gear to be borrowed 10-20 minutes before lunch hour. Hundreds of acationers used the beach and even ate on the beach over lunch hour, but the dive shop created a 1.5 hour “hole” in the beach activities by being so zealous about their lunch break. It seems there is still a love for “rules” in a culture where some timelines seem option.
I also noticed Mexican staff at the hotel hustling to serve customers and I’ve observed that staff who are constantly working outdoors in the heat tend to work at a constant but slower pace. This makes sense when I understand that many work (10-16 hour shifts).
The heat gave me reason to pause as i observed how low my energy level became. Suddenly any “convenient stereotypes” of a bunch of lazy Sombrero topped Mexicans snoozing in the shade fell apart, replaced with an appreciation for hard working people who in many ways have a healthier more realistic pace of life.
Enjoy!
Greg
