On urban planning

Stationnement de Montreal has off-street parking sites available for a monthly fee. "52 lots!" they proclaim. "A network of 4000 parking spaces!" Those numbers surprised me a bit, given Montreal's 1.8 million residents.

It sounds like a Microsoft interview question. If there are 1.8 million people in Montreal and 4000 city-provided parking spaces, how long will the waiting list be? (Of course, you'd have to estimate the number of cars per person, number of private lots, etc.)

Answer: about four years.

Suggestion: park elsewhere.

Commentary: At least they're not building lots of ugly parking lots just because of massive demand. This is just one more part of the apparent Montreal policy of punishing people with cars.