4570 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

That’s analogue though....

But it comes with unlimited insoles.

[spanky123]

I pay $28 with Shaw

 

As long as you pay $200+ for other services :-)

[Sparky]

^ Yup.

[LJ]

What happens if you photocopy a $100 bill...

 

https://youtu.be/PwcAcwxj3W8

[Victoria Watcher]

Not good.


According to the city’s data and based off of pre-pandemic levels, about one in three people have returned to the office.


https://www.vicnews....-to-start-2022/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 May 2022 - 01:26 PM.

[sebberry]

Not good.


According to the city’s data and based off of pre-pandemic levels, about one in three people have returned to the office.


https://www.vicnews....-to-start-2022/

 

Meh, traffic says otherwise.  

 

Lots of people simply enjoy working from home.  It's here to stay.

[Victoria Watcher]

Oh I agree WFH is here to stay. But lots of transit and other urban planners think otherwise. I think they are mistaken.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 May 2022 - 01:31 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Notice the article gives no hard figures pre and post for all their other measurements. It’s just poor propaganda.

[Ismo07]

Notice the article gives no hard figures pre and post for all their other measurements. It’s just poor propaganda.

 

It's not super easy to get those numbers, there are a lot of variables, including loss in parking lots.  I have figures for all day parking in Apr 2019 and April 2022 however with loss of parking lots it's not an easy correlation to determine what the actual spread is right now.

 

For instance we saw 11,015 paid transactions for all day parking in the 5 parkades in Apr 2019...  In 2022 we saw 15,521.  Now we have less monthly parkers in 2022 than we did in 2019.  These totals are not in those transaction counts but we are down about 150 monthly parkers.  If they each parked for 20 days a month, that's 3,000 less transactions for Apr so we are getting close.  None of this matters without parking info from Robbins.  If they could supply April 2019 numbers (all day transactions and monthly parkers) for a certain area, then for 2022 in the same area (so we catch lots that have been removed), then maybe we find something.  Other numbers, like short-term parkers are impossible to measure from 2019 to 2022 in the parkades because we changed the operational model to pay by space so not every short-term transaction is counted.  I'm not sure how helpful that was but it was a quick and dirty analysis of City parkades...

 

Now we can measure on-street for the most part.  Apr 2019 we saw 217,013 transactions against 209,473 in 2022.  So in that regard we are getting close.  That's with about 100 or so spaces lost to patios that we didn't have in 2019.

[lanforod]

That's very interesting. It's not anecdotal that many many companies are allowing substantial WFH. Government ministries are likely to cave on that point permanently as well. The biggest factor is that its a massive hiring incentive; people will leave for a job that allows WFH, if thats what they want to do.

So if parking numbers are getting close to matching 3 years ago, I would consider there are several things contributing to that, its not all people who have returned to doing 9-5 in the office downtown.

Higher population downtown contribute to it?

Perhaps most of the ones staying WFH were bus/bike/walk commuters and not driving in and parking?

Or many who stayed or returned to working downtown now have switched to driving and still are driving for various reasons, such as avoided lousy bus routing, avoiding busy busses (Covid risk), easier to get parking, less traffiic issues etc.?

[Victoria Watcher]

According to this article, everything is rosy.




https://www.timescol...rt-says-5398968




Victoria’s economy appears to be rebounding well from two years of economic turmoil due to the pandemic. New figures released this week show the pace of commerce is building, the numbers of people downtown are growing and visitors have returned.

“This particular group of numbers showed a healthy return to good retail sales, very good restaurant sales, hotels are full and people are investing in downtown,” said Jeff Bray, executive director of the Downtown Victoria Business Association. “And from our perspective these numbers were collected in advance of tourism season and in advance of a bulk of the office workers returning to the office.”



I hope that behind the scenes Bray and Williams see how sad the city looks, and are making some efforts to improve. But I’m not sure how we get there as we keep building more homeless housing. Of all the places in this province to build homeless housing, it’s truly hard to see how the economics favour downtown Victoria. But of course they don’t. This council’s willingness to take on a completely disproportionate amount of the province’s share is quite stunning. Take our beautiful tourist town, close all the budget and medium hotels.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 May 2022 - 04:16 AM.

[dasmo]

I’m not returning…

[Mike K.]

Are we comparing 2019 prices to 2022 prices when talking about restaurant sales?

Are we comparing room occupancy to 2019’s inventory, or 2022’s inventory? And what are ‘good’ retail sales?

[spanky123]

Are we comparing 2019 prices to 2022 prices when talking about restaurant sales?

Are we comparing room occupancy to 2019’s inventory, or 2022’s inventory? And what are ‘good’ retail sales?

 

From what I am being told, occupancy is based on available rooms. The fact that many hotels are operating with 20%-40% of their rooms closed isn't being factored into the stats.

[spanky123]

“This particular group of numbers showed a healthy return to good retail sales, very good restaurant sales, hotels are full and people are investing in downtown,” said Jeff Bray, executive director of the Downtown Victoria Business Association. “And from our perspective these numbers were collected in advance of tourism season and in advance of a bulk of the office workers returning to the office.”

 

Meanwhile in the very same report the Jawls claim that only 28% of office workers have returned to work.

[Victoria Watcher]

Efforts by financial firms and others to bring workers back to Manhattan offices more than two years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic face persistent headwinds, consultants said, with commuters still worrying about COVID-19 as well as safety.

 

______________________________
 

Overall, New York City had an office occupancy rate of 38.8% in the week that ended May 11, below the 43.4% occupancy rate nationwide, according to data from Kastle

 

_______________________________

 

Approximately 80% of office workers in Manhattan relied on the subway to get to work before the coronavirus pandemic began, said Kathryn Wylde, chief executive of nonprofit Partnership for New York City.

 

 

 

https://financialpos...er-covid-safety
 

[dasmo]

After spending trillions advertising fear and coersitising an experimental product in order to do anything in that city what would one expect? My friend had to leave after spending most his life living in Manhattan. It just became unbearable. 

[Victoria Watcher]

After spending trillions advertising fear and coersitising an experimental product in order to do anything in that city what would one expect? My friend had to leave after spending most his life living in Manhattan. It just became unbearable. 

 

Plus lots of jurisdiction have left mask mandates on for transit - only.  So why would people thinks transit is safe, when according to the mask mandates, they are the only place still unsafe?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 May 2022 - 10:04 AM.

[Mike K.]

Different groups, with different concerns and agendas.

The proverbial government and unseen hand doesn’t care about the office industry. Their agenda conflicted with the office space and commercial real-estate agenda. That’s why the government spent its trillions on advertising with outcomes that we -did- expect.

The question now is, is the future of commercial real-estate really at its best within hyper-centralized nodes or is it at its best within decentralized nodes closer to people’s homes and with less onerous travel demands.

So for every complaint about suburbs and the cost they place on society, why are urban cores more expensive to do business in, maintain, police and invest in than the suburbs? There is obviously something else at play here.

[Victoria Watcher]

Meanwhile in the very same report the Jawls claim that only 28% of office workers have returned to work.

 

Yes, the report still shows the numbers are terrible compared to 2019 levels.

 

https://www.victoria... 2022 FINAL.pdf