5 ways Montreal should be more like Philadelphia

These were harder than the reverse, I would say.

1) Ice is not a luxury item. It is infuriating watching Montreal bartenders and servers practically counting cubes individually for your drinks. Guys, get a nice big ice machine, eh?

2) As in most French-influenced cultures, a lot of restaurants and bars don't carry extensive selections of liquor; even Philadelphia dive bars have more. In Montreal, yes, they have Scotch - one kind. Gin? Beefeater. And Beefeater. And Beefeater (this was so at one of the fanciest places in the city). Montreal joints do have, delightfully, extensive selections of aperitifs, liqueurs, digestifs, fortified wine, and the like -- but liquor? Not so much. Four or five bottles of each major liquor would make Montreal bars and restaurants worlds better. This does not apply as much in Anglophone-area bars, btw.

3) Be polite in the Metro. Montrealers are pleasant, friendly people everywhere else, but I have never seen such rudeness and nastiness on a subway/Metro. New York is Courtesy Central compared to Montreal, and Philadelphia a paradise. I watched one man throw an old woman out of his way on the platform as he was getting OFF a train. Seats are not yielded to the elderly or disabled. People are shoved, slammed, and buffeted even when trains are not crowded. Surliness rules. Take the bus.

4) Get a chain of convenience stores such as Wawa that understands concepts such as "broom", "scrub" and "mop". Montreal brims over with "depanneurs", as they are called, but most are a mess and some are appallingly filthy. Wawa does clean very well, even if Philadelphia does not.

5) Make your train station special. Dowdy Central Station is pleasant enough, but feels like an Amtrak stop in a place like Fort Wayne or Omaha, not a cosmopolitan metropolis such as Montreal. Philadelphia's 30th Street Station makes a grand entrance to the city -- Montreal deserves one too.