We’ve Been Car-Free For More Than 2 Years. Here Are Some Thoughts

You don’t really notice the toxicity of car culture when you’re still part of it.

It was August 12, 2019. Our trusty Volvo 850, with so many clicks on it that the odometer had seized, had finally called it quits. We had essentially got it for free from my father-in-law, but we were increasingly putting money into it to keep it going.

This latest repair would have cost more than the book value of the vehicle, a definite sign to move on. Instead, we (my wife and I) let a wrecker come and give us $300 cash to take it away. Seemed fair to me.

I do miss driving that tank sometimes. It had a clunky 5-speed manual transmission, but was still quite peppy and responsive. I also miss driving some of the other cars I’ve owned in my lifetime: a 1999 Mercury Cougar (my first vehicle, which my friends and I drove to Alaska on a whim), and a little 2003 Hyundai Accent (which let me zip in and out of city traffic and park with ease.)

So the point of this essay or article or whatever you want to call it is not to bash cars, per se. I still have an appreciation for a well-made vehicle (and drivers that pay attention to the road.) But at the same time, as both a full-time cyclist and a pedestrian now, I have noticed just how bad drivers really are.

I hold my breath when crossing a road on foot, as drivers have almost taken me out while looking at their phones, all in a hurry to get into a Tim Hortons drive-thru. Of course, the concern is even bigger when I’m with my wife and 8-year-old son.

I’ve noticed fewer and fewer drivers look both ways when turning off a side street. So as a pedestrian, or a cyclist, the onus seems to be on us often to judge what a driver might do. We are forced to scurry across the street often like a game of Frogger, even when we have the right-of-way.

Even when I drive occasionally now (I’ll get more into this soon), I still recognize how much driving behaviour has slipped. Perhaps this is because there have been fewer people out there walking during the pandemic (at least the earlier stages), and drivers have had more free reign.

I don’t really know. What I do know is it needs to change.

I get it, some people actually need to drive. But…

Let me give drivers a bit of a break for a moment — we’re still in a time when we’re expected to maintain financial stability during a pandemic. For many, that’s added pressure to get to work on time while possibly helping with online schooling. It also means a lot more delivery drivers bringing food and items from Amazon to our doors, so we don’t have to go out there.

It’s also not lost on me that in some cases, people can’t be without a vehicle for professional reasons. I work from home, and my wife is walking distance from her business, so it’s no big deal for us. But for contractors, delivery services, and those carting around clients, it’s a different story.

I don’t begrudge those who have to drive — but I do wince when I see one person getting into a 7-seater Cadillac Escalade to hit the local dollar store.

My belief is that many people who use cars for certain outings could just as easily walk or take transit, but choose not to. We’ve created a culture of driving everywhere, all the time, and not many twice about it. It has also made us lazier as a species in my opinion, but that’s another thing.

Trust me, I also get that you enjoy your own space, music, and climate control in a personal vehicle. I just want more people to consider walking or using another form of transport instead of hopping in their SUV to get potato chips from down the street.

The accumulated steps from walking will also help you feel better in your brain too — trust me on this one.

A car-share was a game changer for us.

Whether it’s “preventative maintenance,” or something is actually broken, it’s not uncommon to fork out $800 or more that you weren’t budgeting on a car repair.

The car share we now use includes gas, maintenance, and insurance. I don’t have to bring it to the shop to swap my summer wheels for winter tires. It’s all taken care of. (I should give the company we use a shout out, since they’ve been nothing but helpful.) If everyone used a car share, we could dramatically reduce traffic and congestion.

We simply book one of the cars nearby using an app, and then walk over and unlock it with our special remote.

Mind you, I still have to walk about a kilometre to get to the vehicle, and then walk home from where it needs to be parked, but it has been a fair compromise. (I’m hoping there will be closer vehicles once more people adopt this system.)

It’s not too pricey for the number of times we use a vehicle per month, which is maybe twice to run errands or do a day trip. It usually runs us $75 to $100 or so in total (longer distances increase the rate), which is a far cry from how much you’ll pay to own and operate a vehicle of your own.

You’re probably so used to having a car, that you don’t really think about how much you’re paying for one regularly. Even if you have a modest car payment of $300, insurance of $120, and a conservative gas estimate of $100 or so — you’re spending more than $500 a month for the privilege of having a car in your driveway.

That’s not including maintenance, which you will pay whether it’s a brand new leased Audi or a 1993 Volvo. It doesn’t cover annual registration fees and other related costs either.

We need to reduce the need to drive in the first place.

Again, I get that you might not have the luxury of using a car share (or a carpool) to get to your job 40 kilometres away. Which points to another problem of having more sustainable jobs close to home, which is an issue in my city and many others.

If we focused more on creating more employment in our core — which is one of Hamilton’s hopes with our planned LRT system — we wouldn’t have the same need to drive on highways outside city borders.

It’s one of the main reasons I supported the hotly-debated LRT that was almost dead in its tracks more than once. The drivers complained it would take up too much road and didn’t go anywhere important. (They also complained about a dedicated bus lane, which got removed.)

I maintain that the number of people that will be hired to build the LRT system, and the business that will boom along the corridor (apparent in another city near Hamilton that adopted LRT), will mean that fewer people need to trek miles and miles to work a relatively low-paying position. But that’s another topic altogether.

While a growing number of voices in my city advocate for sustainable transit and cycling structure, our province’s leader wants to build a new highway (presumably so his buddies can develop real estate along it.) But in an effort to remain neutral, here are some of his arguments to move forward with that project.

More roads lead to urban sprawl, which Hamilton actually voted against recently to the surprise (and delight) or many. So that’s a bright spot.

The attitude towards non-drivers needs to change.

We pedestrians instinctively trot across the road for drivers waiting to turn. But why? We are often the ones outside dealing with the elements, while the driver sits in their perfectly comfortable vehicles with their choice of music. They can wait.

And I’ve been cut off and almost run into by cars while in bike lanes, following all the rules. They will suddenly turn left in front of me, not paying any mind that I have the green and continuing forward. It’s up to me to brake, or slide into the side of their vehicle. If I didn’t care about getting injured, maybe I would to make a point.

And don’t even get me started on social media comments when a cyclist or pedestrian gets hit by a vehicle. It’s like every driver logs on in unison and says, “THE CYCLIST/PEDESTRIAN MUST BE AT FAULT! WHAT WERE THEY DOING?” My eyes can’t roll hard enough (especially when a car hops the curb and hits people on the sidewalk. That’s up to pedestrians to avoid?) And then the police tell us that a “car” ran into a cyclist. No. A DRIVER did. The car is not yet autonomous.

When I owned cars, I wasn’t always the most conscientious driver. I’m not trying to do a “I’m a better driver than you” thing. But I am trying to set a better example for others on the road in hopes it will make it better for me as a pedestrian.

However, so far I just I end up annoying other drivers when I drive the speed limit, or when I wait for a pedestrian to cross instead of just going for it.

Yes, sometimes cyclists/pedestrians mess up too.

I can hear you car people yelling at me. Pedestrians and cyclists are a pain in the butt. Yeah, I agree that some cyclists are ridiculous, swerving all over the road and the sidewalk. It would hurt if one hit me, but not as much as your 3-ton pickup barrelling towards me.

But then one has to ask — why are people riding bikes on the sidewalk to begin with? Mostly, because there’s very little infrastructure for cyclists in some Canadian cities.

Toronto is getting better in this regard, while Vancouver and Montreal rank well. But overall, this country’s cities still lag behind many other cities that have embraced cyclists and foot traffic.

Yes, some cyclists routinely run stop signs and have almost hit me on my own bike — but so have drivers. There are a couple of intersections near my son’s school where the police could make their ticket quota for the month in a few hours if they wanted to. Cars don’t stop, they simply slow down while looking around a blind corner a child could be skipping across.

In Hamilton, a mid-sized city in Ontario, we’re making some strides in this regard thanks to a handful of vocal proponents of biking that have amassed a loyal following, like this one:

But many of our main arterial roads are still one-way freeways for cars, and as a cyclist, you’re taking your life into your own hands if you try to bike along the curb lane. If an aggressive driver doesn’t get you, a pothole might. I’ve had more near misses both walking and cycling within the rules that I care to recall.

Strong leadership is needed to lead us out of car culture.

If you really need to drive for work or whatever, then fine. But please remember you’re piloting a massive hunk of metal that can do a lot of damage. And please stop villainizing those of us who choose not to drive for any reason, or can’t afford a vehicle payment.

Ultimately, politicians in all levels of government need to focus on more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly infrastructure, and stop worshipping drivers — which will be a win-win all of us eventually.

I once covered a small-town council meeting where it was proposed to reconfigure some downtown parking spots (losing some in the process), and the people were in a pitchfork-carrying frenzy over it. That was more than 10 years ago, but we’ve still got a long way to go to change our thinking on this.

And by the way, walkable neighbourhoods are good for business, so don’t try the “but then people won’t be able to get to my store!” argument. It’s weak.

Driving is a tough addiction to kick, but it’s possible.

There are still times when I wish there was a car in our driveway, like during the warmer months when I want to take my son to a far-away park. However, this past summer we rigged up a kid-friendly tandem bike so we could get around. Our son loved it, although it was a bit stressful manoeuvring the bike sometimes.

My “bike gang” and I explored many interesting things in the city I hadn’t noticed before, while getting exercise and soaking in needed sunshine. It wouldn’t have been the same just driving around.

Also, our life is not completely car-free. We still do drive occasionally. Before the pandemic hit in early 2020, we had already rented a cargo bike to do grocery shopping. It wasn’t too bad at first — in fact, it was kind of fun and I could plop my kid into it for a ride — but eventually it became too much to navigate it through busy parking lots and find a suitable place to lock it up. That’s also an urban design issue.

But just think: If more people walked or rode their bike, think how much more green space we could have instead of seas of half-filled lots. And think of all the things to see and people to meet when you choose to walk instead of drive.

Start by simply stretching your legs to the corner store the next time you need milk. Try your local transit system instead when going to an outdoor event. It took us some adjustment to be essentially car-free, but we now actually enjoy riding or walking.

Well, most of the time. We get tired too, after all.

And one last thing: when I’m out walking or biking, I don’t have to pay $5 or more per hour for parking — which is essentially a toll for the privilege of stopping.

Unlimited free stopping is included in the deal when you choose other ways to move.