I Live Without a Car in North America 

I should mention, Toronto even just opened an "urban" Ikea in the downtown where you can try stuff out and have it delivered!

It's nice that Toronto is turning into a less car centric city, they have converted a lot of streets to one-way and add bike lanes, which is really great

As another member of the car-free gang, I'd also point out that you can pay for a *lot* of cabs and rail tickets before you even get close to a car payment. Heck, if you factor in fuel, insurance and taxes, you can upgrade to first class and still be better off taking transit rather than driving.

It’s actually nice to meet someone from North America who doesn’t have a car. Me from New York, I have lived a majority of my life without my car, but as I moved out, I needed it

I’ve actually stored my car during the winter to avoid dealing with snow removal and I didn’t missed it once! So now I’m selling it and planning on living car free!

You missed one really important aspect of living car-free: the freedom it offers children. I grew up in the suburbs of NYC. I could walk into town, but only because the house my parents own is close enough to the town center. If I wanted to see my friends or go anywhere other than town or NYC (accessible by LIRR from town), one of us would need to get a round-trip ride from our parents. It made it much harder to set up anything. I live near Boston now, and even fairly young kids around here take the bus or the T to see their friends any time they want, taking advantage of reduced fares for youth. They also almost all live close enough to town center to just walk it, and sidewalks make it safe to do so. They have much more social life than I did because of this, and their parents aren't acting as taxi drivers for them. Also, with gas near $5/gallon here, I definitively do not regret selling my car.

Even if you *need* a car, giving everyone else alternatives helps ease the load on the roads you take. So it's a win win.

I've lived car-free in the US for 10 years now, and in a variety of cities in the midwest and south that people would say are car-dependent. It is entirely possible if you plan your life around it - similar to how people in the 'burbs plan their lives around needing a car. People vastly underestimate the cost of car ownership and underestimate the cost difference between living closer to a downtown compared to suburbs.

I lived my first 18 years without a car in a small town, and things were good and walkable, up until a walmart moved in and killed off alot of the retail in my town when I was 10 years old. There was a general store downtown that died, so now everyone has to drive 5 miles away to get to the walmart.

I live without a car and am in one of the much, smaller cities in Ontario - Kingston. Transit here has gotten SO MICH better in the last few years with the express routes that have nicer, dedicated stops, stick to major streets and have service every 10 minutes or quicker in peak times. (I think they won awards or set records a couple of years ago? Pre-pandemic. Might make a neat video) For the most part, I manage just great. There's a grocery store nearby for frequent, small trips, transit gets me to the bus and train stations for intercity travel, and I get my steps in. There's really only two stroad-like areas that aren't the most pedestrian friendly, but otherwise everything is pretty easily accessible - and I don't even live in our downtown! Fun/sad fact: We DO have an airport, but it ISN'T accessible by transit, so I've never actually seen it or flown out of or into it despite the number of years I've lived here.

Well done. I last owned a car in 1986. Since then I've relied exclusively on public transport plus the occasional taxi or rental vehicle. Cars are bottomless pits that gulp money voraciously. I've paid off several mortgages on the basis of not having a car.

I live in Toronto. I have my driver's license but rarely drive since the age of 18 ( I am 55) because I suffer from dyspraxia and driving is a challenge. I use transit and Uber and I love walking. And I bought my condo across from Lawrence West subway station.

Moving from Windsor to Toronto soon and I'm looking forward to selling my car and getting around by transit. Really hope smaller Ontario cities start taking transit and walkability more seriously

I'm 41 and have never owned or driven a car. But then I do live in a city with 'okay' public transport and some fairly decent bike infrastructure. I live in the UK. If I need to visit family in other towns or cities, I just take the train. There are occasional times when use of a car would have been helpful but it's nice not to have that millstone around your neck. Although granted I could just occasionally rent one if I had a licence.

Toronto has a very amasing and unique ravine system that you dont find in cities of the same size

I've lived without a car for almost 20 years. I survived in FL, OR, And CA without a car. its a different way of living, and you do have to do planning as mentioned in the video. But its really not hard at all to do it in the US especially in the urban areas.

You don't have to live in a city with rapid transit to live car free, i live in Quebec city which isn't that big or transit-oriented, yet I've never had a car in my life and I get along totally well with the bus! (tho that's probably because i live right next to two brt lines)

When I was young in China (before the subway boom), riding the bus was actually pretty quick and simple. But moving to California, if you don't have a car, you're very limited in location and stuff.

I lived car free in Hong Kong for 8 years. Everything is so easy there, the MTR and bus system is great!

I’m in an awkward place. I live in Toronto and do so pretty happily without a car. However, I often have to make long trips across the city and for that, transit is kinda lacking. Most of these trips are definitely possible, however they take up a significant part of my day. For example a trip to and from the airport takes up to 2hrs one way! That’s 4 hours of transit per day! Not to mention it’s expensive as ever! Toronto would definitely benefit from fare integration on a region wide scale.

No driver's license gang represent!

Its also worth mentioning that an electric cargo bike is a big help in going car free. I can get to work 8 miles away without breaking a sweat, and pick up the kids and a load of groceries on the way home.

I also live in TO without a car. I'll never buy one, the cost seems insane for the privilege of likely driving it to work and paying for parking. I bought my cart for my groceries years ago and it is fantastic.

for the section about groceries, i'd also like to add something i picked up on in a Not Just Bikes video, which is that when people live in car centric places, they are forced to make weekly trips to the supermarket because of how much effort the trip to it is everytime; whereas in a denser, or otherwise walkable/bikeable/transit-oriented place, where supermarkets are well dispersed and accessible, smaller trips and smaller purchases can be made multiple times a week. living in NYC, my family goes to the supermarket 2-4 times a week, and we usually walk to it. we have like 5 supermarkets within walking distance and tons more by transit lol

Public transport has alot of benefits despite my parents both owning cars they never use them to go to the city and there is one main reason, parking. Parking tickets cost a considerable amount of money espacially in the city urban centers. Here in melbourne the vast tram network can take you to every corner of the city and since the cbd is entirley in the free tram zone you dont need to pay money to use it

I was told by someone you couldn’t live without a car in Japan outside of Tokyo… some people just seem to have weird ideas about living without a car.

I’ve always loved driving. I’ve made a career out of it. However, I have learned that I get much more joy out of a long walk or bike ride. Just like when I was a kid.

I problem I see in American cities moreso (though it can apply to Canada too) is that the downtowns are very small. As you go west or south the historic and walkable downtowns only stretch for a small area, or they're just for commerce and office space. With rising costs of rent all around it makes it harder to live in such areas since only a few fortunate ones can get in at all. Toronto even in its suburbs has big transit-oriented developments along rail corridors and this hasn't happened yet really at any noticeable scale in the US. There are cheaper cities to move to, but then that starts getting into gentrification and its effects. Though even in those places I like to think less in terms of going car-free and looking at individual trips. Maybe _some_ trips can be done via bus. Maybe you can park-and-ride your way to downtown instead of going all the way and stressing over parking. The car might still be in your life but it can be lessened a bit. Transit coverage in sprawl areas isn't fantastic but sometimes just the stress of not having to be the one driving is worth it if you can afford the time.

Agreed: in the bigger cities a car isn't really necessary. I've lived in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto without a car, renting one every now and then as needed. Even with a car, if my destination was downtown I'd still use transit. Faster, cheaper, less hassle. If I rented a car one weekend a month it would be cheaper than owning and maintaining (and insuring) one of my own. It's different in the smaller centres, of course. Here in Kamloops (second largest city in the B.C. interior, after Kelowna) a transit-only life would be extremely limited.

Also worth mentioning is if someone is close enough to the grocery store that they can bike to it, it's possible they don't need to get a huge mound of groceries in the first place (this could also help reduce food waste) since they can make more small trips, as opposed to a single big trip.

Perhaps families need to question whether they need 2+ cars...

I live and work in Scarborough and is proud that I am the only person in my company who bike to work everyday. I do not like the car centric Scarborough design. However, I absolutely love to bike myself everywhere. I also love taking the streetcar. Toronto streetcars are amazing. They are smooth and quite as a subway but beautiful looking out the windows. Especially, they go through some toronto suburbs where it is not car dependent!! That is amazing. Finally, car insurance in Toronto is ridiculously (reasonablly) expensive. I feel very happy that I do not need to pay it every month.

The last point you mentioned is so undervalued. One of the things I missed most during the pandemic probably is just running into people, meeting vague acquaintances that I enjoy speaking but am not really close to. Those vague connections all completely fell away during covid. I am now doubly appreciating the time I spent walking and biking around town and waving to people I vaguely know from a bar or a venue or so. By the way, another nice social thing about being car free is the amount of time it offers to spend with friends chatting. Suppose you've been at the movies and you'd like to go home; chances are you have another 10 minutes with them or so while you walk or bike in the same direction. Those minutes are 100% of the time lost if you both go to your own car. Especially for teens and children this really is valuable social time.

Hello! As a European living in East Asia, I find your channel really thrilling. It's so exciting to come across a North American like you and to listen to your experience and analysis. Your insight is really interesting and I'm slowly becoming an addict of your videos. I hope that more people in North America will start thinking like you and that you will get more TOD and more decent urban and interurban transit in the coming years. All the best to you and your fellow countrymen!

The biggest thing I've found being car free for about 10 years in greater Vancouver is that having area knowledge to inform where you choose to live is the biggest key. Even in neighbourhoods that are less walkable, you can usually find a place that's near groceries, a transit hub, and a couple other anemities and easily get along car free just fine. It won't work everywhere, but if you know your area you can often do okay. I'd also be mindful of the apparent trajectory of your neighbourhood. Is it getting denser? Are there new midrises being built? Does your mayor care about improving core areas? Denser neighbourhoods tend to be more resilient to economic shifts, but are certainly not immune to them.

Preach! I don't have a car either. Life is easier this way! Living in the core of a big city (Seattle) does help of course, even if it's not a top transit city. Going car-free is actually pretty popular here...in 2016 the local paper figured out that the average new apartment had 0.6 spaces per unit, because a lot of residents don't have cars.

Communauto in Toronto is amazing for Winter. I feel great that 1 car has several owners and in the Winter I usually use 40-80$ a month, occasionally $120 but it includes gas and parking, insurance, etc.

5 months ago I got rid of my car after about 25 years of nearly continuous car ownership. So far, I haven't missed it. My bicycle with luggage rack can carry enough stuff for most of my regular shopping needs, plus I'm saving money and getting a bit more exercise! Public transit isn't great around here, but it'll do, usually. Obviously it's not an option available to everyone - for many years I've had to drive to work, usually to places with poor or non-existent public transport. I live in a fairly small city in the UK. A few years ago I visited Canada (BC), I remember it being pretty treacherous trying to walk from the Airbnb in suburban Vancouver to the nearest supermarket. There were however regular trolley buses and metro services into town, which was great, but outside those service areas it was very car dominated. Pedestrian access seemed like an afterthought.

Thanks for your perspective. Many people I know have a car, but don't use it for commuting. Certainly commuting downtown for work is expensive and stressful. This is a reaonable compromise for people who use both urban and suburban parts of the city.

Thank you for your heartfelt words! I'm actually a Portuguese international student from UBC currently in the final year of my Master's degree, having lived in Vancouver and Kamloops. Although Kamloops is a small city, it is not bad, and the shopping bus can also meet the demand. I currently live in the neighborhood of Dubar and I would say that the upgraded Vancouver public transit system is great! I own a Camry and have a Class 5 license the year before, but I often have to deal with super congestion nightmares! I don't drive very much at the moment, I cycle and hike a lot and use public transportation. BTW: The ICBC examiner for my level 7 road test was really rude and ridiculous, but my level 5 road test examiner was awesome! In the powerful and big ICBC, they really have the ability to ruin your life and life plan (my Chinese roommate was unlucky to fail the road test four times before getting his driver's license). Objectively, it still depends on your personal needs (I'm not criticizing any driver), but "you have a car, you have to drive" is not a reason to morally kidnap and ridicule other people.

Same question we have when we moved in Auckland. Yes, my current house and my previous one is only a 15-minute drive away, but where I live now has a bus stop less than 300m away. The only issue? We live in the lowest-lying area (risk of flash floods) surrounded by steep roads back to the main shops and supermarkets. My local bus almost solves the problem.

I live without a car too! Living in NYC makes it pretty easy.

I lived in Pittsburgh for nearly three years without a car (clutch the pearls!) and, because i was located one block away from the city’s busiest bus lines and near grocery, shops and my job- i made it work. however, i knew it wasn’t a long term solution and i do drive and own a car, but i still live 20 minutes from my work sites.

I live in Los Angeles without a car and while it may sometimes be annoying because many bus routes are hourly and the bus route that serves the street in front of my apartment has a headway of 15-20 minutes (which is pretty good for this place) it can sometimes be hard but on the flip side, I spend only $50-60 a month on transportation (excludes occasional trips on Amtrak or Metrolink).

I used to have a car but due to medical issues, my doctor said I can't drive anymore. I was about to fight him but I decided to try it out with taking transit only. It turns out I actually like it plus it saves me a ton of $$.

I also do not have a car but I live in a suburb. I live close to a metro stop and close to an area where there are a lot of buses. Plus I can bike and 2 grocery stores in walking distance. Save a crap load of money.

Reece, thank you so much for your work! It’s very important!

I live in Melbourne, I'm 64 and decided some 10 years ago that a car was a waste of time and money. I estimate doing without is saving me AU$5-10,000 per year. Buses run outside my unit, one tram line is 2 minutes walk away, another is 5 minutes away (& Melbourne trams are sensational) and the nearest train station is 7 minutes away. I don't actually use public transport much because everything I need to buy for day to day living is within 3 minutes walk - literally around the corner. Even the nearest mall is only 15 minutes walk, or quicker by tram. I cycle to work, although since COVID I've been working mostly from home. The biggest hassle is visiting friends and family who live out in the suburbs. If worse comes to worst, I can always use the share car that's about 30 seconds from my front door. Best of all, I love the variety and atmosphere of the inner suburbs, and Melbourne cafes are justifiably famous. Cars are a trap.

Great video! I’ve always been car free but then again I grew up in Boston and now live in the metro Vancouver area.

I live in Pittsburgh, and I totally could live without a car here except I really like to go camping, and I need a car to get out to the camp sites. Otherwise, my car pretty much sits idle most days.

Hey, Reece! Nice video! Would you make the next one about governmental fuel subsidizing? Because, it's a theme that majority doesn't understand (because they don't get a straight subsidy, of course) and that is sad. A lot more people should realize this issue.

I lived without a car for two years in Vancouver. Grocery store was on the way back from the bus stop, along with a strip of local stores. A major mall and Skytrain was a 20 min walk away. It was great. I've since moved to Surrey, and its just not the same, though SLS may change things up.

Never really thought about it, but in my country its normal to go skiing/into nature via public transport, actually insane how those rural places are connected

Just subscribed after seeing you on Geoff's channel. Enjoying it. Thank you.

I live in Toronto too. I love being able to walk down any inner-city street, not just the known ones like Danforth, Bloor West, etc, but also places like Shaw or Queen. It's amazing how many little shops there are, all the culture, and the great time spent browsing local retail. You CANNOT do this in a suburb where your only option is the giant strip mall with the same big box retail you see everywhere. But in Toronto you can go down a different walkable street on another part of the city and see a completely different culture in the storefronts. Also the true cost of living in the city is definitely cheaper than the suburbs. Taxes tend to be much lower because you have higher density, amenities are closer, etc. A lot of people say that you can't own a spacious house in Toronto and that is true, the place is live is about 1,500 sq ft where you can get massive houses in the suburbs. But living in the city: (1) you feel a desire not to be home because of all the amazing places there are to see, and (2) with shorter commute times you get to enjoy your house more when you are home. People in the suburbs commute two hours in and two hours back. They have no time to actually "be at home".

Now I know I made the right decision to move to Salt Lake City, Utah for a job. I can walk to work, even if it takes 20-25 minutes to do so, and lots of places are within easy reach thanks to the TRAX light rail, and I can walk to other, closer places if I want to. While I do have a car, it's back east in Virginia. All my life, I've lived more or less in car-dependent suburbia, so living near downtown has been kind of a dream for me. And SLC rents are nowhere near as bad as some cities in the US.

I live in Mississauga and it's been 12 years since I've sworn off public transit for good, this channel has encouraged me to check out bus route to work and leave my precious car at home safe as I only save 10 min per trip taking the bus vs a car and I don't need to stress driving

I've live my whole life without a car. I have lived in Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley California, Jakarta, Riyadh and a suburb of Karlsruhe. One just has to learn the local transportation options.

That point about not wanting to go into the nature with your own car... Very true. My friend purchased a new car and we wanted to go hiking, but he was too afraid to take it on Mountain roads. My wife ended up driving her older car instead. The only reason she still owns it is for getting to the nature ...

Thanks for sharing more on this topic! 🙂 I am in a small town with a classic downtown with row buildings. I am in Southern Ontario and I mostly live car free. I work at home most of the time so not commuting to work is easy but I do other errands like shopping I walk to of local independent and use my bike to get things from Home Hardware or Canadian tire and use the luggage straps to carry things and packages. 🙂 I would love to take the train to from so I can take my weekly commute London to Kitchener go down by a lot but GO Train leaves so early.

So last week we had RM sneaking a cameo with Jago Hazard. Now we have him name dropping NJB. Elsewhere on my RU-vid feed I see he has done a collaboration with Geoff Marshall. It looks like my entire RU-vid consumption is slowly coalescing into a single entity! Just need to find a way to bring The Tim Traveller in, and the singularity will form.

Thanks man, you have helped me decide to sell my car. I'm 40 from Toronto but live in London UK for many years now, permanently. Always been a car person and always loved having one but have decided (finally) to sell it and live a car free lifestyle. As much as I've always loved cars and having them, I've always loved bicycles even so much more. Between fantastic transit, bikes & walking I'll get around perfectly fine. I'm excited about living a car free life and it ties into my fondness of moderate minimalism, essentialism, and efficiency. Not to mention the $ savings of operational & maintenance costs is a huge bonus. I hardly even use my car for anything more anyways, for at least a couple years now. Like just a couple times a month for pointless runs I could do completely without it. The time has finally come. Embracing the whole bicycle culture lifestyle. Pretty much everything I need on a daily basis is within 5 / 6 square blocks from where I live, including a whole mall with oodles of stores and 3 big food stores. Also I've always loved walking a lot. Cheers!! :)

It's, again, true in Central Auckland. With the city speed limit slowing down, parking spaces decreasing, price of yearly car checks and all that, if it isn't for my parent's cars for groceries, I'd sell the cars and give up my license.

Great video Reece! I too lived without a car, albeit for only about a year. I found the biggest issue was not getting around within my city, but instead between cities. North America really needs to work in better intercity connections. Cheers!

I often used, before the 17 March 2020 shutdown of Ontario due to covid (with a reopening that began only in June), public transit but also Lyft and Uber. I have used transit from time to time but with working from home haven't gone out of the building in which I live as often as before in Ontario the pandemic began and don't see such a change barring working for a company beyond any for which I currently work (most likely a company for which I have yet to work).

Great to hear that also North American cities allow for a car-free life. I live in Brussels, and at 39, never had a driving licence. There are moments I miss having access to a car (unless it's a taxi or someone is giving me a ride), but those are far in between. Most trips I can make quite easily by bike, transit, train or a combination of those. Shops are a 10' walk max, so even if I forget something, I can quickly go back. When I went to the grocery store with my parents back in the days, it was an outing, at least 20' by car each way, in heavy traffic (like end of school) often more. I have repeatedly stated that I would try to get my driving licence, but a car is just too much of a hassle to own. Just a parking spot in the underground garage here would be €90/month, and I'm not living centrally.

Whenever the scene changes I keep thinking for a second that your sweater says "STFU" anyway I'm in San Francisco and carless, I absolutely love it. Driving here is incredibly stressful, even compared to other big, dense cities. There was a plan to add congestion pricing downtown here, but it seems to have stalled in the pandemic. I hope it resumes, as there are so many accidents and roadrage there due to the traffic, and the buses here could be running much faster if better-enabled to! Currently we're building several BRT systems and closing a bunch of quiet neighborhood streets to thru-traffic completely, but so much more could be done! When I see what the original plan for BART compared with what we got I am disappointed, but some things are getting better! I think what SF needs most is a lot more dense housing, both to combat high prices and homelessness and to create more pressure for efficient and sustainable transit. I like that you touched on the importance of density here. I also want to suggest a video idea. I do think that awareness of transit is vital, but it would be great if you were to do a video on historic moments where grassroots organization has promoted density and efficient transit. You could then propose some ideas for frameworks for individual organizing, and advise us on what we can do to spread education and awareness of these important topics. Including some examples of successes and failures of public organizing and advocacy would be excellent. I also feel that a number of people in my city mistake high-rises and bikeshare facilities for symbols of gentrification, when in reality they provide housing and mobility to some of the most underserved people here, so maybe this could be part of a future discussion in another video, or perhaps a video itself. Anyway, I am glad to see the quality of your videos improving, particularly your use of B-roll footage.

I grew up in a village. The nearest transit was 20 miles away, so everyone drove pretty much everywhere. After I moved to Ottawa I spend about 10 years without a car, until OC Transpo went on strike for 51 days during the coldest part of the year.

Glad to have seen this video. I’ve been car free for over a decade now and I’ve used the same logic you did. 8 years in Ottawa, 2 years in the UK, 1.5 in CZ, and now 2 years in Toronto. I’ve found I walk a lot more than anything else, sort of visiting family in the suburbs! 😂

Hey Reece. Loved seeing you on Geoff Marshals channel . Nice job.

I don’t even have a license lol. That said living in Mississauga, every 5 minute journey by car is a 30 minute trip by bus. Sadly in the GTA some trips are faster by bike or even walking than using the bus. Even downtown Toronto, if you don’t start AND finish your journey on the subway, the bike is still much more convenient. Living car free is great if your a bachelor, but this won’t work for your average soccer mom working a job and running errands for her family. Ps welcome back to Toronto :)

Ikea also has an affordable truck rental so you can bring home your furniture if you need it. Or a convenient delivery service.

i found a place in my city thats right next to the bike path and in a surprisingly walkable neighborhood. i love it here. its possible to have walkable neighborhoods even in the USA

We lived car free in Kitchener, ON. It had its obstacles. Having access to car share. What bugs me, is not people who own cars, who might not need them. But a city which refuses to make it easy not to own a car.

Using transit for buying food was always a huge hassle, most of my shopping wasn't planned so I barely had a trolly to help carry my bags so I ended up carrying multiple heavy bags around and keeping them wrangled on the floor of a train or bus was annoying (mostly to other passengers). Plus buying an expensive item..like a playstation 3 and lugging it across town (even though my city is pretty safe) made me feel a little vulnerable to being attacked and robbed...especially when walking down some empty and or dark pathways/tunnels from train stations. Now (even though public transport has gotten better here) it's worse because I have to shop for three adults and I have to attend meetings at a place that has got public transport access...just not from my direction...and I dislike riding to the city core just to ride back out in a direction almost back towards where I originally came from and vice versa home. But my city only has 1.3 million so there really isn't much high density housing (there is a little but kinda stretched out). I suppose there is one good thing our government has done about 15 years ago is make it harder to just keep building new houses on the fringes that also destroys our fertile farmland market gardens...this has boosted infil development within existing suburbs adding more population density. So maybe in a few years we'll see then.

I'm surprised you didn't mention having a bike, or bike share. I use my bike downtown, all year round. More and more bike lanes, and the beautiful 30 km Martin Goodman Trail on the waterfront. Bikes are allowed on the subways at all times now instead of limited hours like before the pandemic.

I'm 60 and have never owned a car which shocks many people as my city is not particularly transit friendly. I live in the downtown core and ironically when I purchased my home it was considered an undesirable location and was cheaper than the suburbs. Unfortunately the downtown is slowly getting hollowed out with more and more businesses moving to the big box locations but I'm managing.

I lost my car in an accident over a month ago, and when I'm fully recovered I'm HEAVILY considering just getting a bike. I live in LA and I've been getting around by bus lately, which has its cons, but I think pairing it with a Brompton might be a good middle ground.

About 80% of the population in my North American city travels by public transport according to a 2015 census

I love everything about this video! We were car free for two years before we changed locations where it’s not as easy. We noticed we are a lot less happy and feel more disconnected from our environment going from point A to point B in a car all the time. We’re looking forward to moving back to a major city early next year and being car free again. Life is more joyful not being in a car.

I'm glad you mentioned renting a vehicle. That has been my strategy and I love it.

I have done without a car for over 20 years starting in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul). I took the bus to work at the SOO Line Bldg where I was a Train Dispatcher (RTC) for the CP and then walked home as it was only five miles and that saved me from having to walk 5 miles after getting home as I had done before. When I took the bus home from work I would always walk five miles as a means of preserving my health. As well as on my relief days from the job, I would try to get at least 5 miles of walking in as where I lived, it was very walkable with shopping, lakes, parks cinema, book stores, etc. all near by. Although I did own a car in those days it set behind my house most of the time. However on one occasion I was driving it along a stroad when a another person tried to drive across all 6 lanes not at a signal from a car park on one side to a car park on the other side and I ran right into the side of that vehicle. With luck nobody was hurt but m and theny car was wrecked beyond repair. I have never replaced that car and consider myself lucky to no longer own a car. I have since retired, moved to Dublin with good regiomal and Intercity rail, trams and buses, Buenos Aires with very good regional rail, metro and 100's of bus lines and then Toronto with North Americas Best overall public Transport. I would still be there except I found out that with a US Passport I was only alowed 6 months at a time so has to move again. Now I am in Richmond (the one in Virginia). The transit is not good here. I live in a walkable neighbourhood which is a good thing due to the fact that the bus service is not good at all. They consider frequent service every 15 minutes and there are only two routes that manage that headway. There is, however one BRT which runs every 10 mins which is not bad. It is a crosstown east-west route which has private right of way over the main part (Broad St.) but then goes into mixed traffic in the east end of town along Main Street. That is all. It's more than I wanted to say. MPHicks

I live car-free in Halifax, Nova Scotia... A less transit-oriented city than Toronto, but easily doable on foot, bike, bus, and/or ferry. A lot of my coworkers also commute via transit or self-power. I manage to do everything on foot, having used fewer than 20 local bus tickets over the past year. For me, it's a ten or fifteen minute walk to two full grocery stores, and shorter to pharmacies or convenience stores if I desperately need something outside of normal shopping hours. There's a library nearby, and every few days I walk to a climbing gym (which, like the one at 5:59 is built in an old theatre). There are a ton of parks and museums, sports venues, and pubs. When I want to visit family out of town, I just take the intercity bus (which typically costs the same as the equivalent distance in car fuel, but is more relaxing). I spend my days at an architecture firm designing new apartments, because thousands and thousands of people are hopping onto the urban, post-motorized life.

I moved from a small town over the alps where car was the only way to get around (buses running every 4 hours and no pedestrian distances to stores). Happy to have moved to Turin first and to Berlin afterward, and living car-free

Agree with all of the points mentioned. Having lived in the Northwest end of Toronto my whole life, while there were some trips that were more convenient by car (partly due to geography), everything was doable by public transit - especially when you have 2 separate routes to separate subway lines, an express bus line, and a night bus line - the city was my oyster. Now that I'm in Hamilton though, it is much harder. Sure, downtown is 30 minutes by bus, but King and James isn't the only place in Hamilton, and most things require one or more transfers on infrequent transit. To get from my house to my previous job, what would be a 5-7 minute drive would instead be a 30 minute ordeal with 2(!) transfers - the same timeframe as just walking the whole way. Thanks for the thoughtful video!

Living in London, there is simply no need for me to have a car because of the points you raise in your video - particularly the bus but also the tube and rail networks get to me everything I need whilst my job is only a short walk away. As such, I've never learn't to drive

You mentioned the recent NJB video on the how active transport is the default when you don't have a car. If you haven't seen it another one that might interest you is his one on carshare and how with good carshare infrastructure you can actually have the car you need for the application you need it. In a sense good car share infrastructure can become a part of the transit system for those (rarer than most people acknowledge) times where transit is truly impractical or doesn't go to your destination.

I live in Brisbane, Australia without a car. Petrol, registration, insurance and maintenance is so much more expensive than taxis, Ubers and scooter rental. I can walk to my local supermarket and department store too.

When I was in uni I lived in the Church&Wellesley neighbourhood of Toronto. Very well connected fot transit, some bike lanes, and a nofrills within a 10min walk. I'd also walk the 40min to Chinatown for groceries sometimes too, those little carts are A+. Even dragged an IKEA desk home on the subway. However, my hometown is out in rural Southern Ontario. To go home I went to the very last GO train stop, which was still more than an hour drive from my home. Living in rural Ontario if you don't have a car there is no way to do...basically anything. Currently I live in South Korea and before this year I lived in the countryside. The countryside in Korea still has regular reliable bus service and very walkable central towns that run buses out to the more rural villages. The North America conversation needs to talk more about the isolation of rural communities, suburbs usually have /some/ connections to transit, but rural does not...

In the UK, many of the petrol station shops are operated by the big supermarket chains, mostly Tesco which is the largest, and Marks & Spencer which is about the 6th largest.

Living in Philadelphia with out a car. More walking and biking. No more traffic and maintenance costs. I’ll never go back

A lot of people have this sort of knee jerk reaction where they bring up all the trips that they can only make by car. I think it is valuable to point out all the trips that they could be making without one. Reducing car dependence does not need to mean everybody gets rid of their cars tomorrow. Allowing multi-car families to become single-car families is already a huge improvement.

While I own a car, but I prefer to use transit to get to work because it's a great way to transform the commute into part of my exercise routine. Like walking to the next station at the end of the day just to extend the exercise time.

as a brampton resident who visits toronto, this year I stopped driving all the way into downtown. It is much cheaper both gas wise and parking to just drive Kipling station. I cant wait till go expansion is done that way ill be even closer to a frequent downtown connection

On the grocery point, delis (or corner stores) are great places to buy stuff like eggs and milk and stuff. Further, walking with a one of those fold-able wheeled carts is a great way to carry groceries. Lastly, if your in a city where you can walk to get groceries, you don't have to buy groceries in bulk. You can buy when you need and when you run out of a few things go to the store for more.

With more and more RU-vidrs, mostly you and NJB talking about car-free lives and for me, mainly cost, I am really thinking about never getting one. I’m currently 17, about to do my license. I have a motorcycle which I can drive to places Bus doesn’t take me to in the times I need to (I live in a somewhat rural place in Germany, connection could be much better) and I would need a car for my job but as far as I’m concerned, budgets tight so I’d have to lend one from work. This reduces cost and the cars they use are mainly electric so I think it’s a good thing. It might be challenging to get around places but really, it could be a lot worse and it’s a lot cheaper doing it this way. Before I started watching all those videos of yours I was all into cars and I still am but I’m not sure if a basic car will be necessary now and if I can afford it. Thanks for that!

I also live in Toronto without a car. I was always fascinated with the streetcars and subways in Toronto as a kid when I would visit in the summers of the 1980s before I moved here from Quebec City. I have kept mementos from those times such as old bus/subway transfers, tickets and passes.

Same. I'm in NYC. I've had my driver's license for 8 years now but haven't really had to drive for any reason at all. The times I've driven since then have been for leisure and just to feel what it's like to drive since I rarely have to. I will say I do live in a neighborhood where the grocery store, the gym, favorite restaurants, etc. are all within walking distance, and places like the theater or Madison Square Garden or Citi Field are all very accessible by public transit.

Love your vids bro! Did you check out lower bay station today? I went and it was so fun!! You got to see all the history of the ttc

Also car-free in Canada! Kitchener, Ontario, in my case; and I don't even live that close to the Ion. There's still good transit in my neighbourhood, and lots of shopping options in walking distance.