No car in town: An experiment

My husband and I do not own a car and never bothered learning to drive. We live near a metro station and work in the city of Montreal, and so we can use public transit. This was choice we made long ago, when we were students. (My husband sometimes uses Bixi, while I do not as the bicycles are heavy and I find Montreal cyclists too aggressive—the Tour de France Lycra gang are intimidating, to say nothing of the drivers!)

When we travel, we vacation in cities with good public transit options or stay centrally.

My theory is that there are about 6–10 times a year when I would wish I had a car (road trips up north, going to relatives in the suburbs, or visiting people in the hospital) versus 50–80 times when I am grateful that I don't own a car (construction, gas prices, insurance, lack and cost of parking, etc.) We have friends who drive us occasionally, and we try not to rely too much on them. (Sometimes we convince them to share a taxi with us!)

As we age, this experiment is going to become interesting; we already rely more and more on taxis or uber as factors like weather, time, crowds, and comfort are figuring more and more in our decisions. This is costly, and while we both work it is feasible, but as we near retirement age, we anticipate challenges. We tell ourselves that we have saved so much money from not owning a car that we've earned the right to take taxis occasionally.

I applaud every effort to make the city more walkable and public transit more accessible.