Carfree or Car-light Places

[danbrotherston]

What are the biggest car-free or biggest, most car-light places in Canada you can think of?

I mean, I'd include places like Old Montreal, which is not car-free at all, but is very pedestrian focused and car-limited.

[KevinL]

Toronto Islands.

There might be a few places in BC, but I don't know it well enough to confirm.

[plam]

What are the biggest car-free or biggest, most car-light places in Canada you can think of?

I mean, I'd include places like Old Montreal, which is not car-free at all, but is very pedestrian focused and car-limited.

Old Montreal isn't a real place with grocery stores though. I think the closest grocery store is the IGA in Complexe Desjardins which is 10 minutes away (ok not super far) and separated by Rene-Levesque, which is an urban highway really.

I've been trying to think about the best place in Canada to live and kind of coming up short. Central Vancouver maybe? I haven't spent a lot of time in Vancouver but if you got your work sorted it seems that you could otherwise live there without a car. If you can afford it.

Small towns like Canmore are probably ok for the services you can get in town. But then you occasionally have to leave town. Specifically about Canmore probably you live there for access to the mountains, and for those you need a car. But when you're not in the mountains you are ok. Dunno about how well they plow the streets in winter though.

Definitely not Halifax. Not St John's either I think.

Outside Canada we've been living in Wellington since January 2020 pretty successfully without a car.

[danbrotherston]

What are the biggest car-free or biggest, most car-light places in Canada you can think of?

I mean, I'd include places like Old Montreal, which is not car-free at all, but is very pedestrian focused and car-limited.

Old Montreal isn't a real place with grocery stores though. I think the closest grocery store is the IGA in Complexe Desjardins which is 10 minutes away (ok not super far) and separated by Rene-Levesque, which is an urban highway really.

I've been trying to think about the best place in Canada to live and kind of coming up short. Central Vancouver maybe? I haven't spent a lot of time in Vancouver but if you got your work sorted it seems that you could otherwise live there without a car. If you can afford it.

Small towns like Canmore are probably ok for the services you can get in town. But then you occasionally have to leave town. Specifically about Canmore probably you live there for access to the mountains, and for those you need a car. But when you're not in the mountains you are ok. Dunno about how well they plow the streets in winter though.

Definitely not Halifax. Not St John's either I think.

Outside Canada we've been living in Wellington since January 2020 pretty successfully without a car.

That's rather strange, although I guess no different from any other food desert...except that I would have assumed Old Montreal would be a more affluent area.

This is more or less the question I am trying to answer. But when it comes right down too it, I am thinking that even a place where it is possible to live without a car (and KW absolutely qualifies), it is still an unpleasant feeling when the infra makes it clear you are part of a counter-culture and where you are second (or worse) priority for those building infra. So I am trying to look for places which are less so...

I do hear good things about Vancouver, although I haven't been there in a long time...since before the city went bike crazy.

[tomh009]

While Vancouver does have infra, it is still a big, busy place, so it depends on your comfort level with that. I would thing Victoria would be better for that, would it not? It's substantially bigger than Canmore.

Maybe even Kelowna?

[danbrotherston]

While Vancouver does have infra, it is still a big, busy place, so it depends on your comfort level with that. I would thing Victoria would be better for that, would it not? It's substantially bigger than Canmore.

Maybe even Kelowna?

I've heard good things about both Victoria and Vancouver. I'm curious though, I've not recently been to Vancouver, and never Victoria or Kalowna, I wouldn't call Canmore car-light. Do you folks think these places are really car-light. Again, these are places that are more walkable, but I'm guessing they won't qualify as car-light.

[tomh009]

I've heard good things about both Victoria and Vancouver. I'm curious though, I've not recently been to Vancouver, and never Victoria or Kalowna, I wouldn't call Canmore car-light. Do you folks think these places are really car-light. Again, these are places that are more walkable, but I'm guessing they won't qualify as car-light.

How do you define car-light? My thinking was walkable and active transportation/transit-friendly, but maybe that's not the same as your expectation.

I think if you google for "living in X without a car" you can find some good commentary on most decent-sized cities.

[danbrotherston]

I've heard good things about both Victoria and Vancouver. I'm curious though, I've not recently been to Vancouver, and never Victoria or Kalowna, I wouldn't call Canmore car-light. Do you folks think these places are really car-light. Again, these are places that are more walkable, but I'm guessing they won't qualify as car-light.

How do you define car-light? My thinking was walkable and active transportation/transit-friendly, but maybe that's not the same as your expectation.

I think if you google for "living in X without a car" you can find some good commentary on most decent-sized cities.

I would define those as "walkable" and "transit friendly", which are definitely good things.

I'm thinking about places which active discourage motorvehicle use, and where those policies are effective at ensuring motorvehicles are the minority user.

[tomh009]

How do you define car-light? My thinking was walkable and active transportation/transit-friendly, but maybe that's not the same as your expectation.

I think if you google for "living in X without a car" you can find some good commentary on most decent-sized cities.

I would define those as "walkable" and "transit friendly", which are definitely good things.

I'm thinking about places which active discourage motorvehicle use, and where those policies are effective at ensuring motorvehicles are the minority user.

All right, understood. But I do think that will be more difficult to find.

[danbrotherston]

I would define those as "walkable" and "transit friendly", which are definitely good things.

I'm thinking about places which active discourage motorvehicle use, and where those policies are effective at ensuring motorvehicles are the minority user.

All right, understood. But I do think that will be more difficult to find.

I concur...

[plam]

How do you define car-light? My thinking was walkable and active transportation/transit-friendly, but maybe that's not the same as your expectation.

I think if you google for "living in X without a car" you can find some good commentary on most decent-sized cities.

I would define those as "walkable" and "transit friendly", which are definitely good things.

I'm thinking about places which active discourage motorvehicle use, and where those policies are effective at ensuring motorvehicles are the minority user.

I think that for that definition you're just looking at some neighbourhoods in Montreal really.

[jeffster]

How do you define car-light? My thinking was walkable and active transportation/transit-friendly, but maybe that's not the same as your expectation.

I think if you google for "living in X without a car" you can find some good commentary on most decent-sized cities.

I would define those as "walkable" and "transit friendly", which are definitely good things.

I'm thinking about places which active discourage motorvehicle use, and where those policies are effective at ensuring motorvehicles are the minority user.

You could live, work, and shop in downtown Toronto. No need for a car. Or really, live anywhere and work anywhere close to a subway line. But you still have a lot of cars there. If I lived in that area, and if transit was a little more consistent, you can be totally car free.

[Acitta]

I have lived in Montreal, Toronto (mainly in East York), Richmond Hill and Kitchener. I am 67 and have never owned a car. Public transit and bicycle got me around. (Of course, friends and relatives had cars, so I was not completely car free.) I think that Waterloo Region is the best.

[danbrotherston]

I would define those as "walkable" and "transit friendly", which are definitely good things.

I'm thinking about places which active discourage motorvehicle use, and where those policies are effective at ensuring motorvehicles are the minority user.

You could live, work, and shop in downtown Toronto. No need for a car. Or really, live anywhere and work anywhere close to a subway line. But you still have a lot of cars there. If I lived in that area, and if transit was a little more consistent, you can be totally car free.

Toronto is definitely doable without a car.

But one of the things I hate most about the city is how even the most walkable areas are so incredibly car dominated. It makes for an incredibly unpleasant place to be.

I visited friends in St. Clair and Young area and was just flabbergasted by the speeding traffic through their neighbourhood, I felt incredibly unsafe.

I want to like Toronto, but they are really making very sure I do not.

[ktmbtsmrt]

What are the biggest car-free or biggest, most car-light places in Canada you can think of?

I mean, I'd include places like Old Montreal, which is not car-free at all, but is very pedestrian focused and car-limited.

I think it is so sad a large pedestrianized/car-free area doesn't exist here. So many places have that as a norm, and whether it's for tourism purposes, heritage purposes, city age (although I can tell you it's not only old cities with pedestrian only areas), or night markets/shopping, they're still generally the places to be at in a city. Communal spaces seem common in most cultures and settlement histories, and here they're mostly relegated to parks, sidewalks and our backyards. A shame really. Glad you asked this question.

It's embarrassing to me that in Toronto, Kensington Market isn't car free - or even car-free during 'business hours'.

The only places I can think of - remote places up north - but probably not what you're thinking, Toronto's waterfront area, or some small town 'downtown' like Elora. Isn't Dundas St in London kinda pedestrian only (haven't been there in a while, just heard a rumor)