And Brightwell still uses a car from time to time. One reason he lives in LA is access to the mountains that border parts of the city. But when he wants to hit the trail, he goes with a friend who drives.

I unfortunately have other reasons to use a car from time to time but honestly I usually hate it because it perpetuates car dependency and reminds me of what could be, or what was.

I still need to have my parents drive me to their place from the bus terminal, but 25 years ago there were buses and trains going to their town. Now cars are the only option. I hate it because I know a car was not needed before, and now it is.

It makes me sad.

Another example, I went to St-Martin in the Carribean and was miserable for the whole trip because this little island was choked with traffic and I still needed to use taxis to go anywhere. It reminded me of Not Just Bikes’s video on this very subject in the Bahamas.

In contrast, I went to Guadeloupe and there were buses from the airport to most parts of the island. I never needed a car. It was much more sensible to me and I know where to return for a carless vacation.

In fact, that’s why I moved to Montreal, because I didn’t want a car. I love the region and I’m also glad that there’s a network of bike paths and possible transit to some national parks nearby.

For example, from Montreal you can bike or take a commuter train to St-Jerome and from there cycle a “road trip” to Mont-Tremblant National Park, using mainly a disused railway/rail trail (le P’tit Train du Nord) for the vast majority of the itinerary. It’s 100 km if you take the train.

Other parks accessible by a combo of train and/or bike are Oka with its nice beach, and Voyageur on the border with Ontario.

Then there are also two other parks accessible by dedicated bike trails, the Yamaska park, 90 km away, and a bit further Orford, which is about 130 km away.

There are also a few buses going to national parks in winter. There should also be buses to national parks in summer because not everyone wants to cycle 200 km to and fro, but it’s another discussion.

I still use cars but as I said, I really don’t like it and usually think that no alternative is a policy/infrastructure failure from that place.