I lived without a car for nearly 6 years. It was difficult at times and I learned the importance of living in an urban area where things were local. The automobile isn't just about money and cost, it completely changes your life: Here are some examples I noticed as I went from car free to car trapped

- Weight gain/worse health. Not from the lack of walking but from the ease of acquiring junk food. It's just easier to hit a McDonalds than it is to hit your local diner which has limited parking. When I was car-less, I almost never ate fast food because my life was centered around my local urban neighborhood which was fast food free.

- Sense of the world around you. As a transit user/walker, I had a deeper connection with my neighborhood. When your day starts with a walk to the bus stop, you can feel the fiber of your community. In a car, it's just traffic.

- When I was car less I was far less likely to head to the shopping mall and more likely to shop in my urban neighborhood. Because of that, I often supported local business & grew to know the vendors personally..hence a better connection with my community.

- Living car free my life was far less stressful and I had more time. That sounds backwards, but it's not. On a Saturday you might think "let's go have breakfast" which consisted of walking up the street in the fresh air to the diner. In the car world, you're far more likely to think "I'll drive 20 miles to go to ABC Diner".

Not to say having a car isn't nice sometimes. I love the ability to hop in my car and drive to some place other than my neighborhood. But, life without a car was hardly the horrible experience many make it out to be. It was one of the better times of my life..hell a trip to a city 100 kms away always bought adventure because you'd jump on a train, arrive in another town and set out on foot to see the world around you.

I see the suburbs & the whole commuting lifestyle as a prison sentence. There is no pleasure walking to the mall nor driving there. And I can't understand how people want to start off their day sitting in traffic going nowhere. Waking up and walking to work may suck when it's -25C but then that's what the bus is for.