3 tricks to get around if you don't own a car

< warm> receive to our hebdomadary newssheet where we high spot environmental trends and solutions that are moving us to a more sustainable world. 

Emily here with another story about living car-free, like my family. From my chats with other car-free Canadians, here are some of their key strategies for getting around without their own vehicle.

This week:

Linda Karounos hadn't ridden a bike in four decades. She relied on public transit to get around Toronto, since she had no car.

Then, five years ago, she got a new job that took more than an hour and a half to reach by transit — "three hours sometimes, if things went wrong," she recalled. It was also the beginning of the pandemic, when riding transit wasn't considered a very safe option.

She decided to get back on a bike, and discovered she could cycle to work in 40 minutes, mostly on bike lanes and trails. And she found "freedom — I can go almost anywhere."

Even in Canadian cities with the best public transit, there are many places that are difficult to get to. So how do those living without a car do it, especially in rural areas?

I talked to Canadians across the country who don't own a car, and here are three strategies they use.

Many use a bike or trike if they can

Many use public transit sometimes, but like Karounos, many end up cycling at least part of the time.

"It's often faster to bike than to bus," said Teal Burns of Halifax. "You get exercise, fun. It's easier. It's just more convenient, actually."

I talked to seniors in their 80s who were still biking; and several people with disabilities that made them uncomfortable or unable to drive, yet still cycle. 

They include Joanne Moyer of Edmonton, who avoids driving partly because of a vision impairment. For most of the year, she cycles to work — a 15-minute commute — and walks or buses when the weather is too cold or messy. 

In rural communities without public transit or even taxis, bikes and trikes may be the only option — but they make car-free life feasible.

Ken Bell, who lives in an Ontario hamlet called Shrewsbury, hasn't had a car since 2009. He uses electric bikes and trikes, including some enclosed "velomobiles" for bad weather (see photo at the top of this story). He built an assortment of trailers to use in his job renovating and repairing cottages until retiring a year ago.

Arnold Martin used a regular bicycle for nearly 20 years to get around Cortes Island, B.C., which has a total population of about 1,000. Five years ago, when he was in his late 70s, he upgraded to an electric-assist trike.

"It will carry 100 pounds in addition to me," said Martin, who uses it to transport firewood and groceries and travel to local events such as music festivals.

Many go with one mode of transport and return with a different one

Walking or cycling saves money and can be pleasant, but is harder to do while going uphill, carrying heavy loads, in bad weather or when you're in a rush. Because of that, people without cars often turn to public transit or taxis for travel in one direction, but not the other.

Robert McInnes, who is 81, has been cycling around Kingston, Ont., since he decided to go car-free 38 years ago. To get to the big box hardware store uphill on the edge of town, he puts his bike on the rack at the front of the bus. He then cycles home, "because it's downhill."

Jim Bodie of Sherwood Park, Alta., and his wife sometimes take the bus to the local Canadian Superstore and take an Uber back with their load of groceries.

Many access cars through sharing

Many people I talked to take taxis or use ride hailing services when they need car access.

But some also used car sharing, both informally — by borrowing cars from friends and relatives — or renting through car sharing businesses such as Communauto (I'm a member of both Communauto and Enterprise Carshare). These services allow you to pick up cars off local streets with a phone app to rent by the minute, the hour or the day. Some even allow you to do one-way trips.

Burns says they use car sharing in Halifax about three times a month — twice for large grocery trips and once to get out of town for a hike. They estimate it costs them about $150 to $400 per month and they like "only paying for something when I'm using it."

Phil Bergeron-Burns of Dartmouth, N.S., said the availability of car sharing "helps a lot" for families, since those who organize kids' sports and activities often expect you to have a car. "You need to get to weird places sometimes with very little notice."

He estimates that anyone who uses a car less than once a day will save money by using a car sharing service instead of owning a vehicle.

— Emily Chung

Check out our podcast and radio show. In our newest episode: Mother Nature is mad as hell. But in a new podcast, the role is being played by Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk, so maybe the fury makes sense? In Sweet Little Human, Pop takes an absurdist approach to get people to think about the climate. Is it weird? Sure. But the producers of the podcast hope its dark humour will appeal to people who might not want to hear about the subject.

Last week, Emily Chung shared some of the things she learned from talking to people who live without a car across Canada.

Janette Porter of Toronto describes some additional advantages of living car-free: "Our garage … can accommodate our bicycles, canoe, table saw, drill press, etc. When we are out cycling and walking, we stop and chat with neighbours, so we have a sense of community while living in a big city. We love to travel and airplanes use up a lot of fuel plus create pollution, but we feel we at least are not polluting the rest of the year by driving a car. Also, to offset our travel, we have a lot of trees and shrubs on our property and through my landscape business, I encourage clients to plant shrubs and trees."

Mary Ellen Miller, who lives in a rural area north of Guelph, Ont., wrote: "Being of ‘a certain age’ with an even older husband who has health issues, and living on a farm, a car is a necessity for us. Ours is 12 years old and still doing well, so the monthly expenses have been small. Going car-free is out of the question. There is no public transit and no taxi service nearby. I realize that if my health deteriorates, we will be forced to move into a city, the closest of which is over 30 km away. Our social bonds are all local, so it would be a complete change, one which we have no desire for. Not everyone has the option of living car-free."

Write us at whatonearth@cbc.ca (and send photos there too!)

This structure might look a little like an Ewok village, but it's actually a water tower that stores 1,000 cubic metres of drinking water for the City of Luxembourg. It's also kind of a village, but for furry and feathered inhabitants — its other features include nests for swallows at different heights, a ledge for peregrine falcons to nest on and roosts for bats. 

"Its reflection therefore goes beyond human needs and thus becomes a project that is more than human," says the description of the Bird and Mammal Shelter and Water Reservoir from the Spanish architecture firm behind the project, temperaturas extremas arquitectos. The project was completed in 2024 in a protected "Natura 2000" site in Kirchberg, Luxembourg. It has been nominated for a 2026 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.

— Emily Chung

When people enter the greenhouse in the northern Quebec community of Salluit, the first remark Steven Grasser often hears is how surprised they are to see the sea of green inside.

“I wouldn’t call Salluit a desert, but it’s certainly not green, so people are very impressed by that,” he said.

People also notice the air inside, Grasser said, and how fresh it smells.

He's the president of the Amaat Society, which runs the greenhouse. Salluit wrapped up its first full harvest this summer, having produced more than 115 kilograms of fruits and vegetables — including lettuce, potatoes, rutabaga and strawberries — from its 25 planter beds.

Grasser says it's been a massive hit.

“When you go on the FM [radio] and say we’re giving away this and that, usually we have to turn people away, because we don’t have enough of it … I’m thinking more and more people are putting an emphasis on fresh and nutritious food,” Grasser said. 

Salluit is the third greenhouse to open in Nunavik after Kuujjuaq and Kangiqsualujjuaq, and there’s a new greenhouse in the works in Inukjuak. 

Andrew Spring, an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and a Canada research chair in northern sustainable food systems, believes there’s a growing desire among remote northern communities to build greenhouses as a way to become more self-sufficient. 

Conditions in the Arctic make it difficult to grow many fruits and vegetables. Many communities rely on produce that’s flown up — and that can get expensive. 

“Really, it's a food sovereignty question. It's about communities saying what kind of food that they want to eat and taking more control of it,” Spring said. 

High costs but with big payoffs

The cost of building and maintaining a greenhouse isn’t lost on Grasser. 

He estimates the cost of construction for the Salluit facility to be around $350,000, plus $25,000 in operating costs each year for expenditures such as paying for staff, soil and power for the water pump and ventilation system. 

He also admits the greenhouse barely scratches the surface of addressing food insecurity.

Data from Statistics Canada suggests nearly 60 per cent of Quebec Inuit experienced food insecurity in 2022. A separate survey found Nunavut had the highest rate of food insecurity in the country, at 62.6 per cent. Elsewhere in the North, 27.6 per cent of households in the N.W.T. Experienced food insecurity; in the Yukon, it was 21.4 per cent.

Grasser still believes a greenhouse is worth the money because of the way it brings the community together, and how it inspires people to seek fresh food and perhaps experiment with growing their own.

Sam Chauvette, an agronomist at Cégep de Victoriaville, feels the same way whenever he’s working with Nunavimmiut to build and maintain their greenhouses. 

“Kids react like we were offering them candies and chips, but they are crunching carrots, cucumbers, peas and other fresh vegetables,” he said. 

There’s an educational aspect to having a greenhouse. It gets people interested in healthy food, said Chauvette, who partners with some schools to teach children about the biology of the plants they’re growing. 

Building long-term sustainability

These days, there's a range of regional and federal funds available for remote communities to start a greenhouse. 

The Naurvik project in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, is one program that has tapped into those funding streams.

Since 2019, they've been using retrofitted shipping containers as “pods," which are largely powered by wind and solar to grow fresh food year-round. 

This can involve a lot of maintenance — power outages aren’t uncommon, and they require a full-time roster of technicians, like Betty Kogvik, to run things. 

But with the high cost of food in the North, Kogvik believes there can be a financial payoff in the long run from greenhouses. You just have to start somewhere.

She said people of all ages look forward to receiving the locally grown produce, as well as the flowers they grow for special occasions, such as Mother’s Day.

“It's really worth it for me and the community — I know,” she said.

The main challenge Chauvette sees in Nunavik is finding enough people to sign up to help maintain the greenhouses.

Part of that, he said, comes down to more training to build interest and knowledge in agriculture, which is a field many northern communities have traditionally been unfamiliar with.

“I work to give training to locals so that they can give training to others after,” he said. 

Andrew Spring agrees the funds are there, but there’s a need for governments to target those efforts to build capacity within communities. 

“I think communities are doing whatever they can and partnering with lots of folks to do something in this space. But I don't think it's really covered from more of a programming perspective.”

— Samuel Wat

Thanks for reading. If you have questions, criticisms or story tips, please send them to whatonearth@cbc.ca.

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Editors: Emily Chung and Hannah Hoag | Logo design: Sködt McNalty

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