Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Townline Road

[plam]

OK, sure, cars are useful in KW's urban form today. They are even useful in Montreal and make some trips faster. But for me those are pretty uncommon trips and I'd be happy to take a taxi instead of owning a car. But people like owning the biggest possible car and spending tons of money on it for some reason. Me, I own a Mazda 2 and try to not use it when possible.

As many people have said, it's really about making most trips doable without a car. They may still be slower by transit. But the tradeoff is that they are accessible to more people, safer, and don't require attention while driving. I think that having better transit rather than expanding roadways is usually the right solution and much cheaper.

I have been in Wellington since January 2020 without owning a car. It's hilly. An ebike would be nice (and they are pretty popular). Sometimes I get rides from people with cars, e.g. when the weather is bad. But in general I wouldn't really want to have a car here. I also find it stressful to drive: the roads are pretty narrow and one often has to drive almost in the oncoming lane because there isn't really enough space in one's lane. I have rented cars when away from Wellington, and that has worked out for me.