From the story:
"Kelly Granigan has taken things a step further: getting rid of her household vehicles altogether.
A decade ago, she and her husband lived in suburban Edmonton and owned a Dodge Ram Laramie pickup truck and a Toyota Matrix.
Today, they live in the inner city with their two kids and have since sold both vehicles, replacing them with electric bikes.
"After we had the kids, we decided to go car-free," she said.
She knows this isn't typical but says it's the right setup for them. Cost was a big factor in their decision, but she says she and her family also prefer riding their fleet of bicycles — including an electric cargo bike — to driving, year-round."
The most realistic vs car free (as much as I love it), is:
1) significantly shift the number of 2 car households to 1 car. This is more possible than ever with WFH, improving transit, bike/ebike growth, car/ride shares, and shift based jobs.
2) delay first car ownership from 16-18 to 24-28 years old on average. Reducing high schoolers and university students needing cars is likely the next low hanging fruit. Most likely to already use transit, not have kids, live in apartments, primarily access more central amenities, etc.
3) to enable 1&2, densifying the core and TODs
4) expanding car share services (this is essential to many of my Vancouver friends being able to fully ditch a car. Having an option inbetween ownership and Uber).
5) more and more transit & biking infrastructure, plus incentives for each. Ebike credits for scrapping cars. 6 free monthly transit rides through ARC, etc.
6) 15min communities
7) mileage taxes, street parking paid permits, gas taxes, etc.
edmontonglobal.ca
