Transplant from Car Land

About me:

I moved to Montreal about a year ago from a small town where you needed a car to do anything or go anywhere.

I’m a young professional and also operate a small business that requires occasional highway travel. I also have family a fair distance away as well as in the West Island. 

I live in Verdun, which is served by three metro stations and innumerable bus routes. 

I lived in Montreal for a year while still holding onto my car for the odd occasions I would need it (like my seasonal visits to a certain warehouse club store). I had a moment of clarity while driving to the West Island and stuck in traffic on the Decarie that I would much rather spend that time on the bus with my mind occupied by something other than if the person next to me was going to fail to check their blind spot and merge into me.

I listed my car for sale while I was still in the West Island. I have since sold it and signed up for an annual carshare membership for the odd occasion I need to go buy a lot of toilet paper and laundry detergent and I will also use this carshare to make my occasional business trips off-Island. I have an extra $300/mo in my pocket as a result of ditching my (paid off!) car. I continue to commute to work via metro and sometimes if it’s a nice day outside I’ll take the extra couple of hours to go home on foot. I have learned that the key is to do most of my errands throughout the week in small doses and carry my groceries in my backpack.

While this was a lifestyle adjustment from driving literally everywhere in my last town, my life is so much less stressful without a car. Never again will I have to wake up at 6am to scrape freezing rain off my windshield and move my car to the other side of the street so I don’t get a parking ticket.

Montreal has one of the best public transit systems in the world, even if you’re in an area that is more poorly served (I have spent significant amounts of time in the West Island and Lachine) it is still more than possible to get by without a car.

Montreal should continue to incentivize using public transit to circulate to and within the downtown core by implementing a congestion charge on personal vehicles in the centre ville and putting the proceeds towards improved feeder bus service in the more sparsely  served areas of the island.