pedz

It depends where you live and your usage/situation. In Canada on demand heaters are kind of rare as the water in winter is much too cold to be heated instantly. It's possible but it takes "beefy" heaters, so tanks are much more common.

Yeah, the brave Canadian resistance fighters that defended Canada in Afghanistan. Or the brave heroic American resistance fighters that defended the US from the invading Iraqis, by killing and torturing thousands of civilians. So noble. Thanks for their service.

Zog!

What? It's just enhanced interrogation!

And Brightwell still uses a car from time to time. One reason he lives in LA is access to the mountains that border parts of the city. But when he wants to hit the trail, he goes with a friend who drives.

I unfortunately have other reasons to use a car from time to time but honestly I usually hate it because it perpetuates car dependency and reminds me of what could be, or what was.

I still need to have my parents drive me to their place from the bus terminal, but 25 years ago there were buses and trains going to their town. Now cars are the only option. I hate it because I know a car was not needed before, and now it is.

It makes me sad.

Another example, I went to St-Martin in the Carribean and was miserable for the whole trip because this little island was choked with traffic and I still needed to use taxis to go anywhere. It reminded me of Not Just Bikes's video on this very subject in the Bahamas.

In contrast, I went to Guadeloupe and there were buses from the airport to most parts of the island. I never needed a car. It was much more sensible to me and I know where to return for a carless vacation.

In fact, that's why I moved to Montreal, because I didn't want a car. I love the region and I'm also glad that there's a network of bike paths and possible transit to some national parks nearby.

For example, from Montreal you can bike or take a commuter train to St-Jerome and from there cycle a "road trip" to Mont-Tremblant National Park, using mainly a disused railway/rail trail (le P'tit Train du Nord) for the vast majority of the itinerary. It's 100 km if you take the train.

Other parks accessible by a combo of train and/or bike are Oka with its nice beach, and Voyageur on the border with Ontario.

Then there are also two other parks accessible by dedicated bike trails, the Yamaska park, 90 km away, and a bit further Orford, which is about 130 km away.

There are also a few buses going to national parks in winter. There should also be buses to national parks in summer because not everyone wants to cycle 200 km to and fro, but it's another discussion.

I still use cars but as I said, I really don't like it and usually think that no alternative is a policy/infrastructure failure from that place.

Then there's also the software to think about. You can certainly use Linux instead of Windows but even then, lots of people will also end up using Google, Steam or Discord.

Yes. When I go back there I use an MTB with a trailer. However there's also "fortunately" a rail trail that links a few towns together. Because as the first commenter said, some roads can be scary without respect from car drivers, or proper infrastructure, even if you have all the right to be there.

But passed micromobility, people need get in and out of the region. When I was a kid the biggest town around had intercity buses. Now it's just 'use your car'. There is also a train station that is now a museum. My mother remembers taking the train there. Trains are still very frequent on those rails, but just freight.

Looking at maps and public transit for my native rural region, they had much much more transit options 75 years ago than right now. There were trains and buses linking villages and factories and now there's only "get a car, loser".

Don't worry I'm sure there will be consequences for rich people breaking the law.

Normally I would agree with the essence of the comment but I can also understand what the person you're replying to is expressing.

I'm from a rural town in Canada and I moved away specifically so that I do not need a car in my life. In and around the city, I can pretty much use public transit mixed with my bike to cover a radius of about 100 km. I will usually take the lane and use the space I have the right to use.

However my family still lives in that rural region and it's around 140 km away. I can use public transit and bring my bike for the first 100 km, but I have to cycle on rural roads for about 40 km and it's always a scary experience. To the point where I simply refuse to cycle on those roads and ask for someone in my family to come grab me, or cycle the entire 140 km using a dedicated bike path.

I am very adamant on "roads should be for everyone", but doing that in some regions of North America will just get you killed, and blamed for it.

If there is anything that life showed me at a young age, during gym classes, it's that sports people and competitive people will not stop for compassion or ethics.

They can come from the most democratic country, but those athletes will have trained all their life for this moment, and they would still go even if the Olympics were held in a North Korean torture camp.

Again, they trained all their life for this, so what's a few human rights violations, or even a little bit of blatant corruption, if you can say you won the Olympics?