Canada needs a crown corporation for vehicle production
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In northern Canada, it gets so cold that bikes aren’t viable. Try biking a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road before you make blanket statements like this.
Try biking in a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road
Its easy to conveniently ignore that other countries in Europe have developed cycling infrastructure to combat the negatives of biking in the winter.
Its just called prioritising bike infrastructure on par with cars, i.e. clearing snow and bike paths that aren’t reliant on car infrastructure in the first place.
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In northern Canada, it gets so cold that bikes aren’t viable. Try biking a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road before you make blanket statements like this.
Not that I’m saying everyone should necessarily, and things are different in the far north, but I used to ride my bike to work in Thunder Bay. So I can tell you that bicycles do in fact keep working at -20°. You’ll want some winter tires and warm gloves.
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Fund alternatives to cars, not Lada. Global car manufacturers are doing a fine job of the new car aspect.
There are a lot of fine options indeed, but nowhere near the affordability they could achieve today IMHO. EVs can be made very cheaply and every month the price of LiFePo4 (the cheaper and more robust, slightly less dense type) batteries is going down. Very few small cheap BEV cars are available. A Citroen Ami is like ~8-10k€; that (very cute) thing should cost maybe half of that.
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I started winter bike commuting last year, and it was great. Studded winter tires, bar mitts, and warm shoes; helmet / goggles are great. Very little “traffic” on my ~40min commute.
I start getting cold toes below -22C or so, so maybe I need some better boots, but honestly, the people who say you can’t bike in the winter have probably either never tried it, or are dressed inappropriately. Summer is definitely more forgiving if you get a flat tire though.
It’s not for everyone, because there’s some fitness requirement, and equipment isn’t cheap (but neither are cars), but I’m stoked to get ~70-80 minutes of exercise daily on my way to/from work.
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I started winter bike commuting last year, and it was great. Studded winter tires, bar mitts, and warm shoes; helmet / goggles are great. Very little “traffic” on my ~40min commute.
I start getting cold toes below -22C or so, so maybe I need some better boots, but honestly, the people who say you can’t bike in the winter have probably either never tried it, or are dressed inappropriately. Summer is definitely more forgiving if you get a flat tire though.
It’s not for everyone, because there’s some fitness requirement, and equipment isn’t cheap (but neither are cars), but I’m stoked to get ~70-80 minutes of exercise daily on my way to/from work.
Sure, I’ve done the same in the city. Doesn’t work that well in rural settings.
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FWIW, I bike all year, including in snow and double-digit cold. Overheating is more of a problem in the winter than being too cold.
A cheap EV would fare much worse in those conditions, and thankfully the vast majority of drivers aren’t in northern Canada, nor do they drive very far per trip. Most roads safety orgs say not to drive when conditions include black ice.
Let’s not make excuses based on a very, very, small demographic who may very well need a car. The majority do not.
It’s not a small minority who cannot manage as pedestrians, with active or even better public transportation.
Easily said, for a healthy young adult who doesn’t have to support young children.
Having been entirely car free until we had young children, it was a true eye opener to have to confront how difficult it is to get kids to medical appointments and activities without a car.
Urban design doesn’t provide infrastructure for families in the core. It’s not just a transportation choice issue. Cities would need to be designed very differently and greater physical and social accommodations for children and persons with disabilities and neurodivergence would be needed.
When kids became part of our lives, we deliberately chose to live as close to the core and public transit as we could and still be near schools, community centres and hospitals. It still put us in a semi-suburban style older neighborhood where some reliance on a car became necessary.
Unreliability of public transit is much more problematic when you have to transport young children who chill quickly when not moving in deeply cold weather.
Also, many children cannot consistently meet the behavioural expectations adults on public transit or elsewhere.
Adults aren’t shy to tell parents that they shouldn’t bring their kids into public spaces when they can’t meet behavioural expectations, but getting a kid having a meltdown home or a sick kid to a physician or hospital without a car is nearly impossible.
We made the choice to be a single car family to limit our environmental impact but that in itself was very challenging.
By the time our kids were independent teens, we found our own physical limitations with ageing reduced the viability of active transportation as our main approach. We could choose to move to another area but not without pushing our kids out to find their own housing.
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We have one of the largest land mass in the world that requires roads to be built. It only makes sense to build up an EV industry.
K but the V = trains.
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Try biking in a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road
Its easy to conveniently ignore that other countries in Europe have developed cycling infrastructure to combat the negatives of biking in the winter.
Its just called prioritising bike infrastructure on par with cars, i.e. clearing snow and bike paths that aren’t reliant on car infrastructure in the first place.
Its easy to conveniently ignore that other countries in Europe have developed cycling infrastructure to combat the negatives of biking in the winter.
Countries in Europe are also a lot more densely populated. Towns and cities are a lot closer to each other. The distances most people have to travel are shorter.
Yes, there are a lot of lessons we can learn from Europe and other places, but not every solution will work universally.
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Its easy to conveniently ignore that other countries in Europe have developed cycling infrastructure to combat the negatives of biking in the winter.
Countries in Europe are also a lot more densely populated. Towns and cities are a lot closer to each other. The distances most people have to travel are shorter.
Yes, there are a lot of lessons we can learn from Europe and other places, but not every solution will work universally.
Very convenient, for you, to ignore that there’s more than a single solution to the issue.
If you build the infrastructure, make it safe, reliable, and more importantly useful, people will come.
Distance also becomes much easier to deal with when you build usable neighbourhoods with working transit solutions mixed use neighbourhoods reduce car use because the cornerstone, now created and only a block or two away from you, sells your food, the train/tram/subway is just a bit further, that takes you elsewhere in your town or city.
This isn’t rocket science, the reason Canada is so car dependant is that we cater our business to large stores with larger parking lits to satisfy car based businesses rather than anything else.
You don’t need density to create viable transit infrastructure, you need a will to move beyond cars as the default and only perspective. You don’t need a universal, one size fits all solution (this is what cars are touted as), you need a solution that suits the environment that its created within.
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It’s not a small minority who cannot manage as pedestrians, with active or even better public transportation.
Easily said, for a healthy young adult who doesn’t have to support young children.
Having been entirely car free until we had young children, it was a true eye opener to have to confront how difficult it is to get kids to medical appointments and activities without a car.
Urban design doesn’t provide infrastructure for families in the core. It’s not just a transportation choice issue. Cities would need to be designed very differently and greater physical and social accommodations for children and persons with disabilities and neurodivergence would be needed.
When kids became part of our lives, we deliberately chose to live as close to the core and public transit as we could and still be near schools, community centres and hospitals. It still put us in a semi-suburban style older neighborhood where some reliance on a car became necessary.
Unreliability of public transit is much more problematic when you have to transport young children who chill quickly when not moving in deeply cold weather.
Also, many children cannot consistently meet the behavioural expectations adults on public transit or elsewhere.
Adults aren’t shy to tell parents that they shouldn’t bring their kids into public spaces when they can’t meet behavioural expectations, but getting a kid having a meltdown home or a sick kid to a physician or hospital without a car is nearly impossible.
We made the choice to be a single car family to limit our environmental impact but that in itself was very challenging.
By the time our kids were independent teens, we found our own physical limitations with ageing reduced the viability of active transportation as our main approach. We could choose to move to another area but not without pushing our kids out to find their own housing.
You’re saying that as if I don’t understand, I have a physical disability, as well as kids and now grandkids, and being able to bike offers greater freedom than the financial burden of a car, most people cannot handle the financial burden of a car, including one that costs $5000 + ongoing insurance premiums.
Stats Canada says that the majority of people are only using their cars for very short trips. We’re talking less than 15 minutes. Some use it for less than a half hour and even fewer use it for an hour or longer. The problem is we’ve gotten used to taking the car for everything, including those less than 15 minute trips. Even if you weren’t physically able to be a pedestrian, you still have options, and if not, we should make those options available rather than restricting movement to car owners.
We have so many examples of this being accomplished all over the world and it’s such a disservice to our country and our municipalities to say that it can’t be done. Clearly it can be done with effort and that effort has to come from the ground roots all the way up to our municipal provincial and federal governments.
Most of what you’re describing is car dependency, quite literally. We can change that as a society, but not if we continue to resign ourselves to cars.
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Sure, I’ve done the same in the city. Doesn’t work that well in rural settings.
Yeah definitely a difference there. Rural is also often further travel distances - so that’s a thing as well.
Snow clearing is pretty good in the city (generally), and the studs work well on the ice. Hardest biking days are usually 12-24h after a snowfall when its not fresh, but just a mess to ride through.
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Try biking in a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road
Its easy to conveniently ignore that other countries in Europe have developed cycling infrastructure to combat the negatives of biking in the winter.
Its just called prioritising bike infrastructure on par with cars, i.e. clearing snow and bike paths that aren’t reliant on car infrastructure in the first place.
I don’t think you understand the vastness of northern Canada.
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Agreed and long overdue. I personally love taking trains - I’ve been on Euro hi-speed and Japan Shinkansen trains. Both marvelous modes of transport
However, I’m also not naive in saying lots of people prefer to drive too. Just sayin’ 
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You’re saying that as if I don’t understand, I have a physical disability, as well as kids and now grandkids, and being able to bike offers greater freedom than the financial burden of a car, most people cannot handle the financial burden of a car, including one that costs $5000 + ongoing insurance premiums.
Stats Canada says that the majority of people are only using their cars for very short trips. We’re talking less than 15 minutes. Some use it for less than a half hour and even fewer use it for an hour or longer. The problem is we’ve gotten used to taking the car for everything, including those less than 15 minute trips. Even if you weren’t physically able to be a pedestrian, you still have options, and if not, we should make those options available rather than restricting movement to car owners.
We have so many examples of this being accomplished all over the world and it’s such a disservice to our country and our municipalities to say that it can’t be done. Clearly it can be done with effort and that effort has to come from the ground roots all the way up to our municipal provincial and federal governments.
Most of what you’re describing is car dependency, quite literally. We can change that as a society, but not if we continue to resign ourselves to cars.
I don’t think we’re that far apart in views but we are very different in terms of who we think needs to lead the change.
I’m putting the onus on societal level changes in the built environment and acceptance of children and persons with disabilities.
You seem to be putting the onus on individuals to drive the change by personally overcoming barriers.
You are proudly talking about how you personally have overcome barriers but not everyone can. With 30% or the adult population identifying with at least one disability, it’s not a small or isolated issue.
As is said in the disability community, not everyone has the spoons and certainly not every day. Don’t shame others for what they may not be able to accomplish that you can.
The 15 minute journey problem is primarily evidence of a problem with where stores and services are located in relation to residences.
Affordability notwithstanding, bike and public transit as a person with visual, hearing or mobility limitations remain deeply challenging in most communities.
Wonderful that your children and grandchildren have been able to meet expectations or haven’t faced needs that couldn’t be accommodated. Most persons or families experiencing disabilities wouldn’t have your experience or might put their limited spoons to other priorities.
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And very fast trains.
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In northern Canada, it gets so cold that bikes aren’t viable. Try biking a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road before you make blanket statements like this.
People bike year round in Finland. It’s not the weather it’s the total absence of infrastructure and maintenance in Canada.
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In northern Canada, it gets so cold that bikes aren’t viable. Try biking a couple miles in -20C and black ice on the road before you make blanket statements like this.
The north should be embracing ultra high density urban planning more than anywhere else. It makes sense to minimize travel times as much as possible with temperatures like that (or even lower). You could make it work if you plan the city around making it work.
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And very fast trains.
We don’t really have places to put them domestically, until we do a buttload of complicated and expensive land acquisition, and I wouldn’t want to try and sell HSR abroad built in a country that doesn’t really have much.
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Very convenient, for you, to ignore that there’s more than a single solution to the issue.
If you build the infrastructure, make it safe, reliable, and more importantly useful, people will come.
Distance also becomes much easier to deal with when you build usable neighbourhoods with working transit solutions mixed use neighbourhoods reduce car use because the cornerstone, now created and only a block or two away from you, sells your food, the train/tram/subway is just a bit further, that takes you elsewhere in your town or city.
This isn’t rocket science, the reason Canada is so car dependant is that we cater our business to large stores with larger parking lits to satisfy car based businesses rather than anything else.
You don’t need density to create viable transit infrastructure, you need a will to move beyond cars as the default and only perspective. You don’t need a universal, one size fits all solution (this is what cars are touted as), you need a solution that suits the environment that its created within.
You don’t need a universal, one size fits all solution
And I wasn’t suggesting one.
But by the same arguement, bikes or mass transit are not a practical solution for every situation either. They ought to be an available and a usable enough option that people will want to choose them when they make sense, but they are also not a one size fits all solution.
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We don’t really have places to put them domestically, until we do a buttload of complicated and expensive land acquisition, and I wouldn’t want to try and sell HSR abroad built in a country that doesn’t really have much.
I’m sorry but I just don’t buy that. Canada built its original rail system coast to coast in the 19th century with a population of 4 million and a highway coast to coast in the 60’s with a population of 20 million. We can make HSR happen today with a population of 40 million. We just need some vision.
