Finally Driving

Growing up in Alberta I understood early on that adults had to drive everywhere they wanted to go. Grocery stores were far away, transit was impractical and walks through the city were made impossible by big highways. In some areas, sidewalks had not even been put in when the community was founded. There's no point in a sidewalk if there's nowhere to walk. So like most Albertan teenagers, I took the written test for my learner's permit at fourteen and started driving on my own at sixteen. I drove to school because it would take me fifteen minutes, rather than an hour and a half to get there.

I worked as hard as possible to avoid taking Calgary transit. I learned that it was faster for me to rollerblade the forty-five minutes to work from my dad's place than it was to take the bus. So I rollerbladed. I rented an apartment downtown in an effort to completely avoid using Calgary transit. I mostly rollerbladed or walked to work at Eau Claire market from 17th Ave. I had somewhat found a way to get by without a car. Although now the bus ride to visit either my mom or my dad seemed even longer than before.

When I moved to Montreal, I discovered, first of all, how lucky I was in Calgary to have roads flat enough to rollerblade. It's just is not possible here. Except in Westmount where the streets (should be) paved with gold. Having only one community with roads worthy of rollerblading does little to encourage me to take them out of their box. I also realized that older cities were set up so that you didn't need a car. I could walk to the grocery store and for two dollars have them deliver the groceries to my door (a service not available in Calgary). The dep (convenience store) is always close enough to walk and would be inconvenient to drive to. I live 7 bus minutes out of downtown Montreal and that bus comes every five minutes. If I were to drive, it would take me longer to find parking than it does to take the bus. After nearly six years in Montreal, I am still proudly car free, as are most of my friends. But lately I'd starting getting that itch. Being car-free has prevented me from snowboarding in the winter and from week-end trips to the country. There are ways of getting up there without a car, but they take planning and I'm not much for that. So as thoughts of buying a car began to creep into my head, someone told me about a Quebec organization called Communauto.

This is brilliant. You pay a 500$ deposit to the company, refundable at any time after the first year. Then you select an annual package according to how much you expect to drive. There are cars parked across the city at 187 different locations, available for pick-up any time of day. All you have to is go online and reserve at your choice of location when you want the car. The hourly rate is 1.55$, and you pay 0.16$ -0.29$ per km, depending on the annual package you chose (for the first 100km, then the price goes down). The annual packages range from 35$ to 350$. So take the car to work the other day, I paid 12.40$ for an eight hour rental, plus 8.00$ for mileage. The price of gas and insurance are already factored into the prices, so I don't have to worry about it. If anything goes wrong with the car I'm not responsible for the cost of repairs. There are four pick-up locations within a ten minute walk of my apartment, so if the cars are already booked out at one place, I've got at least three other places to rent from. Out of town rates are cheaper per km and more expensive per day, but still by far the cheapest way of getting to and from Toronto. Especially considering the cost of gas is included. So I have my car booked for a few Costco shopping days and to pick up the new desk we just bought. Apparently Communauto is the most extensive car share network in North America, but other cities also have smaller ones happening. The program also has offices and pick-up locations in Laval, the South Shore, Quebec city, Sherbrooke, Levis and Gatineau. I'm so excited that I no longer have to bribe, blackmail and threaten my way into rides to IKEA!! And I can make my way to the mountains up north all by myself... not that there is any snow this year. At least I can still hang out at the spa.