Canada

Just because one step doesn’t get you to your destination, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take that first step.

But the first step shouldn't be to focus on car manufacturing... again.

Bikes aren’t practical in a large number of Canadian cities, especially ones with -30 degree seasons. They aren’t practical for disabled people. They aren’t practical for families with young children.

Says who? With the appropriate infrastructure (i.e. like what you see in Montreal), you can have cycling year-round. Hell, I'm not from Montreal, and have used my bike all winter for errands.

And last summer, I was hauling two grandkids around by bike. It's not hard.

Cars are unaffordable, and will continue to be for most people. Even families who can "afford" a car, are being hurt by their dependency.

And taxpayers all lose when cars are the focus of our transportation network.

A lack of road infrastructure also hobbles emergency services such as ambulances. It reduces the ability of trucks to deliver goods to stores. It reduces the ability for utility crews to service utilities such as power lines and sewers.

I didn't say we should reduce our roads to dirt paths and let it all crumble. But we don't need 18 lane highways or 2 lanes of parking on a four lane road... we are building too much to support gridlock by inducing demand.

Emergency vehicles and delivery trucks benefit by having FEWER drivers on the road. This is a fact.

There are a lot of potential issues with aggressively pursuing what you envision. At the very least you’d need to massively re-work city design and zoning, rebuild a ton of stuff. That will take time.

No, it really doesn't. What takes time (and money) is road widening, constant road repair, figuring out what homes to demolish to make room for another road we don't need to build.

Cities and countries that have de-prioritized cars have done so very quickly and with massive benefits to their communities. See Montreal, Paris, any city in the Netherlands, Vancouver, Columbia (the country!), etc.

It costs much less to build out cycling and public transportation, and it can be done much faster than building out infrastructure just for cars.

Shifting to electric cars will take less time, and be a net ‘win’ for the environment, generally speaking. I see no issue with the first persons response saying we should try to make evs in country.

That's not true at all. We don't need or want people making short trips in an EV. It still puts the community at risk (crashes), it still degrades the road surface, it contributes MORE to "tire dust", still keeps people inactive, still keeps the poor at a disadvantage, still removed "community" from our communities. It's just not a path forward.

I'm not saying we need an all-or-nothing solution. We need to rebalance our transportation network and make transportation more equitable and easier to access. There's no reason why the majority of Canadians can't walk, bike, or bus their way around town for the majority of their errands.

Edit: oops, replied to something else.

I agree that we should still be making as much as we can here, even if they are cars. But lets not make the same mistake we already have... by putting all our eggs into the automotive basket. Cars and car infrastructure are hurting this country.

Not OP - their smugness didn't help and you can use whatever means of transport you prefer. But to be fair, I do know people who have kids and use a cargo bike to do everything. This is a viable option for many city-dwellers. Sadly, we are still very car dependant in Canada for longer trips since rail between cities has been underinvested in and suburban sprawl is out of control.

Almost every trip inside cities, between cities, and even to some rural places could be done with alternatives to cars.

I know it can be hard to imagine a world where cars get minimized to filling a small niche role in a broader transportation system, especially when today most people in Canada and the US think cars are synonymous with mobility. Other countries have shown that car lite/free lifestyles are not only be possible with today’s technology, but desirable.

The alternatives are more space efficient - meaning less traffic congestion, they’re better for the environment, and people’s health and wellbeing.

Even if you’re one of the few who insists on keeping your car, wouldn’t it be nice to give safe, viable, and reliable alternatives to everyone else who doesn’t want to drive so they can get out of your way on the roads?

That and I'm still not convinced the cold doesn't ruin the batteries on these things. I keep my e-scooter indoors until the temperature is consistently above zero, which sucks in Canada.

Don't give them ideas they might try to socialize or worse... procreate

The problem with this argument is it's preventing infrastructure improvements for everyone else who CAN bike/walk/take the train/bus/whatever.
I don't bike because it's just not safe to do in my area due to car traffic and a lack of bike infrastructure. I would bike and take public transit more if I could.
The maybe 20% of people who are disabled or have other reasons to need a car (like moving large items) can continue using the now much less congested roads, while the rest of people are on alternative transportation.