yep, four wheels down to two feet

On Tuesday this past week I had dropped off C-Ling at my mother-in-law's house to then go to pick up V-8 from school; the highway was very much backed up so I was taking a few back road neighbourhood streets. At the corner of Stream and Bord-du-Lac, on Stream, I pull to the stop sign to turn right and I heard a loud clunk sound. Immediately following that sound the accelerator pedal did nothing to move the van. The engine and power systems were all still operational, however, it appeared that the transmission was no longer linked to the engine.

It had been snowing, but fortunately it had been melting on contact, so I was able to push the van further back on Stream so that when a tow truck would come, it wouldn't block Bord-du-Lac completely. Then I walked/transited back to my mother-in-law's house to have supper. I figured that calling the tow truck at a time of day that the highway was backed up would mean the tow truck could take a long time. Around 20h I walked/transited back to where the van was, called for the tow, he came in about 20 minutes and we drove the van to the garage adjacent to my apartment.

I left the key to the van in an envelope that I left in the mail slot of the garage; on the envelope marking what went wrong. They called me around 11h on Wednesday to let me know there were a number of things wrong and as he started to get into the details I interrupted him to let him know that I would not be moving forward with the repairs, that I would scrap the van. The guy called me back about ten minutes later, a bit upset at having had to push the van into the garage and push it out; he figured he would have to charge me something; I was okay with this, it was a snowy day so it likely wasn't an easy task to push the 2000kg vehicle. I left work taking the 12h30 train, went to the garage to pay for that effort and retrieved the key.

I had looked up what to do with dead vehicles and found two separate options. The first was a junker who paid cash for the vehicle, the second, Kars4Kids that takes vehicles and issues an income tax receipt for the donation. When I got back to my apartment I called the first one, they were not available to come that afternoon, so then I decided to go with the second. Kars4Kids did not actually need me to be there so it is being managed by the garage. Today (Friday) the towing company that works with Kars4Kids will come to pick up the van.

So, now that I am carless, there are a few things I need to consider.

G-Bot and C-Ling both have unlimited transit cards already, so if we need to travel almost anywhere local, we can transit there. There will be exceptions, in which case family, friends, taxi or Uber could all play a role. V-8 at 10yo has had no need of a transit card, however, now that I am carless, it would make sense to get her one. During the holidays, transit is free in the city for kids 12 yo or younger, so she and I will go into the city to get her a student transit card and I will load it up. Instead of a monthly unlimited pass, I'll just load cash on it for individual fares, and reload it as needed. I will keep it with me as she will only ever transit with me, and this way she won't lose it.

In a regular week there are a couple of occasions where I have needed to drive the kids. Every Monday I would pick the two girls up from choir practice at 20h and also a third girl whom I would drive home (she lives in a direction opposite the church from where I live). I won't be able to drive her home any more. Similarly, on Tuesday nights, V-8 has Girl Guides that ends at 20h15; however, there is the 203 bus that runs right by where Guides takes place and where I live. The bus passes by that location at 20h and at 20h30, so if we putz around we can catch the 20h30 bus home.

On a more sporadic basis, C-Ling has a friend who lives in Ville St-Laurent that I have gone to pick up late on a Friday, or early on a Saturday, to bring her home. On an exceptional basis I could order an Uber to take her home; or, though it takes considerably longer, she can transit home.

There are a few trips during the year that I would probably just rent a car. Going away for MLW, going to a Spartan Race, going to Family Camp.

I'm going to try and keep close tabs on how much I spend in 2020 for V-8's transit, Uber trips, renting cars and any other transit related expenses to see how, dollar-wise, it compares to car ownership. I just a few moments ago called to cancel the insurance I had had on the van; in the next few days I will take care of cancelling the registration for the van. There will be no more fuel payments, no more maintenance payments, no more having to clear snow off the car, or scrape ice off the car. No more having to find parking in situations where I have to find parking.

It is true that having a car is way more convenient, as at any time I could go anywhere, however, with the environmental costs of driving, with the climate crisis well in hand; my care for the environment that my children will inherit trumps the convenience that personal car ownership entails.

My wife and I still have a house to sell, and once it is sold I could opt then to buy a car outright with the proceeds of the sale, but we'll wait and see if I do this.