A Car Free Life: Travel

This is part of an ongoing series of what it is like to live a “car-free life”. Having recently sold my car and not having regular access to one, I’ve chosen to share my experience and thoughts on things that are relevant to this lifestyle. You can find the growing list of articles here.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Montreal for a week with a stop on the way home in Toronto. While I have made this trip a few times in the past this time was a little different, this time I made the trip entirely without driving a vehicle. While this feat on it’s own isn’t anything spectacular, as students and business people do it on a regular basis, I thought it might provide a good opportunity to look at the differences when traveling by personal automobile or otherwise.

The Compaison

In all my previous travels to Montreal where I stayed in the city for a period of time (does not include layovers) I’ve driven to/from the city. These drives have been long, rather boring and filled with pit stops for gas, food and leg stretches. During these trips the car I drove was parked at the hotel and used many times throughout the day to shuttle myself and friends around the city.

This time around Via Rail was taken to and from Montreal/Toronto filled with hardly any stops that were beyond 5 minutes. There were no pitstops for gas, bathroom breaks, food or leg stretches as I could accomplish all of these aboard the train. While in the city I took public transportation to get to whereever I went and used Bixi bikes for many of the excursions I was on.

The trip from my home to where I stayed in Montreal according to Google is 722kms. If we look at transportation costs alone, as we can assume all other costs would have been identical, in terms of hotel, food, entertainment etc., we can create a comparison between traveling with a car and without.

With a Car

If we (my girlfriend and I) still had a car it would have been the 2001 Pontiac Sunfire that we just got rid of. This car got roughly 500km/tank of gas (highway driving) and cost +/- $65 to fill the gas tank at current gas prices. This works out to about $190 in gas for the round trip, not including transportation needs while in Montreal or Toronto.

Parking for our vehicle while in Montreal and Toronto was $25/night at the hotels we were staying at, so our 6 night stay would have cost us $150 in parking fees at our hotels alone.

I’m going to factor in another $30 for gas to cover transportation while in Montreal and Toronto and another $75 to cover parking cost at some of the attractions we ended up seeing (I’m very sure that this number should be much higher, but I’ll low-ball it for now.)

This means that transportation based on the car we would have taken would have cost roughly $445

*note: I should make note that the cost calculated above does not include car insurance, maintenance or the cost & hassle associated with any emergency repair or accident that might have taken place. *

Without a Car

Heading to Montreal and Toronto we chose to take the train. Typically this would have been expensive trip, however, Via Rail had a sale on (more thoughts on this below) that meant a round trip ticket for 2 people with a 2 day stop in Toronto cost us only $350

While in Montreal we made use of Bixi Bikes to get around for the time we were there ($24 total) and rode the subway a couple of times ($12), walking the remainder of times.

While in Toronto we took a cab one evening ($30), street car another day ($12) and walked the rest.

This meant that transportation without a car cost us about $428

So what does this mean? It costs almost the same to travel with or without a car to Montreal if we look solely at the monetary costs but if we take a moment though to consider other variables we’ll see that the cost isn’t exactly the same.

Time

On paper the amount of time it takes to get from London to Montreal is a little quicker by car than by train, however, if we take into consideration other elements of a trip (stops, delays, traffic etc.) we might start to see that taking the train (and certainly a plane) is more time effective.

There is certainly no denying that Via Rail has been known to have hold ups from time to time, but I’d argue that these hold ups aren’t as consistent, long or damaging to a travellers schedule compared to rush hour traffic in Toronto, an automobile crash on the 401, or bad weather than can hamper driving. I would argue that travel by train removes many of the factors that might delay a persons travel from London to Montreal.

Now this isn’t to say that you can’t avoid rush-hour traffic in Toronto by leaving at 4:30am from London, that you can’t get around traffic jams by taking the paid toll routes, and that there are ways to avoid collisions on the highways if you pay attention to traffic news, but I think all things considered travel by train is a little more reliable when overall time is considered.

Stress

For someone who hates driving there is something that I always found relaxing: driving to and from Niagara Fall during the middle of the evening by myself. There was something about this that I enjoyed so much. Perhaps it was the opportunity to think and have clear thoughts, be without the worry of a traffic jam (or idiot drivers) or the opportunity to be on an open road without any traffic lights or stop signs. There was something about this drive that I absolutely loved.

Beyond this I find driving to be stressful.

While I know for a fact that driving is something that many people enjoy I know that there are others like me who absolutely hate it.

From the stupid drivers that shouldn’t have their license, to the weather, the traffic jams, poor road conditions and whatever else you want to add in, driving is a stressful experience that I try to avoid at all costs. This is why any option other than me driving is a big win not only while travelling but during the day to day as well.

So whether it was train, plane, bus or bike, I wouldn’t have chosen to travel by automobile if my life depended on it. I made that mistake a few years back and never will again.

For Consideration

Before someone makes a comment about the price I paid for our Via Rail tickets and the fact it was a sale let me say the following.

First, anyone who pays full price for anything is a sucker. Fact. With the profit margins on almost anything we purchase in life, you’re stupid to not hunt to try and find a price that is better than what is advertised. There are certainly times when this is unavoidable but these times should be avoided at all costs.

I’ve never paid full price for a transportation ticket of any type and those who have paid more no doubt have more money than brains or don’t know how to plan a trip.

Second, Via Rail standard rates are overpriced and this has been shown in the way the conduct their sales.

When rates are at their regular price Via fills only a portion of the seats on their trains, however, when their rates are offered at a discount, 40-50% off they sell out. This is a sign that their rates are too high and they should be dropped.

If Via were to lower their rates even by 20% I imagine they would see an increase in overall ridership and as a result increased profits even after charging less for tickets.

So while someone might make the argument that our tickets were on sale and they should have cost $700, a) we would never have made the trip b) are not stupid enough to pay full price.

Conclusion

I in no way hide the fact that I hate driving, I always have and I most likely always will. However, when you consider other factors such as time, stress and relaxation in addition to monetary costs I think a good argument can be made that travelling without a vehicle while on vacation (in this circumstance) is the most ‘cost’ effective and a better option all around.

There is no doubt that driving to and from Montreal offers perks of its own: the ability to work around your own timetable, the opportunity to stop along the way to check out other cities and places, or the chance to save some money if you have a fuel efficient vehicle. There are also certainly times when it makes more sense to drive; shorter trips, ones where you can carpool or where you need to bring a great deal of luggage/gear with you.

In the end I think the choice to travel with or without a car is based on a number of factors, however, when I think about vacation, relaxing and getting away from the everyday life that I am exposed to, the last thing I personally would want to be doing is driving if that is what I normally do on a day to day basis.

Travelling like living a car-free life comes down to personal preferences and there isn’t any one answer. For me, travelling without a car is much more effective and meaningful even if the monetary costs do come out slightly higher, yet for another person it could be very much the opposite. What I hoped to illustrate more than anything was illustrate what the differences in cost are, monetary and otherswise, if you choose to drive or not while on this vacation.