Manifesto Multilinko
Interesting links and notes on updates to my main website.

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Sunday, January 21, 2007
Ottawa without a car


historian and journalist Goldwin Smith described Canada's newly minted capital as "a sub-arctic lumber village."

... The second-coldest capital in the world, we nonetheless manage to shed the more than two metres of snow and ice that accumulate over the winter so that we can enjoy a spell of scorching humidity.

Furthermore, compared to folks in larger Canadian cities, Ottawans have a lot of space between them. Ottawa's urban area, with just over 3,000 people per square kilometre, is only half as densely populated as Montreal's, while Toronto jams about 900 more souls than Ottawa into each square kilometre.

In short, Ottawa meets many of the criteria for a city in which owning a car is vital -- long periods of inhospitable weather, acres of land between points A and B, and no real rapid transit such as a subway by which to expedite the journey. Kanata's Centrum and Place d'Orleans shopping malls, for example, are separated by just over 40 kilometres, about twice the length of Manhattan. By car, the journey takes almost 30 minutes. On OC Transpo, the trip takes about an hour and 20 minutes.

emphasis mine

Ottawa Citizen - Shifting to under-drive - January 21, 2007

The above Citizen article has several profiles of Ottawa families living the car-free life.