cooker

I had a different experience of Winnipeg than Machka, in that I lived in an older, inner "suburb" that would be considered urban by current standards. Even so, it's not as easy to minimize car use there as it is in my current situation. There's no subway and although the bus system is not bad, the city has a somewhat radial design and is carved up by rivers, so it would quite take a long time to go to some of the different places around the city that might require transfers and a roundabout route. As well, perhaps being less hardcore than her, I don't cycle on ice or snow, and the winter is a lot colder and windier and longer there than here. So you could freeze your posterior on the bike or at the bus stop.

So it wouldn't be my ideal site for LCF.

I think LCF would have been quite feasible where I live now, although still a bit inconvenient. We live within sight of all grades of good public schools, and all amenities are within 1-2 km, or accessible by subway which is 1 km away. None of my kids were interested in organized sports, and we had a piano teacher who came to the house, and guitar lessons were about 1 km away - we often did drop the kids off and pick them up by car, but we could easily have done it on foot or by bike if we opted not to own a car. From fairly early on they got quite comfortable getting around on their own and two of them are into their 20s and 30s and still don't drive.

I see cabs, and ride sharing and hailing services, as something to be used extremely rarely - I would almost always use the bike, walking, or public transit. So far this year I have used a cab in Toronto for one event - going to a banquet with my wife in formal clothes so we could drink, and in 2016 three of us shared a cab to and from my son's wedding for the same reason and I used one once to come home from work that year, as I felt ill. If you're going to go car-free or car-light, do it, don't just substitute a different kind of car.

If I had a cottage or ski chalet that I went to multiple times a year I would want to own a car, but since I go to a resort about twice a year, I either rent a vehicle or find shuttle services from the airport etc.