The Only* Car-Free Neighbourhood in Canada (and why you can't live there)
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- čas přidán 22. 06. 2024
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Just off the coast of Toronto, Canada's largest city, you'll find a group of 15 small car-free islands. These are unique in Canada, because they have the only* car-free neighbourhood in the whole country. But just in case you thought you'd like to live here: you can't. There is a waiting list and strict rules for home ownership, which begs the question, why can't we build more of these places today?
In this video I explore the history and present of the Toronto Island, and talk about other car-free places in the world that I'd also like to cover in future videos on Nebula.
*there is actually another car-free neighbourhood in Canada, Harrington Island, but it's extremely remote and nobody goes there so that doesn't count. :)
If you're already on Nebula, my Giethoorn video can be found here: nebula.tv/videos/notjustbikes...
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Credits, References, and Additional Information
Honouring a humble yet popular device
The Globe and Mail
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...
Ultimately David Dennis came up with the first design for the post and ring bike rack, but Jack was apparently involved in the initial ideas, and was responsible for the popularization of it for sure.
Timbits by Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine - Own work, CC0
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Historical photos of Toronto Islands:
digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects...
torontothenandnow.blogspot.com...
torontoguardian.com/2016/05/v...
www.wikiwand.com/en/Toronto_I...
Map of Toronto Harbour, 1857:
By Hodder, Edward Mulberry, 1810-1878 - www.flickr.com/photos/interne...
Source book page:
archive.org/stream/harbourspo...
No restrictions
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
TORONTO UNDERWATER TUNNEL WALK - From The Island Airport To The City 100 Ft Beneath Lake Ontario- 4K
TheKenContinuum
• TORONTO UNDERWATER TUN...
Kids, including adopted children, can inherit Toronto Islands’ exclusive and restricted homes
Toronto Star
www.thestar.com/life/homes/20...
Sidewalk Toronto project loses privacy expert over data anonymization policy
StateScoop
statescoop.com/sidewalk-toron...
Digital privacy concerns will follow Sidewalk Labs to next venture, says former consultant
StateScoop
statescoop.com/ann-cavoukian-...
Sidewalk Labs cancels plan to build high-tech neighbourhood in Toronto amid COVID-19
CBC News
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...
Includes licensed stock footage from Getty Images
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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:37 The Toronto Islands & how to get there
1:45 Quiet cycling
2:06 An aside about asphalt
2:35 Amenities on the Islands
5:21 The history of the Islands
7:52 The convoluted agreement
8:56 Why can't more people live car free?
10:19 Sidewalk Toronto
11:03 Autoluw in the Netherlands
11:42 More car-free & autoluw places
12:20 What is Nebula?
13:07 Nebula
14:02 Patreon shout-out
![Eminem - Houdini [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/22tVWwmTie8/mqdefault.jpg)
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I love car-free places, and the world needs more of them! The Giethoorn video is available here, on Nebula: nebula.app/videos/notjustbikes-the-dutch-town-with-canals-instead-of-roads-giethoorn
Next, I'm going to be talking about some of the *new* autoluw neighbourhoods that are being build here in Amsterdam; because it's not just old places that can be car-free!
Let me know what other low-car, car-free, and autoluw neighbourhoods you think I should cover as well.
Ghent has a low car area
You should look at Mackinac Island in northern Michigan.
On most of the islands (especially the smaller ones) in the german north sea there are no cars ( exempt for firetrucks and that kind of stuff), which makes them just versions of what is described in that video and makes them pretty relaxing especially for a tourist place.
York in North Yorkshire England has a car free city centre and a famous alleyway called the Shambles.
The merwede kanaalzone in Utrecht. Its being build as we speak. The project icludes 6000 homes for +- 12.000 people. The vision and developmantplans are availeble at the site of Gemeete Utrecht
I grew up in a small town in Switzerland and about ten years ago they decided to make a small part next to the old town (which was already car-free) car-free. And I remember how a lot of people in my extended social circle hated it because "but then I can't park there anymore and I'll have to walk further if I want to get groceries", but now it has completely shifted and everyone loves it that there is just so much more space for events, but also cafés and markets. I haven't heard a single person complain about it since then. I would never wanna go back
It is important having something that is better then parking
Hey fellow Swiss person, may you enlight us what town you mean? Greetings from car-centric Zurich
@ghost mall Did car companies pay you to type that?
@@kittykittybangbang9367 i think you misunderstood his message. He's pro making places car free. Because even though people will initially oppose it since it isn't what they're used to, they will learn to love it.
@ghost mall poor comparison. Why would people love the lack of the headphone jack port? It changes nothing if you don't use it anyway but it sucks if you use it
I feel like we managed to stop just a few laws short of the car industry managing to make owning a car mandatory for every adult.
Car ownership is de facto mandatory in North America:(
The car industry is responsible for making jay walking an offence.
Just barely, considering most jobs won't hire you if you don't have your own car, and in right-to-work states, they're perfectly allowed to do that or fire you if something happens to your car (even if you can still get to work).
The default ID is the drivers license in North America.
Stop with the mandates!
3:27 "There's even a disc golf course for both people who know how to play disc golf" had to rewind to make sure i heard that right & laughed my head off
In Delft (Netherlands) where I use to live, they decided 25 years ago to make a part of the city centre ‘autoluw’ (cars can enter the centre only with permission, like for distribution). Nobody believed that it would be a succes. Well 25 years later it is and most of the old citycentre is carfree now. It’s great for bikes and pedestrians. You can park your car outside the centre in new parkings. Better is to use you bike.
We have a similar thing here in Oulu, Finland. The centre is bouleward. Distribution cars for cafés and shops come early in the morning. There is a car park cave system underneath. You can get close to anything by car if you need to. But the busses go right through the centre, there are bicycle parking everywhere, the centre is so small everything is within ~1 km walking distance. Train station and intercity-buss station are within walking distance from the centre.
There are new residential areas being built where every apartment does not have its own designated parking spot, in stead there are a few spots to lease and a shared vehicle or few that the housing co-operative owns.
They should have banned all delivery and emergency vehicles as well. Deliveries and emergency runs can be accomplished by bicycles or horse drawn wagons.
Ooh Netherlands! While it's not completely car free, I still love just how walkable Amsterdam is.
We need more car free places! I didn’t know this existed in Toronto, it looks like such an enjoyable and relaxing place to be. Loved the video!
The video is still yet to premiere, how can you have already watched it?
It was released a few days ago to Patreon and Nebula:
nebula.app/videos/notjustbikes-the-only-carfree-neighbourhood-in-canada-and-why-you-cant-live-there
ah of course, that makes sense. Currently not in the financial situation to afford the luxury of paid subscriptions or donations, so I'm just glad you also make free videos ^_^
We honestly don't need cars in suburban and urban areas. Americans need to stop being lazy.
@@nienke7713 I typically don’t donate to channels, but I have seen NJB videos change the conversation and attitudes for the town I work for and others. Honestly the donation is not much but I had to support what I could knowing the difference these videos can make!
I’m so glad that someone brought up Toronto island, but you missed something really interesting about it. There is an elementary school run by the TDSB on the island and I went there from nursery to grade 5, although it does go to 6th grade (not the school you showed in the video, everyone there considered that more of a daycare). It was a weirdly fascinating experience because basically all the people who worked and attended the school did not live on the island. When I went there I think only about 5 islanders worked as staff and there were maybe 10 islander kids who attended, but there were about 300-ish kids in total. It is still run due to the fact that it is extremely convenient for parents who worked downtown to just drop their kids at the ferry each morning and have the ferry bring them back for pickup. So many strange things about going to school on the island, especially since it used to go up to the 8th grade apparently. They use the other half of the building as a sort of sleep away camp space experience that different TDSB schools will partake in during the year. I’d advise people look it up, schools on Toronto island have a strange and fascinating history! Honestly this video just made me really nostalgic!
That is so funny! Thanks for sharing this story :) I would have never imagined that a school on the island would be convenient for mainland parents, but there you are.
I did the sleepover camp experience with my mainland TDSB school! It was amazing
I also did the sleepover experience with my mainland TDSB school. I feel like much of the grade 1-6 curriculum in the TDSB focuses on nature and the environment and it wasn't unusual for kids to be sent to schools like this for a week or two all over the province. Funny how we just abandon all that love for car-free living upon reaching adulthood.
omg i went to the camp there with my school in grade 5 or 6!
I graduated from grade 8 back in the 60’s, then only island kids attended the school, only the teachers came from the city side on a tug. I was their when it was renovated to become the Island Science School. Every Friday the kids in grades 7 and 8 had to go over to Jesse Ketchum for industrial arts and home economics. It was a childhood like no other and it had an incredible influence on peoples lives and creativity. It was such a positive place to grow up. Sadly, the way homes are sold means there are not as many children there any more. I feel privileged to have been there before everything was torn down at Centre Island, It used to be such a vibrant community and the Toronto Parks Department did a terrible thing to both the islands and the city……….they paved over paradise and put up a big cement planter and Centreville.
I am from the island, Ward's specifically. It was weird seeing my neighbours in this video! I really appreciated the content, this is one of the best descriptions I've heard from a non-islander.
My only quibbles are that you missed the Island Public School (for kids too old to attend the Montessori pictured in the video) and that you mainly showed Algonquin (as someone from Ward's I have to call it out). Great video!
I love places like that here in Miami beach we have now 25 block major bike lane.
Hi, Ward's Island. Be seeing you tomorrow with the grand kids!
I see several comments discussing car-free experiences in Canada, and would like to add another location to the list here: Since covid started, Banff AB has been closing off their famous main street (and bow valley parkway) to car traffic every summer and using the road for pedestrian traffic and outdoor dining and whatnot. I have been visiting Banff frequently for almost my entire life and I never ever enjoyed it as much as I have when visiting it during the car-free times. I remember being blown away by how incredibly quiet it was, and how it just felt so much more peaceful and laid-back. It felt like how a picturesque mountain town is supposed to feel. I make it a point now to visit specifically during those car-free months because it's just a better experience in every conceivable way.
I just came back from Banff (I'm Edmontonian). I loved the permanent car-light (autoluw), sidewalk-level street. Walking from shop to shop was a breeze. The only issue was that although it is clearly a pedestrian-focussed place, people in vehicles still thought they owned the road and had zero patience for pedestrians or bicycles.
Here in Edmonton there are city proposals for autoluw but I fear people will still floor it in their F-350's. I think car-free has to be the way to go for now, at least here in oil-snorting Alberta.
I'm actually in Banff right now for a ski vacation and now I'm imagining the place if it were car-free... Oh that would be so nice.
The bus shuttle only operates until 5 or 6 pm.
This is good to know. I'd like to visit Banff and a car free experience would be cool.
I think that is fine to have it temporarily or seasonal where there is some car freeness but not completely and totally. Small areas going completely like that is fine IF the residents are good with that and it doesn't make a hassle to those that do business there either.
It’s so sad that so many neighborhoods around the US and Canada are strangled by these car-centric laws and regulations. How do we even go about effecting changes to these regulations? And what can we do to encourage these kinds of developments?
call your representatives when such regulations come up and participate in the government to get those regulations to pop up on their agenda
Also cite some good research about how car centric vs. people centric infra affect everything.
Get involved in local politics. That's where these laws are made.
@@ratchet1freak what’s the point? every municipal election is rigged and pre-determined and i don’t think addressing a corrupt bureaucratic group is gonna make them listen enough.
VOTE OUT the morons who refuse to change them. that's how.
That's the fun part: You dont. The majority of the politicians are on the car and oil industry payroll, so you can spend your entire life on it, nothing will really change.
You north americans will level entire latin american countries for lithium to power electric cars before you leave your fucking car addiction.
This is the major problem with car-dependency, it's compulsory. I would love to live in a neighbourhood without cars, unfortunately, despite all that so called freedom, we cannot opt out of car-dependency, car manufactures and big oil will keep their grift going until Canada is bankrupt, and we are left with broken streets, immobility, pollution and environmental destruction, and that's a cost more than we can bear.
Actually, asphalt damage being caused by cars is also a misconception. It is caused by large trucks. Most cars don't weigh enough to cause appreciable damage to properly built roads (1600kg or 400/wheel). 99% of the damage is done by heavy vehicles weighing in at as much as 50,000kg or 3000/wheel.
Think about the pain difference dropping an apple on your foot vs a brick.
thank you. I didn't agree with that either.
And isn't it also how the roads are built and what they are made of?
Don't they build with better material in some places like Europe? Heard they use cement.
@@marlak4203 Cement roads are more durable but they have other drawbacks. In Canada, we use cut roads on highways mostly now (they cut grooves like tire treads into the road surface with saws) and they are pretty strong but they perform amazingly well in heavy rain and winter conditions. I haven't seen it on city streets though (i guess the cost isn't worth it for lower speeds)
@@Idiomatick
Ooo they need to bring that to the midwest, please. ☺
The engineer in me is like. Buses and Trucks do all the damage!
@@Idiomatick Although weight is a contributing factor, it's usually weather that is the reason for damage. Thermal expansion and contraction due to heat and cold adds stresses to asphalt. Any vehicle going over stressed asphalt will cause wear eventually leading to potholes.
You got me interested in visiting the Netherlands and 3 times now when I've told people, they've said "You watch Not Just Bikes, don't you?" Thank you for this. I think I need to make the housing crisis here worse and move here
One interesting example of car-light areas around the US are big college campuses. I look back fondly on my time at ASU walking around the Tempe campus, as there were only a few roads through it and most of the rest was only people walking or on bikes with the occasional utility vehicle slowly rolling through. It was so relaxing to have an area the size of a few city blocks without the noise, fumes, or danger of car traffic, especially at night when the crowds thinned out. Living away from school now I wish I had something like that again.
Yeah, college campuses are some of the only low-car places left in America!
My favourite is the University of California at Davis. There is an excellent Streetsfilm about Davis. Here in Ontario, the usual suspects predicted that the sky would fall when McMaster University in Hamilton went car-free. Spoiler alert: It didn't.
I've been thinking about this same thing. Great mix of facilities too, and plenty of interest-based community groups (clubs etc) - naturally it comes at a cost, but some people can pay it. If we could build campuses like that instead of gated communities, I'd be interested. But sadly this kind of environment isn't for sale unless I become a student again.
I feel this pretty hard as well. I currently live in the downtown of a major city but am scheming ways to make my career work while living adjacent to a college campus in a smaller town.
Western University in “Fake London” is moving in that direction. Definitely a strong case to be made for the campus going vehicle-light (though some legitimate concerns have been raised). I’m not sure where they are in the rollout, but I hope it’s still moving forward without too much having been clawed back.
There's actually another car free neighbourhood in Canada. It's called Eagle island in West Vancouver, BC. Its a small island with around 30-50 residences that are all connected by footpaths, trails and a tiny seawall. Most of the houses are very expensive
After watching this video I actually did a quick search for “car free towns” and a good number popped up. It’s encouraging!
Nanaimo’s Protection Island, pop. 350, is car-light with unpaved roads and some use of golf carts.
Not a town so much as rich community
@@RadRafe was going to mention Protection Island as well. Bowen Island is a "less car" community, IIRC. Most people used to get around on bikes and leave their cars on the mainland, but that may have changed.
Is Barnston island considered car free?
Just want to give you a general thank-you. I had enormous troubles choosing a university study that is nice for me, and you tipped me over the edge to go for civil engineering. I'm so excited to be able to add to the wondrous system we have here in the Netherlands and to spread it to other countries! I have enjoyed every minute of every video that you made, all the way from when the first one came out. Thanks a lot!
FYI Engineers are not trained in designing social environments or anything to enhance the experience of human living beyond sanitation, utility, and safety. These videos are in the field of urban design, maybe you should look into that.
@@kevinwelsh7490 Ooh nice! Thanks a lot! I think there's a master available in that, but if there's also a bachelor, I would see that as a nice bonus!
Hah this channel convinced me to go to your country for university next year.
As a Canadian I learned something new today. I never new we had such a place. I am not a car free kind of person but I see no reason not to have areas/communities like this. Thanks for the video!
Exactly. Nothing is wrong about having places here and there. The problem comes in when they want to take already well established WHOLE cities/town, etc and revamp them to be virtually car free and of course most folks don't want nor need that. Nothing is wrong if all the shops and eats are close to you to walk but it is ALSO great to getaway. Does anyone want to "walk" from Toronto to Windsor?
Of anything more talk about transit should go on well before this 'no-car' stuff. At least once you have that going THEN you can convince people more.
In places like my country, 'fat-butt' America to just jump to 'no car' isn't going to go over well. What is to replace it?
@@marlak4203 literally no one wants to tear down entire highways outside of cities. You're making a straw man, and not even a good one
@@sahirde
Nah i wouldn't say there aren't people thinking that. There's folks like you guys in the midwest trying this stuff so I already know.
I personally don't see this doing much better as some think it would if it was to be as expansive as they'd like.
There's a ridiculously high demand for places free from cars and governments are doing everything they can to prevent that demand from being fulfilled.
It's the Free Market™ at work!
@@NotJustBikes If we just say it's a free market, maybe no one will notice all the regulations!
Thank you for helping me wake up to this stuff!
🙏
@@ichijofestival2576 The trick is to create a regulatory environment where the little guy can do whatever they want and the big guys are limited.
who's demanding this so much? What kind of people?
@@marlak4203 House prices being higher near subway stations prove demand
It was hard to pay attention to this video because I just kept daydreaming about the kind of car-free utopia I'd design if someone ever put me in charge of a city
In Ontario the car centric rules are mandatory for the city, set by the province. So ... We'd be really frustrated mayors.
I would only prefer it if I could build the city from the ground up. Supplying a city is what makes building car-free cities difficult at the moment but being able to build one greenfield gives the opportunity to cut out most of the hassle. In a perfect world I would design a city with a few distribution centres on the outskirts and have goods delivered by subway/underground. Building such infrastructure is neigh impossible in existing cities due to underground density of existing infrastructure (usually) and the project costs are huge (see the Amsterdam north/south line for instance). But building new, you can start from the lowest levels and build up, of course also adding autoluw/car free zones easily.
The place (small town in UK) I currently live in has a bunch of people very, VERY much against the building of a bypass, not because it would destroy houses/neighbourhoods (it wouldn't. It's just fields there) but because it would "reduce the business" coming to the centre of town. So now we have, instead, lorries barrelling along the main routes 24/7, and the tiny lanes in the old town always packed with cars. Considering one of the main assets of the town is its historic value, I can assure everyone that a quick way to make it more appealing to tourists would be building that bypass and closing the town centre (for all but residents and services; there's precedent for that across the UK). Oh, and building *any* cycling infrastructure (there isn't any at the moment. A few sad bike racks here and there. Not even any "painted gutters" (where would people park their cars if not on the side of the road??!?!).
@@gerbrandlub So basically the original EPCOT plans.
@@gerbrandlub Ontario won’t sell land to developers unless you’re an existing developer and/or you have the approval of the nearest town basically.
Holy Crap. I just wanna say my dad was born on Harrington Island. I grew up nine kilometers away in Chevery. So as a Coaster, I thank you for including the fact that there is no car traffic on Harrington. They all use ATVs (or four wheelers) as we call em.
I visited Harrington Harbour last summer! Very cool place. You were lucky to grow up in such a beautiful area.
I honestly feel that here in the US and likely in Canada as well, a huge portion of the respective population wishes to progress with smarter infrastructure. I do. Not even to eliminate the car perse, but to de-emphasize it to a significant degree. Re-introduce the importance of rail, biking, and walk-able urban planning. For the sake of the people, the climate, and ultimately the economy.
Unfortunately (at least in the US) the chasm between people's wishes and what the megalomaniacs in control do is uncrossable. They have likewise fully instituted political cults to defend their actions through ignorance and misplaced pride; and there is just no fixing this mess. Every single year more forest is destroyed for sub-divisions and highway while big oil profits and the citizenry suffer further. The climate erodes and we march closer and closer to our doom as a species. All in the name of the all mighty dollar.
I've been a die hard gear head all my life and I would love to live in one of these neighborhoods that I could easily walk or cycle around in. Traffic literally is a drain on society.
Yup. I completely agree.
Not forcing everyone to drive makes for less traffic for car enthusiasts
You can still have closed circuits to play around with cars without having the entire society's infrastructure revolved around them.
Hell, you could probably have a lot more race tracks, even public ones, if so much money wasnt spent in creating and maintaining shit like freeways.
Same here. I’m a gear head but I realize that car centric urban sprawl is not fun place to drive. I’d rather drive on a road than in a congested stroad.
@@Bramble20322 Even if I didn't wanna enjoy my car around a real circuit, I'd still be absolutely pumped about the fact that I won't have to drive everywhere knowing that I'm sharing 99% of the space with people who would have preferred not to be taking a trip to work in a traffic-infested 'highway' right now ('highway' in quotation marks because it blows me away how the 'fastest' and most-efficient form of road infrastructure a.k.a the highway, ends up collecting so much traffic anyways, in North America). Less cars on the road, even better for us. Heck, if the climate gains are enough, maybe we'll get to keep our ICE cars for what.... 5 more months after the 2030s? Haha.
Appreciate the Jack Layton shout-out, my love for Not Just Bikes has skyrocketed! Before gaining recognition in Canadian federal politics, Mr. Layton did a ton a great stuff for Toronto! Including supporting bicycle infrastructure. He was one of the good ones!
He was legitimately a great guy. His son (Mike Layton) is pretty good, too.
@@NotJustBikes Best PM we never had 😢
A Jack Layton Prime Ministership with Justin Trudeau as the Opposition Leader would've been perfect.
RIP jack layton, he was a good egg
@@NotJustBikes Minor quibble when you describe Layton as socialist. This is inaccurate. Layton encouraged his party to distance itself from socialism. He and the NDP represent the social-democratic wing of liberalism which favours class collaboration.
In Montreal it's very common for parents to bike to school with their kids. Although we tend to use trailers rather than cargo bikes. I think Montreal is a really interesting case study actually. It's a mix between the low rise/high-density living of European cities, and the walking/biking culture, but then also still has to deal with the car-centric, SUV and pick up truck car culture of North America. In the suburbs of Montreal, you will find the "missing middle" ie low rise condos, duplexes, townhouses, yet those suburbs are still car-dependent and ugly à la your Fake London. Good news is that since Covid they have been making more and more streets pedestrian-only during the summer.
It is a shame that all of the car free places in North America that I know off the top of my head were built before WW2... Maybe we'll have some new neighborhoods soon
Yeah, that would be nice, but I wouldn't hold my breath. They're building so many car-free neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. It seems to be the default, at least, near rapid transit lines.
You’re right, Alan; neighborhoods in LA’s Venice, Echo Park, Silverlake come to mind, but they’re literally a hundred years old!
Cul de sac Tempe in Arizona looks promising...
This is a great role model of a place (for US and Canada standards), especially for people that telecommute (like me). Now what it needed, if it's not already, is community-owned grocery store and garden. Ideally, have more people in trade occupation there as well, so that you can have a locally-made furniture and other non-luxury stuffs.
There are lots of people who make things for the community there. People work together to build things much more often than in other places. It's a great community. I know someone who grew up there.
Sounds great! I hope this place is left untouched. More people should aspire to live in communities like this, so that, hopefully, more could pops up. I'm more than eager to sacrifice the right of owning more than one home (not that I could afford it anyway) to live somewhere similar or better than this.
And even for people who can't telecommute, they end up favoring these places anyway. It's been shown that people who hate the commute the most are always car drivers. People who miss them the most? People who can actually bike and walk to work
I think the community is a bit too small to justify that but good idea. It's only a 15 minute ferry ride to the Toronto Harbourfront as well
As someone who lives in Verona I can confirmed that some of our streets are way too small for cars (especially big cars) and that sometimes drivers get stuck (and sometimes they deserve it)
you must watch the 1960s movie 'The Italian Job' starring Michael Caine. How to navigate your car through an Italian city.
I know a guy who has a summer home on a small private island off the east coast. All the residents have banned cars even though there are several paved and lit roads. It's absolutely gorgeous how easily all the travel paths and roads just become community/shared spaces. Large roads, sidewalks and houses that are placed far from the street are gross barriers of community interactions.
I was an aspiring car enthusiast who dreamed of owning a nice sports car one day. But ever since I became a huge fan of Not Just Bikes (and other urbanist CZcams channels), Im slowly beginning to dislike cars to the point I want to live car free eventually
Well, if you still want it, why not? Less cars on the road means more space for your enjoyment.
Commuting and driving for pleasure are two really different things.
I just work remote so I can drive my sports car at my own enjoyment rather than necessity.
@@fhujf owning a car for pleasure is peak consumerism
"For both people who know how to play disc golf"
I feel personally attacked.
The other guy is a bit earlier in the comments. Who would have thought that _both_ of you would be here today? 😆
@@NotJustBikes This video's easter egg: find the dsc golfers. That's 2
Haha same here. More people need to be exposed to the joy that is disc golf!
@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet there are dozens of us!! Dozens!!
"Why can't we have places like this for people who DO want to live car free?" In my experience talking to people who hate even slightly alternative-leaning developments, it's because North Americans' brains have been paved over by the hyperprominence of commodified residential real estate. They have a kneejerk reaction to see everything having to do with housing through the lens of scarcity -- if you do car-free neighborhoods what if they catch on and spread like wildfire and now I lose the ability to live in a place with a 50-foot setback and room for my two SUVs and ATV??
If houses are scarce you'll just end up with many renters and a ton of investors.
@@coastaku1954 True true, when they're mot rolling on top of me that is lol
@@coastaku1954 Cool, they are indeed fun but building cities around the ability to pile recreational vehicles in your driveway is no way forward
@@coastaku1954 ATVs are better for off roading though, we did see them in Greece and they were 10x worst than any other motorcyle.
It’s also all about the housing value. I get infuriated when people are tossing around legitiment improvements to the community like composting, bike paths, solar panels, dense housing, public transportation, community gardens, etc…and the response is “but that might hurt my house’s value so I don’t want to do it.” 😡
Another place that is very similar to this is Rottnest Island in Western Australia. A car-free (or low car) island with very few permanent residents and accessible only by ferry or private boat. It's really fun and enjoyable for the same reasons I think these islands are. Great video!
I’m noticing a trend that they’re all islands. I guess it makes outsiders less likely to try to waltz in and build a Walmart?
@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet There's a bunch of areas on the banks of the Hawkesbury river in Sydney with no or incredibly limited car access. Little Wobby, Prickly Point, Bar Point to name a few. There's also some Islands like Dangar and Milson.
when i was watching this i though about Mackinac island in Michigan USA there is not a single car there (except for the police, ambulance and other services) and it was nice me and my family went up there for a few days and it was nice and peaceful no matter were you go. it was the only time in my life were biking was the fastest and most popular way to get around and even though this was probably nothing like in the Netherlands it allowed me to see how good it would be to live there.
There's also a lot of horses which I don't see in some of these other car free areas.
The thumbnail just reminds me of that Tom Scott video about a city made for golf carts
Peachtree City. That was my first thought as well!
Yeah, I would love to check out Peachtree some day, but I have no idea when I will ever be in the US, when there are so many other countries in the world worth visiting.
As someone who CAN'T drive due to vision issues (even post surgery fixing a few issues and halting depredation in others? I have no real useable binocular vision. I can manage on a bike, but judging spacing on even a quad bike much less a fully enclosed car is a no go.)
I just want a place i can live damnit. Is that so much to ask?
I know, right? And yet people will used "what about disabled people!?" as an excuse _not_ to build walkable urbanism.
@@NotJustBikes It's almost like not every disability imposes the same limits or asks the same needs for accommodation.
@@singletona082 Plus, building walkable neighborhoods probably won't be any more of a hassle for those people who truly truly do need to be driven around by a car (Though I imagine there are less of them than one would think). It's always a concern of "but it'll do [this] and [that]" when in reality, no one's benefiting from or enjoying living in a place with excessive stroads, backwards zoning and the like. Maybe just the oil industry.
@@hamingnu6610 Funny how the auto industry that first went whole hog into pushing cars first to the poitn of having cities dismantle their public transit options.... have since gone bankrupt, had to be bailed out, and are internationally seen as a joke.
Im partially sighted atm and idk if i'd be even allowed to drive.
Since by british law your required to clearly read a licence plate from i think 20 or 30 meters away forgot how far exactly.
Yeah despite guide dogs existing car dependancy really forgets about the blind. Or anyone else who can't drive due to some kind of disability.
I was there. My favorite part was the closed off part of the island that lacks any humans. It's surreal how peaceful it is while looking over Toronto. If there's someone who lives there reading PLEASE ADOPT ME
Tom Scott visited a town in Georgia (I think it was Georgia) where in addition to roads for cars there is a huge network of roads for golf carts and bicycles. The parking lot at the high school looked much like you would expect, except the acres of vehicles weren't cars.
As Tom observed in the video, he was about to ask why more places haven't tried something like that when he realized that you can't just dip your toe in it: if the cart paths don't go _everywhere_ then people aren't going to buy a cart as their second vehicle, they'll buy a car. Only once it becomes possible to take a golf cart most of the places you want to go does a golf cart look like a wise purchase.
It’s sad that places like this and walkable quiet local street are often tourist attractions. so many people want to be/exist in that kind of space that the only way they can experience it is to travel to it far and few times, rather than having this environment be a part of every day life
@@ColonelGreen there are tourist attractions because they are nice. The are nice because they are car free.
@@ColonelGreen Well there is obviously a lack of old architecture if you build huge highways through a neighborhood.
A lot of us don't want this as part of our daily lives. Some places are just great to go to temporarily, not full time.
@@ColonelGreen thank you. that is it. Like Mackinac, its attractive due to the history and upkeep of the place, NOTHING to do with the transit.
@@marlak4203 Still, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be built. Why prevent people that DO want to live there?
Protection Island is a fairly similar small island off of Nanaimo, BC. It's residential, and the ferry to get there can't carry cars, so I believe it's either mostly or entirely car free. It's also immediately adjacent to a slightly bigger island which is a provincial park, and the two are so close you can easily walk between them at low tide. Campers on the park island will often walk across to Protection to get a beer at the pub there
Nice!
I came here to say this. There are some cars there and even a volunteer forestation but they are rare as you have to hire a barge to get the car on the island and you never get it off. Golf carts were pretty common.
Newcastle island is amazing and one of the best places in the world to camp if you like to wake up and hear a city but still pretend you are far away.
Easily the best part of Protection Island is how all its little parks are named after pirates
@@michaelqu If only. It's actually that it's protecting the harbor. I now want to go there and count all the cars that people have brought to an island with one road.
@@NotJustBikes the narrator infers that Protection Island is illegal.
I love how you threw in that clip at 8:00 cause... 99 year lease EH!
I was so surprised to see Rennes my city shown in your video! I don't have a car and still the whole city is reachable within 30 minutes either by bicycle or public transport. Oh yeah also we're about to become the smallest city in the world to have 2 subways :D
Nice! I have to visit some day.
Oh boy, with that and galette-saucisse (the SRFC chant made me aware of the dish, seems amazing) will have to surely visit someday! Bevet Breizh!
@@NotJustBikes Still very very far from dutch standards though >.> Some areas aren't perfectly designed, but it's going the right way so far :D
Sidewalk: “Let’s make a car-free neighborhood😇”
Everyone: 😍
Sidewalk: “But it’s also a mini surveillance state”
Everyone: 😒
@@neolithictransitrevolution427 Because the point is to allow people to walk there. If that is too uncomfortable for some, then there are plenty of other neighbourhoods they can move to
Interestingly enough, the pandemic erased the privacy concern. Facial recognition is easily defeated by wearing a mask.
@@kevinlove4356 nope, inventions go fast.
@@kevinlove4356 ears are all they need
Everyone: We hate the surveillance!
Sidewalk: Guess they hate the whole project, can't do anything about amending it, so we'll just drop it then.
Everyone: So basically it was never about urban planning and it was always all about the surveillance.
Sidewalk: 😘
There seemed to be a technical issue when you showed the nude beach, the footage got all blurred. 🤗
I suspect he got a bit to liberal with the suntan lotion, and smeared some of it on the lens. I'm sure that must be it.
It's just excessive vibration
I know a guy in his 20's who owns a house on the Toronto islands. Never thought much about it before but now I'm wondering how the hell he got that place. Must have been an inheritance...
Lucky guy!
I knew someone who lived there. There are a lot of inconveniences living on the island. You have to find a place to keep your vehicle on the mainland, groceries is a pain, kids getting to school, especially, once they get into high school, is a pain, He complained more about it than anything. I don’t think he stayed there too long. it’s good for retirees or people with no responsibilities, in my opinion. There’s a lot of hidden costs to live there
I like your commentaries and the sense of humor you got while being so informative at the same time. you've got yourself a new subscriber. 👏
Welcome aboard!
Reminds me of Suomenlinna naval fortress built on an island a few kilometers off Helsinki, which is also a popular tourist attraction/leisure spot for locals, and has several hundred permanent residents.
Same with the Koster Islands in Sweden
Suomenlinnalla tavataan.
We did have a place like that (but way smaller!) in Los Angeles California. It was inspired by its Italian namesake, Venice.
Walkable neighborhood with canals for streets and alleyways for deliveries. Unfortunately, it’s untouchable for ordinary people after being discovered in the 1980’s by celebrities.
The shot at 11:16 depicts a tiny "square" where the Poelestraat is intersected by the Peperstraat in Groningen, i.e. the shot wasn't made in Delft. Great video regardless!
Great video, once again, would love to see more 'autoluw' areas around the world. One minor mistake, the images of Delft were actually Groningen 😉
Yes, you're late to notice. Several people already commented. :)
It's because I swapped the clip part-way through editing and forgot to update the editor with the new city name. :)
@@NotJustBikes haha that one's on me then, big fan, can't wait for your next video
In Michigan we have a place with no cars(Not including emergency vehicles) and that is Mackinac Island but it would be very hard and difficult to live there year round
With no cars or without cars? Just asking, because i am not a native speaker of english.
I mis read this and thought it was a joke about michigans absolutely abysmal emergency vehicle budget
@@thematriarchy2075 without cars. There are no cars on the island
@@Jessmakani So correct way of saying it is ''without cars'' ?
@@thematriarchy2075 honestly both work but “without cars” sounds a bit better.
That cargobike by the school was made by my father here in The Netherlands (De Redding Bakfietsen). Cool to see it randomly pop up on the other side of the globe!
I spent many years cycling in Toronto there are many ravines, paths and back streets to avoid cars making the experience much more pleasant, love your work
Please do a video on Québec's tramway fight for existence. Such an event is so rare in North America.
Even québécois comedians have mocked the government on it being stuck in the 50s in term of urbanism and making a scandal out of a very small section where cars and the tramway would have to coexist.
Mackinac Island in Michigan is a lot like this. It's also a tourist attraction. Hey I think I figured out a formula for building a tourist attraction...
The Islands are a sanctuary here in Toronto. I love walking through the residential areas. Such a civilized place. . .
The real damage to pavement and structures is caused by expansive clays in sediment basins. They can exert a force of up to 20 tonnes per square meter, and self-excavate to the sides when overburden is too heavy. For reference, look at the annual infrastructural expenditures of a place like Houston, originally a center of farming in the sediment basin of central-east Texas, and Austin, which is constructed on exposed seabed carbonate bedrock.
Awesome video about one of Canada's best kept secrets, and that's some top drawer tunnel footage you found, there. ;)
Well, I was already at Centerville for the day, so it was a quick stop by Algonquin Island. :)
“And carrying heavy objects is no problem” Shows a man stealing a park bench
It's his park bench now
Sure but where's he going to go with it? Once his cottage and shed are full of park benches, there's no more space to hide more loot, yet nothing less will slake his lust. A tragic figure.
Nope, it’s his, the park benches are bigger and have cement ends.
The Toronto islands remind me of the Fire Island communities in New York where cars are not allowed (with limited exception of some residents and service vehicles). It's the closest one can get to visiting an old European city center near NY. The only way to get there is by Ferry, people bike and walk everywhere. It really feels like a different place.
Good to see you back! Hope you are doing/recovering well! Great video!
As soon as I saw the title, I knew it was the Toronto Islands. Great video!
Thanks!
I randomly visited a popular neighborhood near Bangkok in Thailand named Ko Kret, which is an island in the Chao Phraya river and is only accessible by a short boat ride. There aren't any roads in the island, except for paved paths for bikes and motor scooters. There were markets, temples, and houses only connected by ports and pedestrian paths. The people who lived there used to make a lot of pottery, and the ruins of the workshops are still there. It seemed magical and most of that was totally due to the lack of cars within an urban environment
This was fascinating to see! It's been years since I lived in the GTA and only once did I ever get out to the islands. Now I'm reminded of what I missed and what the world needs more of!! Great video!
after DECADES of living in Toronto, I have never seen anything so succinct and informative on the islands. THANK YOU! i loved it.
2:18 while road damage is primarily caused by cars, cold weather (or more precisely freeze-thaw cycles) do accelerate the wear and tear.
... only if the damage has been done by cars though. That's the point. Without cracks, water can't penetrate, and the weather is (almost) irrelevant.
@@NotJustBikes oh yeah, I agree. It's just in the video your statement could be interpreted as you saying that weather has no impact on road wear and tear, which wrong.
Could do a whole video on how recently thawed road base gets wrecked by the first truck that hits it. Thermal cracking is also greatly accelerated when a vehicle travels over the brittle asphalt. It helps that the roads on this island are designed for vehicles but only get bicycles.
i live in a car free village that has been through quite a tourism boom in the past years, and i find it funny to see people trying to explain and understand whats so different about this place that makes them love being here so much, but rarely realizing how much being car free is central for almost everything they love about the place, which is basically the unique feeling of freedom, care free and relaxation that you get when you're in the village, and its all allowed and reinforced by the ban on cars. i mean, how could people be so layed back and relaxed while walking around if everywhere you looked there was some car loudly buzzing around and acting as if they own the streets? but the car mentality is so much of an unquestionable reality to most people that they don't even realize the impact it has on their lives.
The NDP isn't really my party of choice. But when Jack Layton died I went to his constituency office after work to see the memorial that had been created and drove up to Ottawa to view his remains. I was actually one of the first people waiting for the remains of his arrival and stood pretty much dead centre at the barriers set up at the top of the stairs.
I'm a former Conservative, who turned NDP, because of people like him in the party.
your content has gotten extremely high quality and enjoyable. I thought you should know that
Edit: You sound slightly tired in this one though
Thanks, I appreciate it.
I saw it two days ago at nebula! Great video!
Love the video! Would love to see your take on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Had a lot of fun with my wife and parents kayaking around the islands and chilling on the beach. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Toronto
I enjoy your content dude. Keep it up.
Glad you enjoy it!
There are also Pictou Island and (for now) the Tancook Islands in Nova Scotia, which are accessible by passenger-only ferries during non-iced water conditions.
Awesome video! Great story! You should do one on Ohio’s Lake Erie Islands (especially Put-in-Bay and Kelleys Island) and Michigan’s Mackinac Island.
Oh man I want to live this way!
It's like a canadian version of Mackinac Island in Michigan but with less fudge and horses
Your channel has thoroughly convinced me that there is a better way to city planning and now that i have seen it i am upset about how my country has borked it all up.
Thanks for another informative video Not Just Bikes! :D
Yay! A new episode!!! Love it.
"If it is not sustainable, then it doesn't worth it"... Nice video, we need more of car free places. The air quality here should be excellent unless it is near an industrial area.
Anyone who thinks car-free neighborhoods are a bad idea will have to explain why all the existing car free infrastructure aren't straight-up desolate alleys 🥴
Living in a desolate alley doesn't sound too bad.
In spite of all the Chicken Littles saying that the sky will fall, approximately zero places that went car-free have ever regretted it.
@@jonwarland272 More variety wouldn't hurt; both types co-existing.
@@dbclass4075 "but but if you have car free neighborhoods it would spread like wildfire and the next thing you know they ban cars and i cant drive my monster truck revving the engines in the neighborhood!" -stereotypical american, probably
@@charlestonianbuilder344 "Outright total ban of cars is impractical, partly because roads already exist, but mostly it will be an economic suicide. Automotive industry contributes a sizable portion of the economy."
Seriously, these idiots revving loudly in residential areas in early hours of morning does little in helping the car community's reputation.
Excellent video! Keep up the good work :)
Thank you very much!
Great video! There is Ile Dorval in the Montreal area also, mostly car-free and only accessible by ferry, but it is smaller.
The only reason I have a car is because without one life would be incredibly difficult. Especially before more jobs started doing remote work. There was only one place I lived where I could walk safely to the grocery store. Every other place was either in the middle of nowhere with no public transit or had way to much traffic or both. It is incredibly frustrating
And that is another good point. What about dangerous neighborhoods? Walking all around that? No. You don't want that. The people would REALLY go off on that. Why do that. Folks will steal the bikes, take parts, etc for the little transportation you have. And for people who are disabled or can't walk or so.
@@marlak4203 you do know I am not arguing in favor of cars, right?
@@Piterdeveirs333 Okay So then do you have an idea of what would be a good alternative for people living in bad neighborhoods?
@@marlak4203 Wouldn't people who are disabled or can't walk couldn't drive either? For bad neighborhoods, short-term solution is increased police presence. Long-term solution would require identification of what causes bad neighborhoods. Homelessness? Solve the housing crisis by allowing more variety of housing types: czcams.com/video/CCOdQsZa15o/video.html Drugs? Utilize harm reduction approach that Swiss did: czcams.com/video/wJUXLqNHCaI/video.html
@@dbclass4075
There are ways to modify cars for wheelchair users, people with one arm, etc., but it's often a moot point. If you can't even afford to rent a room in a shared unit because you live off of Ontario Disability and for some reason the government expects you to live off of like half of what CERB was set to (which was 2000$, what the government figured was the bare minimum to cover basic essentials like food and shelter), there's no way you'll be able to afford a car and its associated expenses - especially if that car needs to be modified for accessibility reasons.
I lived on Algonquin island back in the 1980's and yes, it's as great as it sounds. Had co-workers who really disliked the islanders but were really just secretly jealous that they didn't live there.
that dig at disc golf was a real banger. i loled good.
Hey Jason, just did get time to watch this episode. You used a now familiar phase, "Because cities aren't loud, cars are loud." I was thinking about that line just this morning! Love these car free neighborhoods!
living in somewhere like this woule be a dream keep great video
I know, right? I would love to live there. Or somewhere like it.
To make the long story short - 4:10 no services, no shops, everything has to be purchased there, where cars can get.
yep. All that constant back and forth just doesn't make it attractive. Now if you don't want much and are VERY simplified or so then ok.
I mean can they even order stuff online? Even if so they probably have to go off the island again to pick it up somewhere.
Great video! Thank you
Thanks!
this channel speaks of an idea i always dreamed of. i always had a problem with driving everywhere. its so frustrating.
Culdesac is a company building a car-free neighborhood in Tempe, AZ. Tempe is about the only place in the Phoenix area that it could work. I think they're going to be incredibly successful.
0:32 ugh, that looks like such a nice path to stroll down on a sunny spring day...and here I am, stuck inside writing code...
I totally forgot there used to be a baseball diamond on the Toronto Islands until you mentioned it. Then I remembered a cool historical fact: Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in that ballpark! Great videos on your channel, nice work!
I want to see you do a video about Mackinaw Island in Michigan USA, it’s a car free city mainly centered around bikes, but they also have horse carriages if you wish not to bike, you can either bring your own bike on the ferry, or rent a bike. People also live on the Island like these. Mackinaw Island is basically the same as the ones in Toronto, but basically 1 island, and it’s separated from any major city.
It's probably worth noting that the island's susceptibility to serious floods roughly 2x every 20-30 years was a more significant motivation for the city to convert it to park than any desire to replace recreation that got wrecked by the Gardiner Expressway. We were quite well reminded of this in 2017 and 2019, when we had a pair of record-breaking floods (though this time the floods motivated the development of more coastal resilience, instead of an attitude of "burn it all down and people can just go to the park less when it floods").
And there are ways other than the purchasers' list to live on the island. In fact, in the shot taken where you were describing "marinas" as one of the current uses of the island, one of the boats in-frame is my primary residence (though I do have to migrate to a mainland marina for the winter). That said, I've also been on the purchasers' list for about 10 years and I think my spot is somewhere around the mid-300s now (most of the spots on the list are opened up either by people giving up or dying without ever buying a home -- particularly since it takes about 10 years of trying to get on the list, and another 40 to climb the list high enough to be offered a home (and most people don't start trying until they have substantially fewer than 50 years left in their expected lifespan).
But yeah, Toronto (and Canada in general) needs more car-free neighbourhoods to be able to meet the demand from all the people who want to live in places like the Islands.
The flooding issue is true, but that was never mentioned in any of the historical information I read about it. They wanted people gone because there was an outcry about park land destroyed by the Gardiner expressway. Flooding was never mentioned once in anything I read from the time, so I would say it's wrong to say it was a "more significant motivation."
Floodings is nothing a bit of Dutch engineering can't fix.
@@NotJustBikes the information I got about flooding was received during the 2017 and 2019 floods, so I'm not surprised that there was a bias towads blaming flooding at that time, and the historical record disagrees with what I saw and heard then.
Hey NJB! Loving your videos! Have you ever thought about doing a video on the Waddeneilanden of the Netherlands? They are also autoluw in varying degrees.
Gorgeous I’ve never heard of this place!
This is amazing! I’ll need to show this video to people anytime they tell me that building solid bike infrastructure in our cities wont work.
Here’s a city that goes all in on it and it works just fine! So building robust bike infrastructure throughout our cities alongside the roads is literally only positive for us citizens!
Don't get it twisted. Whenever there's an opportunity to increase bike infrastructure or create car-low/free streets, councillors, neighborhood groups will loudly voice their displeasure to a point where some ideas are either scrapped, ex. Brimley bike lane, or executed with lots of concessions to those neighborhood groups. Toronto sucks sometimes.
Gambier and Keats Island in BC are basically car-free communities as well, but they are similar in nature to what you describe here, being mostly oriented toward tourism with very small communities of retirees or hyper-wealthy people. I would like to see Canadian provinces commit to experimenting with car-free neighbourhoods in the same way they have with guaranteed income or other innovative ideas. Once people are able to experience such a community and see that it is not just some wild fantasy, it could encourage change.
I also find it interesting that most university campuses are highly controlled environments that tend to restrict car access to their inner quads and cores - such as UBC, UVic, and SFU. Cars can get onto the edge of campus, but it's almost impossible to drive right into the centre of campus by design. Students tend to walk, bike, or skateboard around and everyone is fine with it, despite the fact that UBC has 65,000 students and is the size of a small city. If it can work there, it can work elsewhere.