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The children’s sobs, when they came, were deep and long.

Our trusty Honda Civic had just died. Died—that’s a good word to describe the moment when a car goes kaput. Yes, it’s a machine, but it’s more than that. After 200,000 kilometres, you get emotionally attached. Our car didn’t just break down when the timing belt went. It died, and death calls for ritual.

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I’d had mine: going to the mechanic’s lot to retrieve a few last things—licence plate, first-aid kit, a few CDs in the door. But I was doing more than just gathering our stuff. My wife Colleen and I were saying goodbye to vehicle ownership altogether, at least for a time. We would try living car-free for three months, then re-evaluate.

It seemed as good a time as any. Between new bike lanes and the success of Car2Go, Calgary was more multi-modal than ever. No, we’re not Vancouver or New York City, but it’s slowly getting easier here to get places without a car. Our family was already “car-lite,” keeping our car parked most of the week. As the at-home parent, I walked the kids to school. Colleen walked or biked to work downtown. We found that the less we drove, the happier we were. So why not ditch the car altogether?