[CCF]

Originally Posted by Scruff Bucket

As we (my wife and I) have found out, with our 3 young kids, a vehicle is almost indispensable to greatly facilitate efficient time management. So yes, it may make sense for a lot of people to live close to where they work, but among them and even themselves are plenty of families with kids not old enough to travel alone. When it comes to daily outings, whether dropping kids to daycare/school, to learning/activity programs and picking them up at the end of the day/session, or taking them to regular check ups at their preferred family physician/dentist (often not located close by where they live), and/or the parent(s) doing daily errands with or without their kids, a family vehicle sure helps expedite the day's routine! And, as we all know, young children require a lot of attention (there are endless details to perform/attend to before going out) and don't always cooperate to keep on the aspired timeline, plus unexpected incidences can occur, all of these which can limit the remaining time for the parent to to their things!

While it may technically be possible for a family with young children to use public transit when long trips are needed (taxis are another option, but can become expensive, quickly!), for the most part, centering the daily routines on public transit schedules becomes impractical/time consuming/exhausting, when your (the parent's) time is/should be centred on your family! In our modern family age, and esp. in Regina where public transportation is still needing improvement, and where weather can deter parents from exposing their kids, then yes, having at least one family vehicle and a designated parking spot for it is a good asset!

The solution to the problem is to design neighbourhoods which are 'complete communities' - people should be able to walk 5 minutes to get milk, coffee, or whatever it is.

Changing the efficiency of a City's transit system takes a lot of resources and won't happen over night - on the contrary it's actually pretty easy to create more walkable and bike friendly neighbourhoods. Unfortunately in Regina, that's not being done and there seems to be little interest in doing so.