Commuting from North Ryde
 

My husband has been offered a job in North Ryde and we are looking to move over with our two children aged 8 and 10. We are looking for a family friendly area with good public primary schools, quite happy to be in the suburbs. We know we can't afford the North Beaches area but are struggling to work out where is commutable from North Ryde and therefore can't pin down how much rent we'd need to be paying for a 3 bed house. He would love to be able to cycle to work but ok with car or public transport. We have mostly looked at the Upper North Shore - where else could we look? All advice appreciated as we need to make a decision soon!

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

Hi and welcome to BE. not sure I can help with the suburbs, I think you need to be a lot more specific as to what kind of lifestyle you are after, and, more importantly what you are looking to spend a week on rent, and whether or not you are going to buy a car or you have to be using public transport. Ryde and North Ryde are very livable residential suburbs actually. Anyway, you can try browsing domain.com.au or any other site that would give you a profile or an area you are looking at, and 131500.com.au for public transport timetables, to give you an idea of what your commute is going to be like.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

I guess we are looking at at least one car, two if we can't find within walking distance to school and hoping to keep rent below $500 pw. We are looking for family suburbs with green areas.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

You're not too far from the Hills area there...

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

I think that your budget is light for anywhere that would mean a convenient commute to North Ryde. $500 pw does not go very far in Sydney at all and I think you need to look again at budget and see if you can up it or prepare for moving a very long way out. Assuming you want a house, I don't even think you would achieve the Hills district on this.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

It's good to have your view on our budget - that is a big part of what we are trying to figure out, the real cost of living etc. and we don't know the city at all.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

Go to domain.com.au.
You can do a search for properties to rent, based on North Ryde and surrounding suburbs.
This will give you a feel for prices and ultimately where you will be able to afford.
Good Luck!

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

I'm back in the UK, but know the area well as I worked there for years.

Your husband will almost ceratinly be working on Talavera Rd, Lyonpark Road or Mac Ctr. One thing to make sure is that he has parking facilities at his work (if he does drive). Used to be loads of free parking around but since Optus moved in all the streets are metered and a lot of companies now charge their employees for paking at about $10-12 per day (and Mac Ctr is very hot on folks that try to park there all day).

Commuting can be problematic depending on which direction you're coming from. From the East (Lane Cove, Chatswood) can be very long (there is a toll tunnel but if you live in Lane Cove it's no use to you). There is a bus lane but the buses are nearly always full if you're not coming from the City it can be hard to get a seat. There is a bike lane but it disappears into nothing before you get to Nth Ryde. I'm a very very (very) experienced cyclist and I wouldn't cycle to work there, but if you get a clunker and don't mind banging some curbs it can be done. Lots of people about though. The bus trip can get very hot as Lane Cove/Epping Rd is basically a car park (from East or West).

Coming from West would be Epping/ Carlingford and can have the same issues but would be less cycle friendly. Coming from North (via Ryde Rd) is very slow as you are getting all the traffic from te beaches. However given your budget it's unlikely you'll be coming from that direction.

Don't know about schools as we don't have kids. But if it were me and I was looking to get away with one car, I would look at the Marsfield area, lots of townhouses there. Without being rude, your $500pw budget is very low, you just won't get anything that you'd want to put 2 kids into for that (and have some garden). If you go towards Eastwood or Dundas you'll get more for your money but will make commuting a tad harder and Eastwood is very ethnic with Koreans on one side of the tracks and Chinese on the other (we spend a lot of time there as my wife is Korean, but neither of would really want to live there).

If you don't mind a townhouse, check out MacQuarie Park (Fontleroy St etc) there are some nice little townhouses there and it's pretty quiet. Bit of a walk to mac Ctr but nothing drastic. One thing to bear in mind is that the whole Nth Ryde area is absolutely choc a bloc with students, so if you see something that looks cheap, it's probably cheap for a reason. Seems to me that MacQuarie Park area has less students (as it's a bit dearer). Students may not be an issue to you (most of them are Far East Asian) but may be, I'm not sure.

Mac Uni has a great pool and gym. I wouldn't say the area is particularly family friendly but not family unfriendly either, it's just a bit office block/ shopping ctr centric. some parks and leafy areas around and Lane Cove Nat Park is over the road and lovely (you can walk in there from Mac Park area).

Have a look a Carlingford also, I'd say much more family friendly. Lane Cove is nice and has loads of families, but is quite expensive (we lived there for 9 yrs).

Ah just remembered, there are train stations at Mac Ctr and Talavera Rd, but I never used them so I'm not 100% sure where they go, I think it links Chatswood to Parramatta. That might make it easier for your husband.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

OP's husband could also potentially be working off Delhi Road, at one of the business parks there. Served by the North Ryde Station.
This relatively new line serves Epping to Chatswood (and sporadically through to the city).
http://www.cityrail.info/stations/network_map

Not a great area to be cycling - possible but a road designed for (fast) cars and lorries (and a stinker of a hill for a daily bike commute if coming from Chatswood)

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

I work in North Ryde at the moment, and the first thing I will say is that you really don't want to be living here - it's incredibly bland and functional, with no real life beyond what the students give it. There are no restaurants or bars, or anything beyond the Vegas style North Ryde RSL, which is pretty dire.

That said, it's certainly not the worst place in the world to work. Transport links are good, and it's a reasonably pleasant environment. Though we have free employees parking at our building, commuting is usually a pain, so to get here, I generally take the train - It runs in two directions, and there are stations at Macquarie University, Macquarie Park and North Ryde. I find the trains in Sydney to be reliable, and you can access the Macquarie Park line directly either from Epping or from the City stations. It takes about 45 minutes from Redfern to Macquarie University, so that opens up a lot of more distant suburbs that you will likely find more interesting and pleasant places to live.

If you feel that you must drive to work, then a lot of people that I work with live in the Rhodes/Concord Area, as it's a fiarly direct route to North Ryde from there, though at peak hour, the train will seem like a much more efficient and less stressful option. On the driving route, I will also nominate Hunters Hill or Gladesville - they are only a short drive from North Ryde up Pittwater Road, and are much nicer suburbs with good schools and a proper village feel to them. Infinitely nicer than the bland misery of North Ryde/Macquarie Park :)


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Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

I come from the Northern beaches area and head towards West Ryde and the commute by car is a nightmare unless you leave early doors. I am a keen cyclist and would love to cycle, but there is no way I would do it on any of the roads mentioned above. It’s far too dangerous and not cyclist friendly at all.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

The only business park off Delhi Road is Riverside as far as I know and The Somerset hotel opposite (unless more have been built in the last 18mths?). I worked there as well for 6 yrs (Oracle). That's a lot more of a hassle to get to if you don't drive as there is only one bus stop but the train stn wasn't built when I worked there so not sure how good that is. Trouble with Riverside is that you're a bit trapped once you're there. They used to run shuttle buses to Mac Ctr and Chatswood at lunchtimes and mornings/evenings but that's all gone now I think (so have the rabbits:().

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

All the rabbits at Macquarie Park have gone too now - some guys were busy filling the holes up a couple of weeks back.


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Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

West Ryde will be your closest best bet for houses under $500 but even then your choices will be very limited to older stock or main roads.
I'd consider renting a unit/townhouse firstly and also consider nearby Gladesville, East Ryde for a bit of a nicer feel than North Ryde.
Best of luck with it all.

Re: Commuting from North Ryde
 

Standing on Waterlooo Road for the M41 bus tonight (another way to commute from functional but unexciting Rhode to/from North Ryde business park) and the rabbits were positively frolicking on the green patch there! I counted at least three:-)

Last time I saw that many rabbits I was living off a single track road in the middle of provincial East Anglia (I still shudder at those lost years...) and there were as many laid out as road kill as there were frolicking...