BadgeIsBack

If you are in the car by 630 you are ok in Melbourne if you pick routes wisely. The closer you are and the sooner you start the better. anyone an hour away and in cars later than this will get stuck. Many people choose to do it.

Many car parks full well after 6am. 730 might be a cutoff in other places : do your research. It's surprising where you can park a car : do your research. And there are many trains in peak hour : not all lines grind to a halt all day every day. Some are worse than others and delays are experienced at certain times on certain lines. Research them.

MelVan

Melbourne traffic. Destroying what is otherwise a very nice city!

NHNH2016

Sounds like I may as well stay in London! Seriously the way you have just described I wouldn't be any better off! Why on earth do British people move there?

jad n rich

There are many bits of Australia where traffic would be absolutely no problem But why would Melbourne be one of them

Traffic in a city of 5 million should be no surprise to anyone, no issues go away because you swing to the other side of the planet.

Melbourne has experienced fast growth so problems associated with housing and transport develop. That s what happens, anywhere not just in Melbourne. Immigration here is very diverse, as multicultural as you can get, Brits are only a small part of it. Never thought of it before but in 2 years in Melbourne have met a brit, cant think of one! Plenty on forum obviously.

People move for relationships, ' better life ' real or imagined, a job opportunity, just wanting to try another country, to a bit of australia that will offer a very different lifestyle, tropical beach in qld, that sort of thing.

Reasons change too, it used to be financial, great exchange rate, cheaper housing, some wanted to escape the issues of the world, that of course does not happen.

But less traffic, australia has that in buckets, just not in melbourne or sydney or peak in brisbane. Canberra and Adelaide spring to mind, much easier, still cities.

Job opportunites are relative to population too, might be more in syd, melb at first sight, but more people applying for them. I know for us, our business was 10 times easier in QLD, due to less competition. So much so I commute, but find the odd opportunity in Melbourne, but the vast amount of people competing for anything is tiresome.

Dont overlook the smaller places if you want that relaxed, easier life

bcworld

Well it would depend if your be all and all criteria was traffic!

As I said before, my suburb, St Kilda East was on your list. I sometimes drive in...if I do, I leave by 7am and it takes 15 mins or less. I drove today, my train line is suspended due to flooding as it always is when there is more than 3 nanometres of rain! Despite the crappy weather, still 15 mins later I'm parked in the multi-storey car park in the CBD. If I had written this post last week I could've told you it was only $10 for daily parking too...but it went up to $13 over the weekend!

MelVan

Well, it's all about the pros and cons. Melbourne has better weather than London, and assuming you can afford decent real estate, you can have a nice garden all year round (I'm able to grow veggies all year 'round). For a city its size, it also has a decent cultural life, and the countryside is in quite close proximity so it's more straightforward to get out of than, say, Sydney.

Melbourne's (and for that matter, Sydney's) transport problems are nothing new. They reflect a combination of physical geography and a history of pretty terrible urban planning and chronic under investment in public transport. The big difference between Melbourne and London is that in London zones 1 & 2, it isn't that difficult to make cross town trips, using a combination of Underground, National Rail and bus. In Melbourne, things are much more on the spoke and hub model. As populations and ways of working and living have changed, the public transport in Melbourne hasn't been updated. So the city is reliant on the car for a lot of its transport.

I've lived in Sydney, Melbourne and London. I'd never live in Sydney again (and get annoyed by the traffic whenever I am there and have to leave the CBD). I've thoroughly enjoyed living in Melbourne (I do think it is a nice place to live) and think it has much to recommend it over Sydney as a city in which mostly to work, and live a bit (ie, after work and weekends). Sydney is a great city if you can live beachside or harbourside, and have a lot of leisure time! But to have to commute in Sydney is wretched and past the harbour and beach, I think it is a pretty disagreeable place and choked by traffic even worse than in Melbourne. I loved living in London and would live there again in a heartbeat, but that's not currently part of the future plans (I'm moving to Vancouver for the next part of my life).

OzTennis

Yeah, not a recent problem!

BadgeIsBack

Simply, it's relative. To us Londoners, Melbourne seems quite manageable.
For example, I would never drive into London. But I do in Melbourne, and on a weekday. It still feels like it is your city and not owned by tourists. There is still only one 1 CBD. The inner burbs - take your pick.


You just need to learn the ropes : and manage it the best you can.

bcworld

Ha! Great photo...I've actually seen Windsor station just like this...well, minus the train...but it looked like a canal.

OzTennis

It is, ta. It never rains like this over on the Williamstown line of course. (I think I got this and hundreds of other old Melbourne photos at one time on Pinterest).

MelVan

Funnily enough, I can manage driving in London if I have to. Driving in New York is the place that now gives me the heebie jeebies!

You're absolutely right - it's all about learning the ropes and managing things. I definitely agree that once one is living here, Melbourne really does feel like one's own city.

scottishcelts

Hi everyone, I'm just wondering if you know of the beachside suburbs? Not Brighton or McMansion millionaires row suburbs, but maybe as far down to Torquay on the left and Frankston on the right. (Looking at map and haven't a clue about the areas). Lol.

Thanks

Buzzy--Bee

That's a very big area. What were you hoping to learn?

bcworld

You might call Torquay a beachside suburb of Geelong...but not Melbourne.

scottishcelts

Okaaay!