MovALot

Hello,

(I thought I posted this earlier but obviously not!)

We (family of 3, 2 adults, 5yr old and a dog) are coming to Calgary late July. Seriously looking at living in SE due to commute times (been doing 1hr commute in Perth and don't want to repeat), anyone have advice or experience of living in this quarter? Pitfalls to be aware of?

Jericho79

Depends what time you plan on commuting. If you leave before 7, you can easily be downtown in under half an hour. After 7 (and certainly after 7.30), it'll likely take closer to an hour.

Same deal when you're coming home.

However, the c-train is really good, and is a good option for getting in/out of the downtown area.

Photoplex

Although I don't live in the SE, I have several friends that do and hear endlessly about their struggles with the commute. Depends on which specific communities too, as the C-Train only services a thin slice of the south (that will changes when the LRTOTG project happens... in 20 years).

Maybe if you give us some more info we could suggest other viable options:

1) Are you looking to buy or rent?
2) What's your budget?
3) Will you be likely working downtown?
4) Are children a consideration?

We live in a new infill in the SW inner-city (Glenbrook), and it takes me 8 mins by car to commute to downtown in the morning. 20 mins by transit if the weather is nice and I'm feeling especially environmentally minded that day.

There are other options other than the deep NW/SE!

TanieBird

As the other posters have said, where are you planning on commuting to? Downtown? I would not chose to live in the SE, but rather the SW or NW for ease of access to the c-train. Also good to note that parking downtown is expensive (I want to say most expensive in North America but I may be wrong) and limited so I would vote for transit over driving.

Commuting in the summer is pretty easy and by the time you arrive the kids will have almost done their first month off of school. Do not expect your commute times in August to be reflective of the whole year, come September once the kids are back in school, the commute is a whole different animal. Then think about what it will be like with the first major snowfall of the winter and be expected to double/triple your commute time while everyone figures out how to drive in the white stuff without crashing. I've had a 25 minute journey take 2 hours in the snow before.

If you do want to look at the SE and are going to downtown consider the McKenzie Towne, Copperfield, New Brighton area as this is serviced by the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) I've never used it so can't comment how good or bad it is or how long it actually takes. Personally I would avoid areas around 17th Ave - Dover, Forest Lawn, Pembrook (this may sneak into the NE) - as I don't like the feel of the areas. They are cheap for a reason. Even Erin Woods I am not too keen on, but would be my preference if I had to chose that area.

In all honesty though, unless you are working outside of regular hours or have the option to start and finish earlier than normal office hours, I would expect your commute to be around the hour mark. If you are reliant on Deerfoot to get anywhere. Even Stoney is getting backed up due to rushed construction meaning lots of repairs needed.

Not wanting to put you off, and some people may come along with different commuting tales, I am just talking from my experience of having lived in the SW (Evergreen) and SE (Copperfield/New Brighton) and commuting to around Glenmore in the industrial park.

Photoplex

Second most expensive downtown parking in North America, Manhattan being the only place more expensive.

I pay $29 a day to park downtown. In summer I can usually find a spot fairly easily, but I do arrive in downtown around 7:00-7:30 am. In winter, it's a nightmare to find a spot (indoor & heated).

If you wait long enough on a waiting list you can get contract monthly parking in a CPA parkade in the $400-600 per month range, which assures you a parking spot (indoor & heated) so long as you arrive before 9am.

TanieBird

So I wasn't too far off the mark. I rarely drive downtown. The last time I did I paid some extortionate amount for 2 hours and only used half of that time (had a job interview and had no idea how long it would take).
Not sure how much a monthly transit pass set you back these days, but it must be a lot cheaper than $400 - $600 a month even if you pay for the reserved parking at the park and ride lots.

I just re-read your first reply and realized you live in an infill and now I'm wondering if my man did the services for it - he works on infills in that area all the time

Steve_

If you're going by car it's not that bad. Assuming there are no accidents on the Deerfoot - there often are.

Also depends on where you're working because you can go around the ring road now, so that means you can get to 16th Ave (Hwy 1) pretty quickly but then it's a real nightmare heading west, but if you happen to work east of downtown then it's pretty quick.

I agree with Jericho, it's something like 25-30 minutes but if there's an accident or the weather is really bad it can take much longer. Plus you've got to have somewhere to park. Rush hour is usually 7:30-8:30 and in the evening it's around 4:30-5:30 as most office hours are 8:30-4:30.

What you can do is drive over to the Shawnessy C-train station and go from there, it's really quick to get there now that the SE ring road is done, the problem is that the parking lot is tiny.

If you haven't bought a house yet you might want to look at Shawnessy, maybe you could be within walking distance of the station. Or alternatively, Somerset-Bridlewood which is the southern most station.

If you're thinking of buying near an LRT station, bear in mind the parking lots at the big stations are a magnet for thieves.

Anyway, compared to Vancouver or Toronto it's a cakewalk imx.

Steve_

There are express buses, picks up in a few residential areas then goes all the way downtown, they run them from various parts of the city.

Takes slightly longer than driving for obvious reasons (it has to stop a few times) but it does take the stress out of doing the driving. So you can save it for all the icy puddles you then have to walk through..

Steve_

I think people may way too much of a deal about how bad the NE is, there are some crappy bits near downtown but most of it is just cookie cutter boring houses like the rest of Calgary, they're cheaper because they don't have a "mountain view" and are near the airport. As I pointed out on here before, the NE actually has the lowest rate of burglary if you look at the CPS website. Then you get people going on about the "ethnic" population too, which is largely drivel imo.

Almost Canadian

Somerset LRT parking is full for non reserved by 6:00 a.m.

Steve_

Yeah my point was if he's thinking of that area, move to within walking distance but no doubt everyone else has thought of that already and getting a house near the station is probably quite hard. But he's from Perth anyway so when he steps out into the cold he'll be running...

Photoplex

Quite possibly! The redevelopment frenzy of Killarney has spilled over into Glenbrook. Glamorgan will be next in a few years (hint: good place to buy an investment property!).

cbrown89

I live SE (Westbrook) and commute to work (6th Ave and & 7th Street), living in an apartment (rented).

Train commute is perfect no complaints, get your monthly pass and use for tax deductions at end of year, monthly pass costs $96 I think.

I would pay more for rent or mortgage to be within walking distance to LRT.

Driving as people have said is expensive, $400-600 would be for a parking lot I'd imagine. If you prefer to drive check with your company, mine offers discounted parking for $250. Alternatively, check on Kijiji.ca for people renting out their apartment spots, my boss does this and pays $300.

Coming from Perth I am sure the cost of living here won't shock you.

gryphea

Suspect OP will be working somewhere down that way, like Quarry park or somewhere else.

MovALot

Thanks all for the posts, interesting and useful comments. As gryphea details I was interested in SE due to work down there, spot on with Quarry Park area! It was more a question on the living areas surrounding, ideally within a 15-20 minute commute.