el_richo

rush hour traffic in many areas is a right pain in the arse and can be quite bad. Downtown itself isn't too bad though.

Commuting by car to downtown from areas such as Port Moody, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Langley, Surrey, etc would get tiring very quickly for me.

Alan2005

Yeah, it's a shit commute from those places.

MrWindUpBird

And with the cost of parking downtown (Spaces in our office parkade are $260/month with tax) you really would need that $200k+ salary

Former Lancastrian

Does Vancouver not have park and ride facilities.? Basically you drive to a mall or other area set up. Park for free and ride transit into the downtown.
Transit pass say $80 a month beats $260 a month plus you get to claim your transit passes at tax return time.
There again some people find transit a PITA and do not want to travel with the unwashed

MrWindUpBird

You could probably park at somewhere like Metrotown (If coming from the East) or Richmond Centre (If coming from the South) and then ride the skytrain. You'd still need to pay for parking though, just hopefully a bit less.

Former Lancastrian

What a backward city Wouldnt it be in the cities interest to set up places like this to get rid of some of the traffic in the downtown area?
I mean arent all Vancouverites in touch with nature and wanting to preserve the planet etc etc.
In my city we have these and its free to park so take that you bunch of hippies

nativenewyorker

Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam and Port Moody are all served by the West Coast Express, which is a very pleasant commute when working downtown.

MrWindUpBird

Traffic coming into downtown is on a downward trend anyway, so they don't have to.

My solution is to live four blocks from work.

Alan2005

If you work regular hours yes, not so much if you want to get home by 2pm so you can sit in the garden.

Danny B

I'd hardly call a 50 minute train journey from Maple Ridge > Waterfront 'very pleasant' when doing that 5x per week.

Tangram

It would actually be 10x a week wouldn't it ?

Must say I did a longer commute in the UK, both when driving it all and by train. In fact, I lived less than 10 miles away when doing the train journey and it still took me best part of an hour door to desk.

I think I'm spoilt now as it's 15 mins door to desk, but if I hadn't had that luxury, I don't think I would baulk at 50 minutes.

Now though, I think I would.

nativenewyorker

Driving through rush hour traffic, traffic at a standstill on highway one, leaving at a ridiculous hour so as not to be late for work.......or reading the paper whilst listening to music on the iPod,drinking coffee on a clean comfortable train?? I know which one I would prefer

Alan2005

Do you use the west coast express then?

I know people that use it that think it's great. I'd definitely use it from time to time if it ran every 15 minutes all day.

Former Lancastrian

Ah but you dont get to interact with the drunks, sniffers and squeege kids at major junctions asking you for a smoke or spare change

el_richo

Not taking into account a lot of users have to actually drive to get to the station, and pay for parking. Often the driving is done in rush hour to get there.

It's also shit if, as Alan says, you don't work "normal" hours, if you need to work late, if you work weekends or half days, or you need to pick kids up from school, daycare, etc etc. It's a VERY limited service.

x mins to commute to the station + 50 mins on the train + x mins to get to the office + fairly high costs = a shit commute.