Hi all,

I'm debating a move over to Canada (working in IT at the moment so researching that). Given what I've read so far I'm a little worried when it comes to getting around - it seems that driving is pretty much a requirement in most places?

I've never really had the need to drive, both London and Wellington have decent transport really and looking at the rules passing here in NZ wouldn't allow me to transfer my licence as it'd be less than 2 years old. It also seems Canada is pretty strict on the licensing system as well (a bit like NZ with the graduated system).

Is it a rather large hurdle to living/working in Canada if you can't drive at all?

Thanks in advance,

Alex

It depends where in Canada you will be. You can live in Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto quite easily without a car. Elsewhere, public infrastructure is built assuming you are using a car to get around.

That was a quick reply - thanks.

I've not decided where at the moment, I'm still in the researching places phase and working out where works for IT jobs really so I guess that'll play into the decisions a bit then.

Indeed. If you care to live without a car, moving to those three cities (and not surrounding cities either, but Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver proper) would be the way to go.

and any desire to explore outside those 3 cities would really require a car .............

Most towns in BC have some sort of local public transit, but possibly not running frequently or late hours.

The public transit system in Canada generally is pretty poor between cities and provinces. Don't expect to have the fantastic trains and buses that you have in England or in NZ

There is one train that runs from Vancouver to Toronto, The Canadian. In summer it runs 3 days a week, in winter only 2 days a week, and it takes 4 nights and 3 full days.

We love it, and take it whenever we can, I'm currently planning our next trip for early October ...... but you do have to have both time and money.

I work with several people who don't have cars, and I didn't have my own car for two years after coming here, though I'd drive my girlfriend's when I had to. But it's a pain if you don't like waiting an hour for the bus at forty below zero. Even walking home from the bus stop sometimes felt like Scott of the Antarctic.

There are the Greyhound buses between cities, which my girlfriend's mother has used at times to visit us. They can get exciting in the winter, particularly when they have to take some back-road detour due to crashes on the highway.

Great, thank you all for the replies.

I've a bit of time before anything can happen anyway as I am going to wait for my NZ residency to switch to permanent without restrictions - about a year away. Might look into learning before hand then and see what happens - from what I understand there's different driving test rules across the territories as well?

Is a little different to back in the UK where you can get a full licence in a week or two!

Canada is really a federation of provinces, as the US is a grouping of states, and Australia is a federation of states. The states and provinces retain a lot of control.

They are all 3 unlike England or even NZ, from what I remember of our stay down under.


so, yes, you will find different rules of the road, just as you will find that medical treatment and costs may differ, or schooling differs.

When I lived in Edmonton transit wasn't too bad, just couldn't live out in the burbs, but luckily Edmonton is just one big city really, as long as you live near work, transit there is doable, but its pretty cold in winter waiting at bus stops.

It sucks outside of the big city's, live in any smaller city and one must have a car if they value their time and don't want to waste hours per week on poorly scheduled transit systems.

I've lived in places where a bus may only run every 2 hours.

We live in an Ottawa suburb and don't own a car and rely on public transport and it works out just fine. Every couple of months we rent a car for a weekend to get around to the places we would otherwise miss. Still far cheaper than owning a vehicle.

Regardless of where you live, or the transit system available, I'd recommend learning to drive anyway, and get some hours and hours of driving experience under your belt. You'll need confidence and experience to drive in Canada regardless.

Driving is a life skill. Like swimming really. You'll want to do it at some point anyway. Just learn and practise. It won't go to waste, and being competent may save your life one day.

In Canada you can buy an Ebike. It's an electric moped style bike that uses an electric motor rather than a gas engine. No licence, no insurance and looking at the many riders around the GTA no common sense required.

It's a wonder nobody has thought of introducing airline services.

Flying in Canada is pricey, for example a 2.5 hour flight from Vancouver to Winnipeg can be 400-600+ even more to get to the east cost, we do not have the low fares you see in the US.

Vancouver to Halifax can be 800+

700+ to Toronto.

There are sales at times, but flying overall in Canada is pricey and not viable for a lot of people due to cost, no low fare airline for the most part + duopoly on major routes and monopolies on smaller routes + high taxes = flying domestically can be more then going to Europe.

You can take the train from Toronto to Vancouver if you catch a last minute sale for as low as 150 in coach one way (what I paid 2 years ago).

I've seen tickets CLT-PGV of $800, that's 250 miles within NC.