Hi, I'm getting in a real muddle over the different Vancouver communities to live in. OH needs to choose a college reasonably near where we intend to live (& we don't have time to visit beforehand).

We're hoping to use public transport to get around as much as possible and hopefully have not too long of a commute but not have to pay a ridiculous amount for rental.

Lots of places in the downtown Vancouver area look nice but a place to rent for four of us is expensive. I read on one thread that South Vancouver might be a good option - but what areas does that cover?

Port Moody and North Van appeal to me most after that. But North Vancouver is bloody expensive. And I've just realised that in Port Moody, my daughter would need to go to a middle school - she wants to go to school with her brother. I think Coquitlam also has the secondary school system. Are they the only areas that do this?

That leaves Burnaby. I've read that North Burnaby is best. But which area does North Burnaby cover? I've looked on Google maps but I can't figure out where north meets south.

Thanks.

I'm confused. Is your OH studying or working at a college? Does he know where he's going yet/if he's accepted yet?

Personally, if I were planning to rely on public transit a lot, I wouldn't live in Port Moody or Coquitlam. There is transit there but it's not frequent enough imo and it would be a bit of a pain. North Van only if I had close access to the seabus. Transit-wise, north OR south burnaby, northeast van and northwest van/dt are the best imo. though I suppose if you could get close to the canada line south van isn't so bad anymore. really depends on which college the OH is at as to which area is best for commute though?

He is going to college to study and I will be working, which is why I want to keep the costs down if i can.

He likes the look of Douglas College, which has campuses in Coquitlam and New Westminster. But he wouldn't mind applying to a different college if he has to, as most of them seem to offer the subjects he wants to do.

Which bits of Burnaby are best to avoid?

Oh, okay. I was thinking your choice would only make sense for Douglas. So yeah, if it's Douglas, then Coquitlam/the Po would make sense. In terms of transit, New West is a much better choice than the 'Lam because it has the Skytrain which means it will be easier for you to get to other parts of the lowermainland (like vancouver) without a car. A nice family area close to skytrain in NW is Sapperton - has it's own small shopping strip etc. NW tends to be cheaper too. Not sure how it would work for getting to NW douglas campus. I don't know why people don't talk about NW more - it's actually one of the oldest and most interesting cities around here. And did I mention cheaper? Why yes, yes it is.

I don't know of any 'bad' areas of Burnaby really. You should ask dboy, he's a copper round here, but except for the usual gang killings that happen everywhere, burnaby is general is pretty safe I think. North Burnaby has a cachet over South just because it's older and faces teh North Shore mountains and is close to DT. But South Burnaby is gentrifying rapidly. I wouldn't discount it.

I don't disagree with anything Kiwilass has written.

Yes, North Van is nice but it is relatively expensive. If you are living on one income and need to keep within a budget then this could be a problem.

Rents generally get cheaper the further away from downtown you get. But this is only a generalization. There is good and bad in every area. It is very hard to give any constructive advice unless we know where your OH will go to school and where you will work.

If you will rely on public transport it makes sense to look for somewhere served by the Skytrain. The Skytrain works well if you need to go downtown but is not much use if you need to go across town. Don't rule out the buses.

I tend to think of the Lougheed Hwy as the boundary of North Burnaby. A Skytrain line runs alongside (or above) the Hwy and to the north are some very pleasant residential neighborhoods. I would try and avoid Kingsway as it is a busy commercial corridor and Edmonds as it is a bit tatty but this is just my opinion.

As I said above, there is good and bad everywhere. If you get the work/school locations sorted you should be able to find somewhere decent to live. You are only committing yourself for a year when you rent and by the end of the first year you will have a much better (and probably completely different) idea of where you want to settle long-term.

yeah, north burnaby goes from boundary road in the northeast, bordered by lougheed in the south and burnaby mountain in the east, roughly.

for sapperton, look for sapperton skytrain station and check from there.

south van - from about 41st on, around marine drive, up to the border of Richmond in the south and south burnaby in the east. Not so good for walkability though.

Thanks. I've checked out houses in Sapperton but the transit time was too long. Burnaby seems like a pretty good area but when I used Google images to find pics of Burnaby, at least one pic of someone in a body bag turned up on every page. Is most of the violence there gang related?

Thanks, I'll bear the buses in mind. I'd like the kids to be able to go into Vancouver on their own without relying on me for a lift, as they have to do where I live now. But I'm starting to think having no car might be a bit unrealistic for us. I had thought about using a car co-op but maybe we'll just have to buy a car.

We really need to choose a long term area to live when we get there, as I don't want to move the kids to different schools after the first year. The schools and the safety of the area is most important, which is why I'm looking at areas at the same time as colleges.

I've heard folk say on here that choosing a school isn't important but I read an article that mentioned kids set lockers on fire etc at one school in Vancouver and a school like that definitely wouldn't be acceptable to me.

I won't be looking for work until a few weeks after we arrive and I'm not too fussed about what job I take initially, as I'll probably start another business.

I like the look of White Rock, where you live but I can't find any details of nearby ski slopes for there and we'd really like to do night skiing. Is there a ski slope near to you?

hey sparkling.

it's the internet. i wouldn't take it too seriously. the lowermainland has had targeted shootings on and off for a while now, targeted being the operative word, and that includes areas like west van and the west side... so don't get involved with gangs, and you'll be fine, most likely. and again, check with dboy...he's a cop in the local rcmp here

White rock is coastal. It's not near the ski hills. it is lovely but again, notsogood for transit.

Thanks. I guess people put them on there to get ranked for particular keywords in images, which is why so many show up. I wonder if dboy would mind if I private messaged him and asked about any bad areas to avoid? I like the idea of Burnaby as it's not too far to downtown Vancouver but there looks to be plenty of parks and greenspace too.

dboy seems pretty approachable to me. i'd do it.

burnaby does have lots of parks and greenspace...it's a well-run city too.

There are bad apples at every school, so I wouldn't be so quick to write off an entire school based on one isolated episode with an unruly student. I'm sure the school doesn't think it's acceptable either, but mischief happens at even the best schools. Arson is the extreme circumstance. Therefore, I wouldn't think this would be necessarily a reflection of how good a school is (unless this is happening on a regular occasion and the school responds to it in an unsatisfactory manner). In your example, it sounds like a problem with the individual, not the school. That kind of behaviour often results in the student being expelled and quite possibly arrested.

Stuff happens as schools everywhere. We nearly destroyed the chem lab at school in the UK, the teacher did not find it too acceptable either, he was still in it!

You won't just be able to just choose a school, there are school districts and catchment areas, they have quotas, if the school is full you get directed to the next nearest one. They also won't accept a registration until you have a permanent address. If you have a rental lined up, that should be enough, even if you are not living there just yet.

There are only so many things you can plan before arriving. You really won't get an appreciation for a community until you go there yourself and consider living there. What suits one may not suit another. It seems so much different once living somewhere rather than on the Internet or visiting.

Also, when selecting a college, make sure the courses you want are delivered at that campus. Often different campuses deliver different courses or part courses.