cheesvo

Hi everyone,

I'll be flying from London to Toronto with my wife and our daughter and staying for 2 months due to personal reasons. My company has offices in Toronto so I can still go to work to avoid burning through my annual leave. The caveat is that I will have to work in British hours, so 4am to 12pm Toronto time.

It'd not be a very big problem (I suppose...) if the public transport does run 24/24. In my case, the office will be in downtown Toronto and the rent flat will likely be in the suburb (we are pretty price-sensitive at the moment due to the aforementioned personal issues). I will probably have to rent a car to commute to work and back. Cheapest I can find is c. CA$30/day excl. insurance, so roughly CA$40/day inclusive.

We all have PR so staying isn't a problem. I just wonder a few things as follow:

1. Is renting a car the best solution in our case? I looked through the options of car sharing but it seems it is less flexible. And buying a car outright (and selling afterwards) is probably out of the question.
2. Do you think it is possible to rent a place for as short as 2 months? Will that be cheaper than Airbnb?

Thanks in advance.

dbd33

Depending on where it is that you're going work, you can likely do without a car. Rent might be more near work but the cost of hiring. and parking, a car is a big chunk towards the rent.

cheesvo

Thanks. I will work in downtown Toronto (Bloor Street., if I remember it correctly). You're correct that rent is flexible, but in the affordable price range ($30-50/day), I don't think it is possible to rent a place centrally. At least it is as I'm searching on airbnb at the moment.

Edit: the company building might have a parking lot. This needs confirmation though.

dbd33

Also the cost. If it's going to be $50/day to park that will alter the equation somewhat. Assuming your two months start soon I'd consider renting in one of the older suburbs, such as Don Mills, Leaside, High Park or the Beach, and buying a secondhand bicycle. I rode from the Beach downtown for several years hardly using roads at all. It was good for my thighs. The bike will still have value when you sell it on leaving.

If your two months include February then a different plan is needed.

cheesvo

Thank you. I'll take a look at those areas.
Also, the 2-month will start as soon as mid-September, so it won't involve winter. The option of biking is quite interesting. I haven't done so for ages (been motorcycling/driving in London all the times).

Edit: just a thought, have you ever cycled at 3am-ish in Toronto, especially if you "hardly use the road"? I just wonder if it's safe to do so. I've been to Toronto before and have walked the roads at midnight. It was dead quiet...

HGerchikov

Presumably you need furnished rental? Unless you can get a sublet form someone who doesn't want to finish out their lease term then 2 months is going to be tricky, so airbnb may well be your best bet. They do offer discounts for longer stays, we lived in one for 6 weeks last year and we go a considerable discount on the daily rate.

dbd33

I have and would have no concerns about doing so again. There's lots of cottaging (English sense) in High Park so dismount advisedly.

Siouxie

Homestay might be another option, perhaps..
https://www.homestay.com/canada/toronto

cheesvo

I tried other options and you're right, probably airbnb is the best bet. I'm looking at a place quite central at the moment. The total rent is about the same as my London flat.
Cottaging, well...
I think I'll rent somewhere close to the office. And instead of buying a bike, I'll bring my electric kick scooter along to ride to work. I read through some websites and it seemed that electric scooter was deemed illegal in Toronto, yet no policeman would issue a fine on it. Would you mind confirming this? My wife is worrying about the chance of getting mugged for riding it at night.
Thank you. I looked, but not many offer for families. The ones who do tend to be pretty far away from downtown Toronto.

dbd33

I don't have any way of knowing that beyond googling. I'm surprised there's a suggestion of illegality as there are many of them about. I would have thought theft while parked at the office would be a bigger risk than mugging.

glendem4

dbd33

Are you in that little bit of East York south of the Danforth, where the barn style houses are? That's rather a nice spot.

Siouxie

https://smoovscooter.com/blogs/elect...laws-in-canada

Legally, you can't use a kick-scooter in Toronto, but it seems that the by-law isn't necessarily enforced... although there doesn't seem to be mention of them on the Toronto City website https://www.toronto.ca/services-paym...g-and-the-law/
this is the nearest I could find to it https://www.toronto.ca/311/knowledge...ks-safety.html

dbd33

It's worth noting that Ontario commonly passes laws that are not to be enforced. For example, it's technically illegal to bicycle without a helmet, to use a telephone while driving, to smoke weed in public, but these are things one sees every day. I take Canadian laws with a bucket of salt.

cheesvo

It looks like there are some night buses running from 1.30am to 5am so we'll stick to the bus route to find a place to stay. The scooter option is denied by wifey after seeing a man in our neighbourhood got hospitalised after having his bikestolen at 9pm riding home from work.

I'm still thinking of the option to rent a car to take my family out at weekends. So I've read that Canadian drivers are aggressive, careless (seen a car reverse and turn around at red light the last time I was in Toronto), text-and-drive (or eat-and-drive. I saw a lady slurping on her noodle bowl whilst driving on my bus ride from Toronto Pearson airport to downtown Toronto), and it's legal to turn right at red lights, just make sure to not run over pedestrians. I'm also learning the traffic law just in case. But is there anything else out of the book that you think I need to be careful of?