Hi
I currently live in Van.
I am applying for UNi in London and Windsor, Ontario.
I will not be at Uni full time.
Question: Can i commute by train/car from TO to either city?
if yes, how long?
Thanks in advance!!!!
(ps I realise there is two Unis in Toronto, but they do not have many spaces for foreign lawyers, so unlikely to get in!)

It's 2 hours to London, 4 to Windsor, by car, so London would be commutable a couple of days a week. I'd guess the feasibility of the train option depends on whether or not one can get from the train station to the university in London.

Kingston is easier to reach than London and has a law school, at Queens.

Commuter trains don't go that far, so you would be on Via Rail which has very limited schedules so timing may not work in your favor. Probably will cost $100 or so for each round trip as well. I did a quick search and if you wanted to go tomorrow it would be $199 round trip to London or $68 if you book for March (a month in advance). For Windsor it would be $248 and $117.
You would also likely have to pay for a cab from the train station to the school. Not really very affordable IMO.

Sorry to go off the topic a bit, but I read somewhere that Kingston has a lot of crime - do you think this is true?

Rachel

No. That was easy.

Perhaps you read it had a lot of criminals...but thats different, they are kept behind bars there.

Where I am we get the Kingston based CKWS news, and TBH not a lot ever seems to happen in Kingston

I expect so, yes, at least for a place of that size. Between the many prisons and the miltary presence it strikes me as a rough town. The university, Queens, attracts (or creates) the worst sort of snob so I imagine there's a lot of tension between students and locals. That said, it's usually characterised on this board as a place of retirees, I can't easily reconcile that with the image I have.

I can reconcile those last two posts:

"for a place of that size"

"TBH not a lot ever seems to happen"

!

The bedroom communities that attract a high level of retirement is really west of Kingston. Prince Edward County - Picton and Wellington come to mind. Gorgeous landscape, mature trees and neighbourhoods - large century homes with wrap-around decks.

The area was mainly settled and coveted by British Loyalists from the last century and the design of the entire area reflects that still to today, water shore at every turn, and as you said...NOTHING going on...which explains the appeal to retirees who don't want the bustle of the big cities but can find charming big brick homes to invite the family to for holiday visits.

My grandmother left Toronto and moved to the Wellington area about 5 years ago. You take a $900,000 home in Toronto, and you can have 5 times the charm for about 1/5 of the price out there. (As long as you don't mind watching the paint dry 5 days a week...)

If you wanted to stay a bit closer to the vibe of the bigger cities of Ontario (to partake when the whim hits), then you would be better off in London/Windsor than Kingston, IMO - even considering the cost to commute.

How is 4h from Windsor to TO better than 3h from Kingston, and besides, if I was in Windsor, wouldnt Detroit make more sense than TO anyway.

With Kingston access to Ottawa and Montreal is much easier too. Hmm, a days entertainment in Montreal or Detroit, its a tough decision but....

And contrary to popular opinion, not everyone in the Quinte/ PEC area is a retiree, although a lot of people are quiting TO for the boonies.

I wouldnt consider Picton and Wellington "bedroom comunities", people dont tend to travel far to work from there. Really places like Port Hope and Cobourg are the bedroom communities with folks living there ,but commuting to the GTA every day.

I didn't respond to that one because it didn't make a lot of sense to me. If London7 was living in Toronto and commuting out then surely he, or she, wouldn't particular need a "vibe" (whatever that might be) at the remote place.

Easy access to Ottawa. Is that a good thing?

Winterludes nice once in a while, or its good if you want to see the home NHL team win occasionaly

Merely gave opinion that I would rather be on the other side of the golden horseshoe. (Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Mississauga, Toronto)

Each of those cities has a main University that networks very tightly with London and Windsor. I can provide contacts if London7 wishes.

Especially if I was a University student. I have siblings in Uni now, and I know they would not rather be rotting in Kingston...which somebody mentioned it's excitement is showcased on the radio station they get.

The other locales are vibrant for the University crowd, and is better networked into the larger University scene in that part of the province.

But darn iank, there is NO arguing about Montreal! (oh la la, the memories...)

That could very well validate the move to Kingston. But for a University student looking to stay well connected to the vibe of their peers, I still have to go with west of GTA.

You're not getting the idea.

If one lives a place, in this case Toronto, the merits of the place to which one commutes are neither here nor there. Yesterday, for example, I went to Guelph and came back. I know from past experience that Guelph has no charm but, since I went there for the day and came back here at night, it wasn't important. The relative charm of here, Toronto, matters more to me.

London7 has not proposed moving to London, Windsor or Kingston so whether or not living in one of these places would be tolerable is moot.