Originally Posted by ducktastic (Post 8722605)

Hi everyone
We have a chance of a rental in Maple Ridge for 6 months. Can anyone give me:
1. An honest impression of Maple Ridge
We have family and friends in and around there. It's not my favourite place in the world but the "countryside" around there is lovely. Like most places, it has nice areas and shitty ones. The schools are quite well run, if you have kids. You also have most of the general stores you'd need within driving distance. Maple Ridge itself does have more of a seedy element than not, in my opinion.
2. How long it takes to drive to downtown
Depends on traffic and time of day but could be anything from 45 minutes to 2 hours as a worse case scenario
3. Are there good public transport links to downtown if needed
The only easy transport downtown would be the West Coast Express. This is quite a limited service ranging from 6am ish until 8am ish westbound, and eastbound begins from around 4pm ish until about 6pm.

Thank you all! :)

Originally Posted by ducktastic (Post 8722605)

Hi everyone
We have a chance of a rental in Maple Ridge for 6 months. Can anyone give me:
1. An honest impression of Maple Ridge
2. How long it takes to drive to downtown
3. Are there good public transport links to downtown if needed

Thank you all! :)

Originally Posted by The Aviator (Post 8723115)

Depends where in M.R. There are some OK rural areas, but it would not be my first (2nd or 3rd come to that) choice.

As has been said, the West Coast Express is the best way downtown. Driving in rush hours can be a nightmare at the best of time.

Originally Posted by The4BellsLondon (Post 8723301)

I teach put at Pitt Meadows (just before the Ridge) a couple of times a week - I drive from near SFU (Burnaby) and always allow my self an hour - even in rush hour I usually have a 10 minutes to spare - Although if the traffic reports are bad I have been know to force my son to come so that I can use the HOV lane!

Originally Posted by ducktastic (Post 8723239)

ooh er thanks for the post...after yours and el richo that kind of answers that then and confirms my suspicions!

Originally Posted by Alan2005 (Post 8723364)

The HOV lane is great.

Maple Ridge itself is just a blob of sprawl east of vancouver - it aint pretty. The countryside is very nice though especially the bit between MR and Mission.

Originally Posted by dboy (Post 8725285)

Not that it helps much right now, bit within the next three years, hwy 1 will be much, much better than it is now. the port man is being replaced and will go from two lanes to 5 each way with a dedicated bus lane and options to include light transit in the future.

http://www.pmh1project.com/

the hwy itself is being greatly expanded between vancouver and langley and will have 2 additional lanes each way.

it is also very likely that the evergreen line will be completed within the next 5 years which will also help.

10 years overdue as far as I'm concerned but I'm glad its finally being addressed.

Originally Posted by The Aviator (Post 8725362)

Lets wait an see if it's any better. Highway one was not congested at all except for an hour or so 16 years ago, now getting over the bridge is just the first hurdle. East bound line ups go all the way out to Abbotsford on a bad day (most) and traffic volume is increasing all the time. There never used to be line ups on the weekend, now it is no better than the week days.

As it is going to be a toll route, the other access points may become more congested, such as the Deas Island tunnel + others. Throw in a few accidents, breakdowns and the looky loos.

The Golden Ears bridge to Pitt is great though, hardly anyone uses it!

Originally Posted by The Aviator (Post 8725362)

Lets wait an see if it's any better. Highway one was not congested at all except for an hour or so 16 years ago, now getting over the bridge is just the first hurdle. East bound line ups go all the way out to Abbotsford on a bad day (most) and traffic volume is increasing all the time. There never used to be line ups on the weekend, now it is no better than the week days.

As it is going to be a toll route, the other access points may become more congested, such as the Deas Island tunnel + others. Throw in a few accidents, breakdowns and the looky loos.

The Golden Ears bridge to Pitt is great though, hardly anyone uses it!

Originally Posted by Alan2005 (Post 8725444)

The highway is only half the problem. Depending on the traffic it can take 45 minutes (or more) to get to the highway from say hastings/burrard and vice-versa. Widening the highway won't solve that problem.

What really need to happen is for the west coast express gets turned into a proper train service along the lines of something like the thames link in london. This will probably happen at some point given that the infrastructure is already there and sprawl will create the demand.

Originally Posted by dboy (Post 8725477)

of course it will be better, alrhough I was surprised that it is only being upgraded to as far as Langley, they should take it out to the wack. As for hwy 1 it was bad years ago and i've been using it for 17 years. About 1996 ish was when they built the HOV lane which helped a little at the time. there have been no improvements since then.

Alan is right, the fact that vancouver has no hwy it is time consuming to get to the hwy as is the same for the southern communities. One thing i really like about north van is easy access to hwy

Originally Posted by The Aviator (Post 8725588)

Time will tell.

Originally Posted by el_richo (Post 8725499)

I agree. Allocate a chunk of the spending money to bring about some form of usable public transport through the wider area.

Originally Posted by Alan2005 (Post 8725444)

What really need to happen is for the west coast express gets turned into a proper train service along the lines of something like the thames link in london. This will probably happen at some point given that the infrastructure is already there and sprawl will create the demand.

Originally Posted by albert_ed (Post 9419453)

Hi

I'm considering a job offer in Surrey.

My other half works close to the Oakridge Skytrain Station, but could/would use a car.

Does anyone have a view on 3 questions:

1. Is there somewhere within 30-40mins of Surrey that is elevated enough to get a decent view of mountains (I need to at least see them!). Oh and throw in some pleasant trails/woods :D

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9419607)

South Surrey is an option. There is a ridge than runs along most of the US border and this extends into the Semiahmoo peninsular. On the north side of the ridge you get good views across to the North Shore Mountains. Fine for trails and near to open country.

In North Surrey some of the subdivisions around 160th street and 80th avenue have great mountain views. Tynehead park nearby has some trails and an off-leash area.

Walnut Grove or Fort Langley are also options but the drive to Oakridge is getting longer.

To be honest, there are plenty of places around the Lower Mainland where you get mountain views - it varies street by street. Richmond, for example, is as flat as a pancake but if you have the right house at the right location ...

You can also look at North Burnaby - there are some nice neighborhoods with views there as well. Some of the very best mountain views are from the West Side of Vancouver where you see the North Shore Mountains over English Bay. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ though.



There are surprisingly few rental agencies. Most people use Craig's List, Vancouver Sun classified or the local free papers. However, I wouldn't really recommend you pay anyone any money for a property you haven't seen - pictures are not always representative of reality and how do you know the person you are paying money to really is the landlord?.

If you want to look in the South Surrey area you could go to Hugh & McKinnon's website http://www.hughmckinnon.com/singlehome.html. They generally deal with high-end rentals but are an old established agency and I would not have any concerns about paying a deposit to them.



Pretty grim at the moment as Hwy 1 has a massive construction project that will last a couple of years. I don't have any idea what the driving time is like at the moment. If the Iron Worker's Bridge is flowing freely then, using alternate routes, it is about an hour but it depends where you start in North Vancouver and whereabouts in Surrey you need to get to. Its a big place.

Once Hwy 1 is completed, against the rush hour, I would guess about 30 minutes.

The problem with commuting from the North Shore is that there are only two bridges. In rush hour they are both busy but serviceable. However, you only need an accident on one of the bridges and everything grinds to a halt. OK if you have an understanding employer but not good if you work fixed shifts. Generally, you want as few bridges/tunnels as possible between home and work.

Originally Posted by albert_ed (Post 9419911)

Hi JonboyE

Thanks for such a great amount of detailed information. I'm quite curious to see what its like down at the ridge to the Semiahmoo peninsula, that sounds promising and certainly looks worth a visit. I took a look down Tsawwassen last weekend and White Rock which were interesting. I then took a drive up to Highway 1 and Maple Ridge which was a nightmare.

The job is around 84th and 152nd St.

Thanks again

Ed

Originally Posted by ducktastic (Post 9420509)

I totally forgot I started this thread, thank god I didn't end up in Maple Ridge.

Originally Posted by ducktastic (Post 9420509)

I totally forgot I started this thread, thank god I didn't end up in Maple Ridge.

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9419607)

Pretty grim at the moment as Hwy 1 has a massive construction project that will last a couple of years. I don't have any idea what the driving time is like at the moment. If the Iron Worker's Bridge is flowing freely then, using alternate routes, it is about an hour but it depends where you start in North Vancouver and whereabouts in Surrey you need to get to. Its a big place.

Once Hwy 1 is completed, against the rush hour, I would guess about 30 minutes.

The problem with commuting from the North Shore is that there are only two bridges. In rush hour they are both busy but serviceable. However, you only need an accident on one of the bridges and everything grinds to a halt. OK if you have an understanding employer but not good if you work fixed shifts. Generally, you want as few bridges/tunnels as possible between home and work.

Originally Posted by Alan2005 (Post 9420556)

Oi. Piss off back to the uk.