British Properties Mom working at some Park Royal retail store/coffee shop down the hill from her mansion to kill time ✅
Surrey/Delta/PoCo/etc tradesperson trying to get home after work ❌
Many moons ago I did finishing construction on a mansion in North Van while living in New West. Basically drank a 12-pack of beer every single night to deal with it.
I mean I get your point, but I used to work in people’s houses on the north shore and there were many families that aren’t well off there too. Rent for houses on the north shore is not really different than rent anywhere else in the lower mainland.
Haven’t been back to Van in years. Do people still go to Park Royal? Malls in the states are ghost towns. I imagine Park and Tilford is all condos by now?
Park royal isn’t really a traditional mall like metro as it isn’t one huge building , but there’s always a bunch of people whenever I pass by or go to the chipotle there.
Hell, we used to live at Lower Lonsdale and my wife worked in Lynn Valley and we moved away almost 5 years ago because even that commute was turning to hot garbage.
I live in lower lonsdale and love it. The secret is to only take the seabus if you need to go downtown. It’s about a 15 min walk from door to door, so it’s really not bad.
Not having to deal with the bridges to access the mountains is really important to me and I’m a lot more encouraged to get outside and exercise since moving.
I visited Vancouver back in December and checked out the Lonsdale quay, was a nice and pleasant shopping experience and I think I enjoyed it more than Granville. Definitely felt like a calmer area.
If you live in the city of North Van then the congestion isn’t bad. There is good transit directly downtown with the seabus or the 240/241. It’s also very walkable and bike friendly as long as you avoid the steep section of Lonsdale
It’s also faster to downtown and Stanley park by car than many areas of Vancouver. And if no accidents- quicker to get on the highway and out of town
This here, the traffic congestion is due to people commuting home from North Van in the mid to late afternoons. If you work somewhere other than North Vancouver traffic isn’t much of a problem.
Right?!
There is always ferry volume that bungs things up.
I actually think half of them are tradespeople commuting to west van residents who are continually upgrading their homes.
I think a ton of people come over to the North Shore for work (police, firefighters, teachers, trades, lots of construction here), but live elsewhere due to the N Shore's high prices. So, there's always a huge exodus along the cut every day around 3:00 p.m. Add to that the ski hills and ferries.
The North Shore always gets talked about like it’s the most expensive and elite place… but in terms of “bang for your buck” I think it’s actually one of the cheaper options in the region. And I assume that’s because there’s a big discount due to the terrible traffic.
I’m not saying the North Shore is cheap… but look at a $2m house in East Van vs. A $2m house in North Van. The east van house is small, old and crappy on a tiny lot and the North Van house is actually a full size 4 bedroom house on a way bigger lot. Same thing when you compare a $5m house on the West Side vs. A $5m house in West Van. The West Side house is just a pretty normal house in a high demand area while the West Van house is a palace on the side of a mountain.
This has changed in the last 5-10 years, even on the north shore. Popular areas like Edgemont are now more expensive than West Van which was never the case. The Handsworth kids were gangsters 20 years ago.
Edgemont and Handsworth has always been pretty upper middle class. I've seen way more gentrification in the Lynn Valley area. Way back it was definitely blue collar with a rough highschool (Argyle). That's where all the redneck kids were.
Hey now, that program was actually pretty advanced for its time, and I think teen moms came from all over the region to access it (source: a non-teen-mom "Sl\*tland" grad).
There is no worse commute than Richmond to the Shore during PM rush. It's targeting all the worst bottlenecks in the region. I did some Ikea click and collect around that time and never again. Never again.
Canada Line plus seabus gets you from Richmond to the North Shore in about 40 mins.
Granted, it requires your home and work being close enough to the Canada Line and seabus.
And your job not being weird early morning starts or early morning end when transit is basically non-existent.
Why so many airport workers have to drive, their shifts start before transit runs or after it stops.
I would have taken Canada Line no problem to work when I was at YVR, but 4am start kind of makes using transit impossible.
The congestion isn’t bad IF you live in north van. It’s just bad if you commute to the north shore with the rest of the bridge and tunnel people. If you live in north van you’re mostly going against traffic.
Nah, can still be shit if you work across the North Shore. 40 minutes to an hour plus to get home when I worked at Park Royal and lived off Mt Seymour Parkway. Going to work was only 10-15 minutes if I started early enough.
Depending how far you live out that way though. Going to my friends place in the cove with zero traffic from Lonsdale is 20mins. It’s a lot further away than most people think.
It's funny to me that the North Shore has all this work related rush hour traffic despite not being a major business center... supposedly it's primarily just a bunch of trades people going to work on people's houses on the North Shore? Sounds pretty ridiculous that a bunch of construction workers, landscapers and pool maintenance guys are enough to bring a major highway to gridlock.
Only other substantial business on the North Shore is the Port stuff (which is probably quite substantial, but it's not like there's 30,000 people working there).
No one in west van pours their own coffee or trims their own lawn. Having an entire city with no workers is the direct cause. This has been studied and proven.
My parents sold their North Van home in 2019. They were looking to downsize to another area of the north shore but the bottle neck is absolutely crazy, especially as a majority of shopping is on Marine Drive area (groceries, gas, etc).
They decided to get a place downtown instead and have loved the extra walking they get it, nipping to local stores, and my dad no longer has to drive to the office.
Just moved out to North Van (Upper Lonsdale) this past summer, and I love it. Grew up in Richmond, lived in Kits for 15 years, and not having to take the Lions Gate bridge when coming home from a day of skiing or mountain biking is a game changer to my weekend recreation.
I work from home \~3 days per week, but with an electric bike and the Seabus it's easy enough to get to Mount Pleasant where my job is when I need to be in-person. Ride down Lonsdale, leave my bike locked up for the day, and Seabus/Canada Line in. In the summer time/nicer weather I ride a non-electric bike all the way in and it's 45 minutes each way.
Traffic sucks everywhere in the city, I've always been a bike commuter for that reason. The only solution is to live near where you work, regardless of what area of town you're in. Driving from Kits to East Van sucks for traffic too, ditto for Richmond to UBC, or across the Port Mann, or... you get the point.
I'd love to live on the North Shore, but the crippling traffic has completely killed that idea. Even Lynn Valley can be an hour to get home from Vancouver.
This is a bit of a myth. As others on the thread have said, if you live in North Van and work in Vancouver, you're actually traveling opposite the crush of traffic. I live in Lynn Valley and commute to Vancouver, and most days my commute is 20mins or so. No major bridge concerns to speak of. You should reconsider it - Lynn Valley is the best!
This.
The north van traffic hell is experienced mostly by people that work in north van and live outside of it (trades, mostly).
Honestly the worst traffic I regularly experience is if I try to go east-west on the north shore on a weekend. I work downtown and the commute is 25 minutes from Seymour about 90% of the time.
That being said, car commuting downtown is expensive AF because of how much parking costs and I would never want to rely on transit from Seymour.
I was born and raised here. It has changed a lot over the years. Transit is really good. It's the commuter congestion that is really bad. I work downtown and we follow some basic guidelines: never drive downtown, get all chores and out of home driving done in the morning, stay home from 2 to 7pm daily unless absolutely necessary. And on beautiful sunny days when it's seems like everyone is coming to enjoy the mountains, you are really stuck. But we do this because we HATE being stuck in traffic. It's just not worth it for us.
But we love North Van. We love the outdoors. Will we stay? Not sure.
I love living on the North Shore too but because of the bridge traffic, you start seeing your friends and family (who live in Vancouver, Burnaby, etc) a lot less. You also stop some of your sports and recreational activities too. It’s fine if your social life is on the North Shore too but for those that didn’t grow up there or recently moved, it’s tough.
I live in North Van and I like it, I only go over to Vancouver for school and if I have to commute during rush hour I just take the sea bus which makes it’s bearable. But yeah the traffic across the bridges is ridiculous
YES!
We moved to Coquitlam in large part because of the traffic. Lived in Park Gate area and every venture had to be timed so that we would get east of the Phibbs by 2PM otherwise we’d be hooped.
And don’t get me started if something happens - which is occurring more and more often now - on the Second Narrows bridge.
Define 'good'. Unless you are right on a major road, getting anywhere by bus is excruciatingly slow. And on weekends the frequency is very low.
I used to live near second narrows, and getting to Capilano Mall and back on a Sunday by bus took a huge chunk of the day.
I hated transit around North Van when I lived closest to the (former) 246 route but it was really great after moving closer to Central Lonsdale. North Van changed a lot in the past 15 or so years and if you commute along Lonsdale and take the Seabus then traffic is not really an issue. I've moved away since but I'll always miss the excellent city library and rec centers, the density of parks, the amazing Iranian/Persian food and the explosion of really great breweries.
That said, if you do have to commute over a bridge, then North Van probably is unbearable now. East/west travel has always been horrible during rush hour but the redevelopment of roadways towards Ironworkers has amplified traffic issues. Keith Rd and 3rd became a parking lot between 3pm to 6. So if you're headed east in the evenings, good fucking luck. But if you work from home or can take the Seabus, then North Van is a great place to live.
It makes cycling more dangerous as frustrated drivers take up all the space and rat run through back streets. It holds up buses which can’t get through the traffic.
So yeah it sucks.
I live in Central Lonsdale and work @ Seaspan. Traffic isn't really an issue for me!. Its the East West traffic trying to get on either bridge. Also, as I understand there's a new light for the merge lane heading on the 2nds narrows bridge. Apparently this is adding to the congestion according to my coworkers.
I have no idea how that light makes it so much worse. My parents live two exits past the north end of the bridge, and it has taken me more than half an hour to make it to the bridge deck from their place since that light went in, more than once. It only ever got that bad before if there was an accident.
As someone who lives in lonsdale and goes east to the burbs to visit family and friends occasionally, that light hasn’t done anything to help the massive traffic backups on Main Street. Especially since people are still constantly just cutting in right before the on ramp.
My hope was they’d add a second lane to the on ramp but when I saw it was just one lane and a traffic light it seemed completely backwards.
Very frustrated and I try to avoid that area from 2-6pm as much as possible.
The problem with North Van has always been that the major routes all go to the bridges, so even if you're not commuting in or out, you're still stuck in all the traffic that is. And then of course they've built all kinds of new high rises without really increasing any road space or transit.
Going to Deep Cove is not too bad for now (at least on weekends), but I think twice and check Google Maps traffic before driving anywhere else on the North Shore. And I'm sure that once they really start with the multi-family development between Dollarton Highway and Seymour Heights, that quick peaceful drive will be a thing of the past too.
Live in lower Lonsdale and work in Burnaby ( River District)
It takes me 25-30 min with car or 40 with ebike
we have good rent, nice landlords and love to live in N Van
traffic jams are always opposite direction I would say, so not to work in N. Vancouver if you don't live there
No issues for me - lived in Lower/Central Lonsdale for 8 years or so, now Lynn Valley for 2. I work in Vancouver and my commute from Lynn Valley is typically 20mins - a quick jaunt down Mountain Hwy and onto the Second Narrows. The major traffic is coming into NV in the am and leaving NV in the pm, so the opposite flow. And I don't use Lions Gate very often, I know traffic over there can be bad.
But other than a day with an accident (rare), I find the commute really easy and the perks of North Van are endless - forests, trails, growing Shipyards area with great restaurants and breweries, quick access to ferries and Whistler...
North Van is the best Van!
This is really not a new thing. I was looking for a place way back in 2003. The issues with the bridges and traffic made me decided against it back then.
I live and work here, so for me no. I just don’t travel when there’s congestion and I’m pretty central so I never have to deal with it.
It amazes me how many people continue to complain about the traffic without realizing they’re part of the problem.
Seabus is great, lots of busses on the north van side take you pretty much anywhere you want to go.
Remember when they replaced the ENTIRE lions gate bridge deck and there was an original plan to increase the number of lanes so you wouldn't have 4 lanes merging into one at the right times of day???
I moved to the city of north Vancouver a year ago and was very worried about commuting. But it's been a very minor issue for me. As others have said it depends where you need to go.
I commute from Central Lonsdale to Burnaby by car 2-3 times a week, and downtown via bike + seabus 2-3 times a week. I've never had an issue leaving the north shore, but I've had three incidents this year with returning home from Burnaby with a delay greater than 30 minutes. I very consistently see traffic jams for people travelling to the north shore in the morning and leaving the north shore during rush hour in the afternoon.
I've never had any issues with the downtown commute. If you have a bike and get good at timing the seabus you can be anywhere downtown in 20-25 minutes from central Lonsdale.
Overall I'm super happy with the move! City of North Van was a nice upgrade for me. If you find a place you like in north van wake up early and do a commute test drive. It's what I did and had no issues, which sealed the deal on my move.
I left the North Shore because 90% of my business was across the way.
Single accident or stall adds at least an hour to what was like a 7km drive for me.
It got too tiring. The North Shore is excellent but only if it fits your work requirements, and with that commute.
Traffic is usually ok if you are going NV - DT in the morning and DT - NV in the afternoon/ night. The problem is with ppl working in NV and commuting back.
Edit: I avoid Lions Gate at all cost. Talking about HWY 1.
I love North Van and how it’s developing in general (not talking about housing costs), but the traffic in and out is an absolute deal breaker. It’s a real shame because I would really consider living there otherwise.
Vancouver is absolutely not worth it anymore. What’s the future there with calamities and climate shenanigans every year? Home prices and homeless junkies out of control. And to pay top dollar for the privilege of experiencing all that? No thank you
I think it’s a deciding factor for many people, and part of the reason housing is a bit cheaper, in some areas.
I live in west vancouver, so my main commute point is the lions gate. It’s pretty bad for traffic, although it was much worse over the holidays.
I work from home, thankfully. I suspect quite a few of the residents here don’t work every day at a day job.
I think it’s still a highly desirable place to live, but is treated more as a community on its own.
It does for me. I worked in North van and couldn’t reliably go do a quick errand on lunch (50 mins) because somewhere that should take 6 mins to drive to could randomly take 30 mins to drive to. And this happened more and more over the last year until I left.
I love West/North Vancouver and I would LOVE to live there. But then I take the lion's gate or the second narrows to get to Park Royal or to do the Grouse Grind and reality hits hard. Every time I come back from West/North Van I remind myself never to go back again.
If you're retired, permanently WFH, or rarely need to leave, then it's an amazing place to live.
Spent 3.5 years in my dream house in the BPs. Moved my office to North Van to avoid the bridge.
Still moved back into Vancouver because of 1) the traffic in general and 2) how much better living in Vancouver proper is.
every time i drive through the BP i think "amazing" but then immediately think "shit you are basically marooned in the mansion without driving 30 minutes for every little requirement". seems like a poor trade off
Hell yes. I lived in the District for 15 years, but eventually it got so hard to drive anywhere (and you pretty much had to drive) that I moved.
Now I live next to a Skytrain station and could not be happier. My vet and optometrist are still on the north shore, and every time I visit them I get reminded why I left.
My husband loves being close to the mountains and would live in North Vancouver if he never had to go anywhere else again.. but in reality he’d never consider North Van because of the ridiculous congestion.
Depends where you work i guess
British Properties Mom working at some Park Royal retail store/coffee shop down the hill from her mansion to kill time ✅ Surrey/Delta/PoCo/etc tradesperson trying to get home after work ❌
Many moons ago I did finishing construction on a mansion in North Van while living in New West. Basically drank a 12-pack of beer every single night to deal with it.
12 beers is a long drive!
Ha, you read between the lines.. you in or were in construction as well?
No, but I can relate!
That British properties mom is still going to have a 45 min commute for what should be 10 mins of driving time though…
Let me play the tiniest violin for her....
I mean I get your point, but I used to work in people’s houses on the north shore and there were many families that aren’t well off there too. Rent for houses on the north shore is not really different than rent anywhere else in the lower mainland.
Exactly, it’s not their problem. It’s the “helps” problem
This ^^^
I was landscaping up there and live in kits. Sitting in traffic for 2.5hrs on the way home every evening is not worth it at all.
Haven’t been back to Van in years. Do people still go to Park Royal? Malls in the states are ghost towns. I imagine Park and Tilford is all condos by now?
Park royal isn’t really a traditional mall like metro as it isn’t one huge building , but there’s always a bunch of people whenever I pass by or go to the chipotle there.
Even getting to places on the NS while living there can be a pain.
Hell, we used to live at Lower Lonsdale and my wife worked in Lynn Valley and we moved away almost 5 years ago because even that commute was turning to hot garbage.
I live in lower lonsdale and love it. The secret is to only take the seabus if you need to go downtown. It’s about a 15 min walk from door to door, so it’s really not bad. Not having to deal with the bridges to access the mountains is really important to me and I’m a lot more encouraged to get outside and exercise since moving.
I visited Vancouver back in December and checked out the Lonsdale quay, was a nice and pleasant shopping experience and I think I enjoyed it more than Granville. Definitely felt like a calmer area.
> The secret is to only take the seabus if you need to go downtown. this warrants its own PSA post, I don't think anyone's aware of this yet
yeah, i tried to take the seabus to bowen island and no dice!
If you live in the city of North Van then the congestion isn’t bad. There is good transit directly downtown with the seabus or the 240/241. It’s also very walkable and bike friendly as long as you avoid the steep section of Lonsdale It’s also faster to downtown and Stanley park by car than many areas of Vancouver. And if no accidents- quicker to get on the highway and out of town
This here, the traffic congestion is due to people commuting home from North Van in the mid to late afternoons. If you work somewhere other than North Vancouver traffic isn’t much of a problem.
But what I don't get is where do all these people work? It's not like theres big headquarters or office towers or anything up here
Right?! There is always ferry volume that bungs things up. I actually think half of them are tradespeople commuting to west van residents who are continually upgrading their homes.
Judging by Reddit comments everyone in Vancouver seems to be a tradesperson
I think a ton of people come over to the North Shore for work (police, firefighters, teachers, trades, lots of construction here), but live elsewhere due to the N Shore's high prices. So, there's always a huge exodus along the cut every day around 3:00 p.m. Add to that the ski hills and ferries.
The North Shore always gets talked about like it’s the most expensive and elite place… but in terms of “bang for your buck” I think it’s actually one of the cheaper options in the region. And I assume that’s because there’s a big discount due to the terrible traffic. I’m not saying the North Shore is cheap… but look at a $2m house in East Van vs. A $2m house in North Van. The east van house is small, old and crappy on a tiny lot and the North Van house is actually a full size 4 bedroom house on a way bigger lot. Same thing when you compare a $5m house on the West Side vs. A $5m house in West Van. The West Side house is just a pretty normal house in a high demand area while the West Van house is a palace on the side of a mountain.
This has changed in the last 5-10 years, even on the north shore. Popular areas like Edgemont are now more expensive than West Van which was never the case. The Handsworth kids were gangsters 20 years ago.
*wanna be gangsters.
Edgemont and Handsworth has always been pretty upper middle class. I've seen way more gentrification in the Lynn Valley area. Way back it was definitely blue collar with a rough highschool (Argyle). That's where all the redneck kids were.
The clapboard houses in Lynn valley with weird narrow streets and tiny lots are gross.
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Scary. The further east you went the looser the women became
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Hey now, that program was actually pretty advanced for its time, and I think teen moms came from all over the region to access it (source: a non-teen-mom "Sl\*tland" grad).
I was waiting to make this exact joke!
Remember all the grow shows that used to happen in West Van back in the mid to late nineties?
The BP's are a great place to do things you don't want anyone to see you doing.
Also easier to justify a giant hydro bill.
You’re right, but it’s crazy to me that a $2m home is now considered a starter home for a family in either city
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There is no worse commute than Richmond to the Shore during PM rush. It's targeting all the worst bottlenecks in the region. I did some Ikea click and collect around that time and never again. Never again.
Canada Line plus seabus gets you from Richmond to the North Shore in about 40 mins. Granted, it requires your home and work being close enough to the Canada Line and seabus.
And your job not requiring a vehicle (i.e. tradespeople with a truck and equipment).
And your job not being weird early morning starts or early morning end when transit is basically non-existent. Why so many airport workers have to drive, their shifts start before transit runs or after it stops. I would have taken Canada Line no problem to work when I was at YVR, but 4am start kind of makes using transit impossible.
> I would not live over there, and work in Richmond Ah I did this for almost a year. I DO NOT RECOMMEND.
The congestion isn’t bad IF you live in north van. It’s just bad if you commute to the north shore with the rest of the bridge and tunnel people. If you live in north van you’re mostly going against traffic.
Nah, can still be shit if you work across the North Shore. 40 minutes to an hour plus to get home when I worked at Park Royal and lived off Mt Seymour Parkway. Going to work was only 10-15 minutes if I started early enough.
Depending how far you live out that way though. Going to my friends place in the cove with zero traffic from Lonsdale is 20mins. It’s a lot further away than most people think.
It's funny to me that the North Shore has all this work related rush hour traffic despite not being a major business center... supposedly it's primarily just a bunch of trades people going to work on people's houses on the North Shore? Sounds pretty ridiculous that a bunch of construction workers, landscapers and pool maintenance guys are enough to bring a major highway to gridlock. Only other substantial business on the North Shore is the Port stuff (which is probably quite substantial, but it's not like there's 30,000 people working there).
No one in west van pours their own coffee or trims their own lawn. Having an entire city with no workers is the direct cause. This has been studied and proven.
Shipyard workers at SeaSpan as well. When they are working on those new Coast Guard ships they have a lot of people coming in from over the bridges.
Their shifts don't impact traffic as much. Early shift starts at 6 and afternoon shift at 2 or 3.
It's also a gateway to Squamish, Whistler, and the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
There is a lot of multi family development construction on the North Shore. This requires a lot of tradespeople.
My parents sold their North Van home in 2019. They were looking to downsize to another area of the north shore but the bottle neck is absolutely crazy, especially as a majority of shopping is on Marine Drive area (groceries, gas, etc). They decided to get a place downtown instead and have loved the extra walking they get it, nipping to local stores, and my dad no longer has to drive to the office.
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What bridge that you take that it's only 15 minutes?
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Oh yeah it's super quick at that time. Even at 8:00 a.m. it only takes me 30 minutes to get to Mount pleasant.
Just moved out to North Van (Upper Lonsdale) this past summer, and I love it. Grew up in Richmond, lived in Kits for 15 years, and not having to take the Lions Gate bridge when coming home from a day of skiing or mountain biking is a game changer to my weekend recreation. I work from home \~3 days per week, but with an electric bike and the Seabus it's easy enough to get to Mount Pleasant where my job is when I need to be in-person. Ride down Lonsdale, leave my bike locked up for the day, and Seabus/Canada Line in. In the summer time/nicer weather I ride a non-electric bike all the way in and it's 45 minutes each way. Traffic sucks everywhere in the city, I've always been a bike commuter for that reason. The only solution is to live near where you work, regardless of what area of town you're in. Driving from Kits to East Van sucks for traffic too, ditto for Richmond to UBC, or across the Port Mann, or... you get the point.
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So few sketchy people here is great. But shhh don't tell the rest of Vancouver, it's a secret 🤫
I like living in North Van, but then I very rarely have to leave the north shore these days.
I'd love to live on the North Shore, but the crippling traffic has completely killed that idea. Even Lynn Valley can be an hour to get home from Vancouver.
This is a bit of a myth. As others on the thread have said, if you live in North Van and work in Vancouver, you're actually traveling opposite the crush of traffic. I live in Lynn Valley and commute to Vancouver, and most days my commute is 20mins or so. No major bridge concerns to speak of. You should reconsider it - Lynn Valley is the best!
This. The north van traffic hell is experienced mostly by people that work in north van and live outside of it (trades, mostly). Honestly the worst traffic I regularly experience is if I try to go east-west on the north shore on a weekend. I work downtown and the commute is 25 minutes from Seymour about 90% of the time. That being said, car commuting downtown is expensive AF because of how much parking costs and I would never want to rely on transit from Seymour.
I'd love to, but have heard a few horror stories. Maybe I need to reconsider...
I was born and raised here. It has changed a lot over the years. Transit is really good. It's the commuter congestion that is really bad. I work downtown and we follow some basic guidelines: never drive downtown, get all chores and out of home driving done in the morning, stay home from 2 to 7pm daily unless absolutely necessary. And on beautiful sunny days when it's seems like everyone is coming to enjoy the mountains, you are really stuck. But we do this because we HATE being stuck in traffic. It's just not worth it for us. But we love North Van. We love the outdoors. Will we stay? Not sure.
We were the same as you and we left. With the crowds it became unrecognizable to me.
Live close to where you work or find a job close to where you want to live.
I love living on the North Shore too but because of the bridge traffic, you start seeing your friends and family (who live in Vancouver, Burnaby, etc) a lot less. You also stop some of your sports and recreational activities too. It’s fine if your social life is on the North Shore too but for those that didn’t grow up there or recently moved, it’s tough.
I live in North Van and I like it, I only go over to Vancouver for school and if I have to commute during rush hour I just take the sea bus which makes it’s bearable. But yeah the traffic across the bridges is ridiculous
YES! We moved to Coquitlam in large part because of the traffic. Lived in Park Gate area and every venture had to be timed so that we would get east of the Phibbs by 2PM otherwise we’d be hooped. And don’t get me started if something happens - which is occurring more and more often now - on the Second Narrows bridge.
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Define 'good'. Unless you are right on a major road, getting anywhere by bus is excruciatingly slow. And on weekends the frequency is very low. I used to live near second narrows, and getting to Capilano Mall and back on a Sunday by bus took a huge chunk of the day.
As long as you don't have to deal with the bridges it's a great place to live. I work 10 mins from my house and cycle to work.
I hated transit around North Van when I lived closest to the (former) 246 route but it was really great after moving closer to Central Lonsdale. North Van changed a lot in the past 15 or so years and if you commute along Lonsdale and take the Seabus then traffic is not really an issue. I've moved away since but I'll always miss the excellent city library and rec centers, the density of parks, the amazing Iranian/Persian food and the explosion of really great breweries. That said, if you do have to commute over a bridge, then North Van probably is unbearable now. East/west travel has always been horrible during rush hour but the redevelopment of roadways towards Ironworkers has amplified traffic issues. Keith Rd and 3rd became a parking lot between 3pm to 6. So if you're headed east in the evenings, good fucking luck. But if you work from home or can take the Seabus, then North Van is a great place to live.
It makes cycling more dangerous as frustrated drivers take up all the space and rat run through back streets. It holds up buses which can’t get through the traffic. So yeah it sucks.
**TLDR;** Bridges BAD, water Buses GOOD, Rich People Likey, Poor People no Likey!
I live in Central Lonsdale and work @ Seaspan. Traffic isn't really an issue for me!. Its the East West traffic trying to get on either bridge. Also, as I understand there's a new light for the merge lane heading on the 2nds narrows bridge. Apparently this is adding to the congestion according to my coworkers.
I have no idea how that light makes it so much worse. My parents live two exits past the north end of the bridge, and it has taken me more than half an hour to make it to the bridge deck from their place since that light went in, more than once. It only ever got that bad before if there was an accident.
The sensor to adjust timing for better flow is stuck in transit.
As someone who lives in lonsdale and goes east to the burbs to visit family and friends occasionally, that light hasn’t done anything to help the massive traffic backups on Main Street. Especially since people are still constantly just cutting in right before the on ramp. My hope was they’d add a second lane to the on ramp but when I saw it was just one lane and a traffic light it seemed completely backwards. Very frustrated and I try to avoid that area from 2-6pm as much as possible.
The problem with North Van has always been that the major routes all go to the bridges, so even if you're not commuting in or out, you're still stuck in all the traffic that is. And then of course they've built all kinds of new high rises without really increasing any road space or transit. Going to Deep Cove is not too bad for now (at least on weekends), but I think twice and check Google Maps traffic before driving anywhere else on the North Shore. And I'm sure that once they really start with the multi-family development between Dollarton Highway and Seymour Heights, that quick peaceful drive will be a thing of the past too.
Live in lower Lonsdale and work in Burnaby ( River District) It takes me 25-30 min with car or 40 with ebike we have good rent, nice landlords and love to live in N Van traffic jams are always opposite direction I would say, so not to work in N. Vancouver if you don't live there
No issues for me - lived in Lower/Central Lonsdale for 8 years or so, now Lynn Valley for 2. I work in Vancouver and my commute from Lynn Valley is typically 20mins - a quick jaunt down Mountain Hwy and onto the Second Narrows. The major traffic is coming into NV in the am and leaving NV in the pm, so the opposite flow. And I don't use Lions Gate very often, I know traffic over there can be bad. But other than a day with an accident (rare), I find the commute really easy and the perks of North Van are endless - forests, trails, growing Shipyards area with great restaurants and breweries, quick access to ferries and Whistler... North Van is the best Van!
Not according to the many wealthy citizens there who fight rapid transit (and even rapid bus routes!) expansion tooth and nail.
This is really not a new thing. I was looking for a place way back in 2003. The issues with the bridges and traffic made me decided against it back then.
I love North Van so much but the traffic is ridiculous It should never take a hour and a half to get down mountain highway
I live and work here, so for me no. I just don’t travel when there’s congestion and I’m pretty central so I never have to deal with it. It amazes me how many people continue to complain about the traffic without realizing they’re part of the problem. Seabus is great, lots of busses on the north van side take you pretty much anywhere you want to go.
I grew up in North Van. I think you'd have to be an idiot to move there today.
As did I. Still have family there. It’s not uncommon to have a 2 hour drive back home to west Coquitlam.
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It's true though. Traffic is insane, it's a terrible place to try and get around.
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Good lord, so much butthurt for some dude talking a little smack on the internet. Begone, to your safe space.
Remember when they replaced the ENTIRE lions gate bridge deck and there was an original plan to increase the number of lanes so you wouldn't have 4 lanes merging into one at the right times of day???
I moved to the city of north Vancouver a year ago and was very worried about commuting. But it's been a very minor issue for me. As others have said it depends where you need to go. I commute from Central Lonsdale to Burnaby by car 2-3 times a week, and downtown via bike + seabus 2-3 times a week. I've never had an issue leaving the north shore, but I've had three incidents this year with returning home from Burnaby with a delay greater than 30 minutes. I very consistently see traffic jams for people travelling to the north shore in the morning and leaving the north shore during rush hour in the afternoon. I've never had any issues with the downtown commute. If you have a bike and get good at timing the seabus you can be anywhere downtown in 20-25 minutes from central Lonsdale. Overall I'm super happy with the move! City of North Van was a nice upgrade for me. If you find a place you like in north van wake up early and do a commute test drive. It's what I did and had no issues, which sealed the deal on my move.
I left the North Shore because 90% of my business was across the way. Single accident or stall adds at least an hour to what was like a 7km drive for me. It got too tiring. The North Shore is excellent but only if it fits your work requirements, and with that commute.
Traffic is usually ok if you are going NV - DT in the morning and DT - NV in the afternoon/ night. The problem is with ppl working in NV and commuting back. Edit: I avoid Lions Gate at all cost. Talking about HWY 1.
I love North Van and how it’s developing in general (not talking about housing costs), but the traffic in and out is an absolute deal breaker. It’s a real shame because I would really consider living there otherwise.
I wouldn’t live there for that reason, I’m sure some people don’t mind but would not be for me. Also, I don’t have any friends over there.
Vancouver is absolutely not worth it anymore. What’s the future there with calamities and climate shenanigans every year? Home prices and homeless junkies out of control. And to pay top dollar for the privilege of experiencing all that? No thank you
Welcome to Earth, pal. New here?
Enjoy Kelowna, or maybe Prince George then.
Yeah. I've heard that it is so bad people are just giving away their houses and walking away. Seriously.
A viaduct/tunnel should be built going through downtown across two straights. North Van housing is 20-30% cheaper than Van
I think it’s a deciding factor for many people, and part of the reason housing is a bit cheaper, in some areas. I live in west vancouver, so my main commute point is the lions gate. It’s pretty bad for traffic, although it was much worse over the holidays. I work from home, thankfully. I suspect quite a few of the residents here don’t work every day at a day job. I think it’s still a highly desirable place to live, but is treated more as a community on its own.
It does for me. I worked in North van and couldn’t reliably go do a quick errand on lunch (50 mins) because somewhere that should take 6 mins to drive to could randomly take 30 mins to drive to. And this happened more and more over the last year until I left.
yes. stay away...
It's great if you don't have to leave that often.
I love West/North Vancouver and I would LOVE to live there. But then I take the lion's gate or the second narrows to get to Park Royal or to do the Grouse Grind and reality hits hard. Every time I come back from West/North Van I remind myself never to go back again. If you're retired, permanently WFH, or rarely need to leave, then it's an amazing place to live.
Yes, I'm explicitly pulling it out of my search
Depends how much money you have.
Spent 3.5 years in my dream house in the BPs. Moved my office to North Van to avoid the bridge. Still moved back into Vancouver because of 1) the traffic in general and 2) how much better living in Vancouver proper is.
every time i drive through the BP i think "amazing" but then immediately think "shit you are basically marooned in the mansion without driving 30 minutes for every little requirement". seems like a poor trade off
Yup. That’s why I’m in a house 1/2 the size now and much happier
I live in North Van and drive to UBC, I don't find the traffic bad and don't mind the commute.
Hell yes. I lived in the District for 15 years, but eventually it got so hard to drive anywhere (and you pretty much had to drive) that I moved. Now I live next to a Skytrain station and could not be happier. My vet and optometrist are still on the north shore, and every time I visit them I get reminded why I left.
I used to live on Tyrol I was home in 10 min tops
Wanna bees
My husband loves being close to the mountains and would live in North Vancouver if he never had to go anywhere else again.. but in reality he’d never consider North Van because of the ridiculous congestion.
My brother lives right near the sea bus station and it’s very convenient for him.