Living In Burnaby, Working In Vancouver

If you have any experience living in major global cities, you know some of the big issues that citizens need to be concerned about. High crime rates, heavy traffic, and expensive housing are probably the top three knocks against big city living anywhere in the world.

Crime in Vancouver certainly is not as much of an issue as it is in other major cities of the world, or even in Canada, but both traffic and pricey real estate are certainly issues. In fact, Vancouver has been named as one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in (some say overpriced when referring to anything from ladies pants to condominiums).

Fortunately for the homeowner on a budget (and who isn't these days) Vancouver, like most cities of its size, includes several adjacent communities where housing prices are a little less expensive than they would be in the city itself. Many of these communities have an economic infrastructure of their own, but a significant portion of the population still makes their way into the big city for careers involving metal slitters, freight movement, or the justice system every single day. One such community is Burnaby.

Burnaby is the city to the immediate east of Vancouver, built up around both sides of the Trans Canada Highway. As with every community in the province, citizens of Burnaby enjoy many benefits including payment for costs of necessary home health care. BC includes a medical system that is truly second to none, with many of the finest doctors in the province making their homes in Lower Mainland communities including Burnaby.

Health care at several levels is not the only amenity that you will find living in Burnaby. The community is a city unto itself in every way, from private school systems to high end shopping. In fact, citizens of Burnaby will often find they only need to leave the city for work, or to catch a Vancouver Canucks hockey game (for those who love torture year in and year out).

Many companies also hold staff retreats in the outlying areas of the city, and once again that includes Burnaby. You will find everything you need for a caterers BBQ; Toronto itself can't boast of better services.

So, in terms of world city living, you can escape from two of the top three Dreads of the Metropolis by living in Burnaby BC. Unfortunately, what you can't escape, when you have to commute into Vancouver or anywhere else, is the third Dread: traffic. Vancouver's a city that was designed, for some reason, to stay small. It has long since outgrown existing routes and expanding transportation corridors has proved difficult. It doesn't matter if you are trying to get in to work during morning rush hour, delivering MRI shielding to a medical facility, or just going in to see the Vancouver Aquarium; you can count on running into some heavy traffic.

High Occupancy Vehicle lanes and other innovations have been applied to the Lower Mainland traffic corridors, but traffic can still slow down and stop at any time of day. Still, that seems to be one Dread that no city can really escape. We think that the Vancouver lifestyle and the Burnaby real estate prices are probably worth the rush hour traffic in the end.