Relocation services for British Columbia, Canada

Commuting in Greater Vancouver

One thing that people are often interested in when considering where to live, is the commute. This page will give you some information on commuting in the Greater Vancouver area. A lot will depend on the location of your work. There are so many communities in the area that it is misleading to assume you will be commuting into downtown Vancouver.

Distances

The first thing to note is the distances. This map and the table that follows will give you some of the distances between communities in the GVRD.

Distances from Vancouver
Abbotsford	68 km	42 miles
Burnaby	10 km	6 miles
Chilliwack	103 km	64 miles
Coquitlam	26 km	16 miles
Maple Ridge	45 km	28 miles
Mission	69 km	43 miles
New Westminster	25 km	16 miles
North Vancouver	10 km	6 miles
Pitt Meadows	38 km	24 miles
Port Coquitlam	31 km	19 miles
Port Moody	22 km	14 miles
Richmond	10 km	6 miles
West Vancouver	10 km	6 miles
White Rock	48 km	30 miles

Commuting times

Anyone who commutes regularly will tell you that distance is not as important as the time you spend commuting. Being stuck in traffic is no fun, especially if it is a regular part of your “daily grind”.

In 2003 the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority conducted a survey on travel times. This was an interesting study that looked at travel times and speeds during the morning and evening peak times as well as at mid-day. There is more to the study than I am able to reproduce here. For example the study looked at variability in commute times. The full study is available as a pdf document.

Morning Peak Travel Times

The table below shows the morning peak travel times. The origin is shown on the left and the destinations across the top. So for example the commute from Surrey Central to Vancouver is 58 minutes.

	Average Travel Time (minutes) to Destination
	N.Van	Van	UBC	SFU	Metro Town	New West	Coq Centre	Maple Ridge	Rich mond	Tsaw’n ferry	Surrey Central	Langley City	Abbotsford
N.Vancouver		18	31	29	24	26	32	50	37	55	35	42	46
Vancouver	23		23	25	20	33	33	54	26	41	40	40	43
UBC	40	28		41	38	31	53	74	37	35	48	71	59
SFU	27	25	51		25	20	19	34	52	55	25	36	37
MetroTown	20	25	30	19		18	21	35	21	33	24	34	37
New Westminster	27	31	47	19	13		21	31	31	37	11	38	37
Coquitlam Centre	42	34	58	20	36	25		18	58	71	26	32	37
Maple Ridge	70	68	94	41	55	47	31		83	99	41	61	69
Richmond	48	46	31	46	32	26	53	63		19	33	43	64
Tsaw’n ferry	71	49	51	64	44	53	68	93	37		39	43	60
Surrey Central	41	58	68	25	35	17	36	49	43	38		25	25
Langley City	84	63	84	49	63	53	43	61	55	44	28		17
Abbotsford	104	82	106	51	68	62	49	63	85	67	38	22

Evening Peak Travel Times

And getting home again...

	Average Travel Time (minutes) to Destination
	N.Van	Van	UBC	SFU	Metro Town	New West	Coq Centre	Maple Ridge	Rich mond	Tsaw’n ferry	Surrey Central	Langley City	Abbotsford
N.Vancouver		26	42	27	27	40	40	64	56	73	51	68	71
Vancouver	27		28	27	28	44	37	59	35	48	53	68	72
UBC	47	32		58	51	46	75	104	29	50	60	89	91
SFU	25	25	54		25	24	25	46	47	54	29	39	42
Metro Town	31	23	38	29		23	34	50	29	39	33	55	59
New Westminster	27	43	43	27	20		27	46	39	38	15	46	50
Coquitlam Centre	37	38	73	18	28	31		23	52	60	35	36	43
Maple Ridge	65	59	63	48	43	39	29		87	95	45	71	58
Richmond	56	38	32	58	30	29	69	86		37	49	54	82
Tsaw’n ferry	69	56	53	66	54	56	74	113	35		50	57	75
Surrey Central	42	62	54	31	37	10	28	41	52	41		33	32
Langley City	74	49	68	51	69	57	37	63	55	45	41		22
Abbotsford	75	50	70	51	43	45	32	58	90	63	39	24

 

Commuting Costs

Gas prices have been increasing lately. These may still be far less than they are in Europe, but it has become a factor to consider in assessing where to live and how far you are prepared to commute.

According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, higher gas prices (hovering around $1.10 per litre at the time), has made little difference in drivers vehicle-buying habits, but they may be changing their commuting habits.

The most popular new vehicle in Canada remains the Ford F-series pickup (according to DesRosiers Automobile Consultants). More than 23,000 Canadians bought between January and April 2005.

Overall the buying pattern in Canada is:

• 45% buy fuel efficient compact or sub-compact cars
• 30% buy mid-size family cars
• 15% buy commercial vehicles
• 10% buy large luxury sports vehicles

Fuel costs

The average vehicle in Canada costs $1,200 to $1,400 to fuel every year (2005). If you increase fuel prices by 20 per cent you are looking at an extra two or three hundred dollars a year.

So an average Ford F-series truck, which gets 18 miles per gallon in the city ( the equivalent of 15.9 litres per 100 kilometres) would cost a lot more than $1,200 per year in gas. Commuting to downtown Vancouver from Coquitlam in the truck would cost almost $2,500 per year at current (2005) gas prices. From Mission it would be $7,000.

The most fuel-efficient car on DesRosiers’ list of the 10 most popular cars is the Toyota Echo which gets 42 miles to a gallon (the equivalent of 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres). That translates into just greater than $1,000 to and from Coquitlam 235 days a year, and almost $2,500 if the owner lives in Mission.

Carpooling

One way to avoid some of these costs is carpooling. Close to 1,000 people take part in a Ride Share program through the Jack Bell Foundation, said executive director Leon Teubes.

The foundation provides eight-person vans and four-person cars to groups of commuters who want to share the expense of living outside the downtown core.

Sharing rides

Ride Share also provides a free on-line ride-sharing database -- www.ride-share.com -- that matches drivers who want to use their own car with passengers looking for a ride. More than 1,800 people have registered with the database in the last two months.

Ride Share is helping people share rides from as far away as Chilliwack and Squamish. There are also commuters van-pooling from Nanaimo to Victoria.

The cost for van-sharing from Coquitlam, White Rock and Mission through Ride Share ranges from about $1,200 per person per year to $3,000, based on eight people sharing.

Transit

The West Coast Express on the other hand, costs about $1,800 a year to and from Coquitlam Central, and $3,000 a year for Mission commuters. TransLink can cost between $800 to $1,500 depending on distance. Cheaper fares may be available through employer-sponsored programs.

Some people are giving up their cars altogether and joining the Co-operative Auto Network, founder and executive director Tracey Axelsson said. Higher prices make people start to really think about whether owning a car is necessary, said Axelsson who has seen a surge in new members recently. The Co-operative Auto Network has almost 2,000 members who share 102 cars, most of them in the Lower Mainland.

Cost of the alternatives to driving

Some commuter alternatives to the single-occupant vehicle. Here are the annual costs of commuting by public forms of transport

• Jack Bell Ride Share
  • Coquitlam
    8-person van $1,269 per person
    4-person car $1,818 per person
  • White Rock
    8-person van $1,527 per person
    4-person car $2,131.20
  • Mission
    8-person van $2,008.08
    4-person car $2,782.80
• Transit
  • Westcoast Express
    Coquitlam Central $1,830
    Mission $3,050
• TransLink
  One zone $828 ($69 per month)
  Two zone $1,140 ($95 per month)
  Three zone $1,560 ($130 per month)