Blatchford Development | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

If you live in the Annex or right Downtown giving up a car is pretty easy, but ALL of my buddies who live in the GTA have cars and have had them for all but a small point in their 20s.

Granted, most are 1 medium car-sized households, not a giant SUV and F150 in their drives.
 
IanO said:
not a giant SUV and F150 in their drives
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This is a cultural thing in AB that will likely change (hopefully) as more and more people from other places in Canada come here, especially Vancouver and Toronto.
I don't see a reason why someone who had a small or mid-sized car in the GTA would buy anything bigger here, except maybe to "blend in".
 
thommyjo said:
I don’t think people talking about cars have ever actually lived in the GTA…

Out of the 9mil+ in and around the Golden Horseshoe, MAYBE 1-2 mil of those people are in areas with good enough transit to ditch car ownership.

Literally look at the highways. The vast majority of the GTA is using the 401, 400, 407etc every day.

And a lot of the people attracted to move aren’t those living in downtown Toronto with high paying jobs and urban lifestyles. It’s those in Burlington, barrie, Ajax, Guelph, Kingston etc who are still paying a million dollars to live in essentially edgemont type neighborhoods with 1hr of traffic to go anywhere that’s not a suburban neighborhood or power centre.

So the point on cars is mostly moot tbh.
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Thank you. My household spends a month or two every year in Toronto and further into the GTA. During conversations about relocating, choose to stay in Edmonton BECAUSE of the extreme traffic and car-dependence in most of the region.

I also find that folks who may have only spent time near the Financial District and CN Tower vastly underestimate the time it takes just to move from one end of central Toronto to the other. I often liken it to the long, twisting routes between Downtown and Old Strathcona, but underground.
 
ChazYEG said:
This is a cultural thing in AB that will likely change (hopefully) as more and more people from other places in Canada come here, especially Vancouver and Toronto.
I don't see a reason why someone who had a small or mid-sized car in the GTA would buy anything bigger here, except maybe to "blend in".
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The moment you move into the "Greater" part of the GTA (where three quarters of folks live), SUV's are absolutely the dominant vehicle choice. Think Brampton, Oakville, Ajax, Port Credit, Bronte, Pickering... the list goes on and on.
 
thommyjo said:
So the point on cars is mostly moot tbh.
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I think the main point is that affordability is not as absolute as Alberta = Cheaper to live in than the big cities for everyone. That for some people, in some situations, it can actually be a financially cheaper the other way. Not for the majority but for some.

No argument about the fact that much of the GTA (And the lower mainland of Vancouver as well) are just as/more car dependent than Edmonton. Only that there are more opportunities for those who want to live car free in those places, and that has a big impact on affordability.
 
ChazYEG said:
This is a cultural thing in AB that will likely change (hopefully) as more and more people from other places in Canada come here, especially Vancouver and Toronto.
I don't see a reason why someone who had a small or mid-sized car in the GTA would buy anything bigger here, except maybe to "blend in".
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Well, when you are paying $1,000 more per month for housing costs it the GTA, which is more than a car payment, something has to give. So, it is one car instead of two and probably something smaller instead of a truck or SUV.

It is partly cultural, but many people here drive what they do because they can afford to and people there don't because they can't afford to.

Although, I suppose if you move here, you may initially keep on driving what you have as that is easiest, if you are comfortable with it. But perhaps your next vehicle purchase may be influenced by what then neighbours have and you can now also afford, or not.
 
I'd love to see this kind of built-form around the station.
53156664613_5c2c8ee66f_h.jpg

Lexus on SSP
 
David A said:
With the front yards being so small, it is good to have a buffer with the road. Hopefully there can be some trees planted there and as they grow and mature that will make it even better and more desirable.
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Yeah, I'm already seeing extensive tree planting, though a few apparently needed to be restarted due to disease.

The other approach is that the streets which front yards face aren't the collector roads, and instead face routes that aren't going to be attractive to zoom down. If they're not actual woonerfs, like on York Mewes, there's considerable attention to calming streetscapes through things like neckdown crosswalks. Except for collectors like Alpha Boulevard, there's not really a lot of straight lines to get up to speed. And even with collectors, calming tactics like roundabouts, road texture, trees and bends are used. So, small front yards don't really seem to be a problem.
 
ChazYEG said:
1 - Wages here are, on average, higher in AB.
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So is this just a population average, or does it apply on a like for like level with similar positions in the same sector? Is a software developer going to make more here as a software developer? Is a teacher going to make more as a teacher? Is it just the concentration of oil patch jobs which tend to pay highly wherever they occur?
 
Coprolite said:
So is this just a population average, or does it apply on a like for like level with similar positions in the same sector? Is a software developer going to make more here as a software developer? Is a teacher going to make more as a teacher? Is it just the concentration of oil patch jobs which tend to pay highly wherever they occur?
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I would think this is an overall average. IDK if software developers would make more here, perhaps not, but if you pay less in rent or housing costs you can still be ahead here on a lower wage or salary.

Also no PST and potentially lower income tax rates here too.
 
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