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I’ve lived in Vancouver all my life and I’ve been driving here for more than 25 years. I notice that Vancouver traffic lights are designed to favor pedestrians excessively. When someone presses the pedestrian crossing button, they usually get the pedestrian crossing lights very quickly. In most other cities, pedestrians have to wait much longer. In Vancouver, Busy Main roads are always disturbed with red lights at intersections. Every time there’s a red light, a lot of time is wasted. Highway 1 has notoriously slow speed limits. Most places would have a 100-110kph limit on a freeway. And drivers are very slow. Almost everyday, from my commute to downtown, the roads ahead are all clear and uncongested. But the cars at the front are driving very slowly, causing a back up
@hammertimee777 In the last 30 years or so they've certainly aimed to make driving in the city of Vancouver less attractive (while making other modes of transport more). I suspect that's what you've noticed with the traffic lights. They're aiming to make it safer/easier for people walking or riding their bikes. It can drive me nuts if I'm late for something, of course...but I do think that they're generally on the right track (encouraging us to avoid driving). As for the highways...I agree, too. Although I think that comes down to the annoying North American habit of not leaving the left lane as a passing lane. Traffic on highways moves much more efficiently if we just leave the left lanes for passing. :) I feel your pain!
It can be...but it depends on where Point A and Point B are...and what time you are making the drive. I personally don't mind it, and think traffic isn't as bad as it could be...but I've set my life up in a way to avoid the worst of it.
@@LivingInVancouver-BC I wasn’t talking about traffic. Just the overall feeling when driving. The road design, the rules and drivers around you etc. it’s not very pleasant
I live in Vancouver, I am currently having a vacation in San Francisco, and I can say that, I no longer hate roads in Vancouver, because roads in San Francisco is a big mess.
Another thing to consider is the hilly terrain present in many areas which can have a large impact when it snows or temperature drops with icy conditions. I remember earlier this year when we had the few days below zero, a lot of accidents and traffic jams were caused by icy conditions on steep slopes combined with drivers not being prepared for the quickly decreasing temperatures. And if you are a student who will be commuting, the two largest universities in Vancouver UBC and SFU are on top of hills that are essentially small mountains so when it snows buses often get stuck trying to go up the hill.
@JDGartandmusic Absolutely! That's a great point on the hilly/mountainous terrain. Plus, the fact that our temperatures tend to hover around freezing means we get wetter snow and lots of ice on those hills. Thanks for pointing that out.
As someone who grew up with ring roads in Edmonton, I love being by a highway. However I got deceived moving to Surrey thinking Fraser highway was a highway lol. Highway 1 is the only true highway.
You nailed it with this video. I like to refer to Vancouver as North America's Hong Kong. Not due to the large Asian population, but to the geographical constraints. Regarding the city shutting down when it snows, Vancouver has some pretty extreme geography: bridges, steep hills, and high accumulation of snowfall in a short time. So Vancouver does okay goven the circumstances.
Thanks @Sc00terNut-zq3gs! Hong Kong isn't a bad analogy...and you are completely right about the geography. That would have been an excellent point I should have made when talking about the snow. Thanks for contributing to the conversation!
so true! I lived in Burnaby 2017-22 and every year I saw commuting somewhere took more and more time. I moved to Calgary because of the housing prices and I love using highways here.
This is a good lesson learned. Vancouver has a lot of self sustaining communities. I love this and plan to ditch the car when we move there. I'm fortunate that the price of where I live isn't too far off where I want to move. Fingers crossed it stays that way ;)
That's the plan. Spent $2000 for a minor Rav4 repair in November, just a simple bar, but it was integrated so a big repair bill - Just don't see the benefit with a good transit systemm @@LivingInVancouver-BC
@OrdinaryFilmmaker 100% Not just the transit system, but the car shares are fantastic for any incidental use you might need...like a day trip into the mountains for instance.
I was in Addis Ababa in January. Then 2 weeks ago I was in Vancouver. I did not drive in Addis but I did in Vancouver. I drove from Langley in the morning during rush hour. Driving is a piece of cake in Vancouver when compared to Addis. I live in rural Iowa and I find Vancouver relatively easy.
@richardnelson3227 I think driving in Vancouver is a piece of cake compared to many global cities...just not in comparison to much less densely populated North American ones. :)
100% @richardnelson3227...for the size and density of Vancouver we have a lot of ways to get around that are relatively efficient...and pleasant (so long as it's not a cold hard rain as you cycle to work). ;)
Traffic never bothers me at all. It's your own choice if you want to sit in a steel cocoon instead of using all the other options for which you can avoid the worst of it.
I live in Vancouver proper, on a bike route, near several bus routes (and eventually a skytrain station). Yeah, people complain about traffic... but living car-free is totally possible here, and, in my experience, it's awesome. I did the math, and it's cheaper for me to live more centrally and not have to pay for a car and spend time in traffic, than it would be to live further out somewhere housing is a bit cheaper... and pay a bunch of time/money for a car.
@@LivingInVancouver-BC always in the news daily here. the interesting thing is that people are very nice but behind a scooter and car, they take on another persona lol... they don't even look when they go over to another side for 99% of scooter riders.. if there is a space, they will try to squeeze into it in traffic
@cdnsilverdaddy Yeah, I hear you! Unfortunately, that seems like a pretty common human behavior...if we can hide behind some form of protection (a car or a computer for instance) many people take on another more aggressive persona.
I put mud and snow tires on my vehicle and leave them all on year long . They are 100 times better than a summer tire or an all season tire . And now you are ready for snow.
I want to mention my recent experience in Vancouver. When I flew in 2 weeks ago into Vancouver late at night. I took the skytrain to waterfront, seabus to North Vancouver. Stayed in a waterfront hotel. I picked up the rental car just across the street from the hotel. Also if you can get a cheap flight to Bellingham, rent a car and drive through the Lynden. These are both easy ways to arrive in Vancouver.
@slothsarecool Actually, public transit ridership in Vancouver is off the charts in comparison to almost every other part of North America...but there's always room for improvement!
Stay clear of any school zone between 8:30-09:15 & 14:30-15:30 because it's an endless pissing contest to see who can drop & pickup their kid in the largest SUV available & they have no idea how to navigate narrow streets let alone know anything about the flowchart of traffic rules. Children walking, bussing, or biking to school!? Never! 😂
The thing that pisses me off about traffic in Vancouver is that all this could have been easily avoided given that our land mass is huge! Greater Vancouver is the same size as Tokyo with 1/7th the population. Why the hell do we have traffic. I get it we can't have skytrains but why didn't this country build roads before land price got expensive.
it's exactly because we have too much land - the government lazily just used it. instead of building a dense city, they built suburbs. just because you have the land doesn't mean it's a good idea to use it! now we have traffic and we are subsidizing the suburbs. suburb property taxes are not enough to pay the roads to get to them, much less the parking necessary to accommodate their cars.
@handavid8465 I think you are wondering why we don't have more highways? One big difference is the number of bodies of water that we are surrounded with. Building bridges adds tremendously to the cost...but also, inner city highways were proposed in the 60s and they were rejected by the citizens. Personally, I'm grateful that that is the case because otherwise our city would be a barren wasteland of concrete and steel. Instead, we have vibrant, lively, livable and interesting neighborhoods that are at the heart of Vancouver...places like Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant, Commercial Drive, etc.
@@LivingInVancouver-BC uh sorry this isn't a vibrant walkable city. Depends on what you compare to. In canada sure. Outside of North America this city is a joke. Also for bridges korea has 30 in 1 city on one of the larger rivers with a width of over 1km. We are just slow. That is really it.
what traffic? I ride a bicycle. sucks to get stopped at red lights though. which are only necessary because people keep refusing to let cars go - cars are outdated tech. they are so slow. average car speed is 18 mph. not just Vancouver, EVERYWHERE! including highway speeds. so imagine how slow they are inside cities like Vancouver. Not that this is a good solution, but literally, you could ban cars inside cities, remove red lights, and people would travel faster! that's how bad cars are.
That's a pretty subjective statement....and I'm sure you have your reasons. But, that's also a tough comparison. I suspect the experience for commuters coming from suburbs into the city is much more pleasant in Vancouver. Vancouver is the only Canadian city that has a single transportation authority in charge of all transit in the region. In both Toronto and Montreal it's a mish-mash of various organizations. Despite Vancouver being considerably smaller than both these cities, our transit continually gets rated as one of the best in North America...so...
When you do your TH-cam program, you made things clear you take out the clowns about the theme by your own sympathetic way. So… your work is unique. Congratulations 🍾🎉🎈🎊 we love you! Keep strong and strong 💪 intelligible.
@joelaprevost Yeah, it all depends on what you are comfortable with. I find the worst traffic isn't so much the city, but the bridges that connect once city to another in our region.
@HuanNguyen-sq3gr Not at all. I actually spoke specifically about the impact of being a city of immigrants....but I disagree that any one group of people has any more impact on our traffic than any other.
@punkin314 I'm not sure that's a likely solution. Plus, other parts of Canada are seeing massive amounts of growth as well. The problem with building roads has always been that they eventually get overwhelmed...the answer is increasingly better alternatives (which we are doing reasonably well with).
![What People Get Wrong About Vancouver [LIVING IN VANCOUVER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GjJSB5q9HuA/mqdefault.jpg)
![What People Get Wrong About Vancouver [LIVING IN VANCOUVER]](/img/tr.png)
![Vancouver’s Not for Everyone. Here’s Why. - [Living in Vancouver]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xii00cWx6kg/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for watching! Like this video? Be sure to check out my dozens of other videos all about living in Vancouver!
Call/Text Direct - 604-831-4837
email: sebastian@albrechtgroup.ca
website: www.calendly.com/albrechtgroup
I’ve lived in Vancouver all my life and I’ve been driving here for more than 25 years. I notice that Vancouver traffic lights are designed to favor pedestrians excessively. When someone presses the pedestrian crossing button, they usually get the pedestrian crossing lights very quickly. In most other cities, pedestrians have to wait much longer. In Vancouver, Busy Main roads are always disturbed with red lights at intersections. Every time there’s a red light, a lot of time is wasted. Highway 1 has notoriously slow speed limits. Most places would have a 100-110kph limit on a freeway. And drivers are very slow. Almost everyday, from my commute to downtown, the roads ahead are all clear and uncongested. But the cars at the front are driving very slowly, causing a back up
@hammertimee777 In the last 30 years or so they've certainly aimed to make driving in the city of Vancouver less attractive (while making other modes of transport more). I suspect that's what you've noticed with the traffic lights. They're aiming to make it safer/easier for people walking or riding their bikes. It can drive me nuts if I'm late for something, of course...but I do think that they're generally on the right track (encouraging us to avoid driving). As for the highways...I agree, too. Although I think that comes down to the annoying North American habit of not leaving the left lane as a passing lane. Traffic on highways moves much more efficiently if we just leave the left lanes for passing. :) I feel your pain!
as they should; why should lazy people driving be prioritized
@@slothsarecool lol such foolish statement
I absolutely hate driving in Vancouver. It’s pretty bad.
It can be...but it depends on where Point A and Point B are...and what time you are making the drive. I personally don't mind it, and think traffic isn't as bad as it could be...but I've set my life up in a way to avoid the worst of it.
@@LivingInVancouver-BC I wasn’t talking about traffic. Just the overall feeling when driving. The road design, the rules and drivers around you etc. it’s not very pleasant
Ah got you, @nicktankard1244!
I live in Vancouver, I am currently having a vacation in San Francisco, and I can say that, I no longer hate roads in Vancouver, because roads in San Francisco is a big mess.
@@WYLNXCA I’ve been to SF and yes it’s probably worse in the city itself. The rest of Bay Area is fine though
Another thing to consider is the hilly terrain present in many areas which can have a large impact when it snows or temperature drops with icy conditions. I remember earlier this year when we had the few days below zero, a lot of accidents and traffic jams were caused by icy conditions on steep slopes combined with drivers not being prepared for the quickly decreasing temperatures. And if you are a student who will be commuting, the two largest universities in Vancouver UBC and SFU are on top of hills that are essentially small mountains so when it snows buses often get stuck trying to go up the hill.
@JDGartandmusic Absolutely! That's a great point on the hilly/mountainous terrain. Plus, the fact that our temperatures tend to hover around freezing means we get wetter snow and lots of ice on those hills. Thanks for pointing that out.
As someone who grew up with ring roads in Edmonton, I love being by a highway. However I got deceived moving to Surrey thinking Fraser highway was a highway lol. Highway 1 is the only true highway.
@joseopao LOL. Yes, we have a few misleading names for roads around here.
_Grandview Highway and Lougheed Highway entered the chat._
You nailed it with this video. I like to refer to Vancouver as North America's Hong Kong. Not due to the large Asian population, but to the geographical constraints.
Regarding the city shutting down when it snows, Vancouver has some pretty extreme geography: bridges, steep hills, and high accumulation of snowfall in a short time. So Vancouver does okay goven the circumstances.
Thanks @Sc00terNut-zq3gs! Hong Kong isn't a bad analogy...and you are completely right about the geography. That would have been an excellent point I should have made when talking about the snow. Thanks for contributing to the conversation!
so true! I lived in Burnaby 2017-22 and every year I saw commuting somewhere took more and more time. I moved to Calgary because of the housing prices and I love using highways here.
@danieltanner518 For sure. There's an advantage to being in the prairies!
This is a good lesson learned. Vancouver has a lot of self sustaining communities. I love this and plan to ditch the car when we move there. I'm fortunate that the price of where I live isn't too far off where I want to move. Fingers crossed it stays that way ;)
If you can ditch your car @ordinaryfilmmaker I think you'll be happier, healthier and a little bit richer too. :)
That's the plan. Spent $2000 for a minor Rav4 repair in November, just a simple bar, but it was integrated so a big repair bill - Just don't see the benefit with a good transit systemm @@LivingInVancouver-BC
@OrdinaryFilmmaker 100% Not just the transit system, but the car shares are fantastic for any incidental use you might need...like a day trip into the mountains for instance.
I was in Addis Ababa in January. Then 2 weeks ago I was in Vancouver. I did not drive in Addis but I did in Vancouver.
I drove from Langley in the morning during rush hour. Driving is a piece of cake in Vancouver when compared to Addis. I live in rural Iowa and I find Vancouver relatively easy.
@richardnelson3227 I think driving in Vancouver is a piece of cake compared to many global cities...just not in comparison to much less densely populated North American ones. :)
@LivingInVancouver-BC but you have easy public transportation and there are so many beautiful places to walk.
100% @richardnelson3227...for the size and density of Vancouver we have a lot of ways to get around that are relatively efficient...and pleasant (so long as it's not a cold hard rain as you cycle to work). ;)
Traffic never bothers me at all. It's your own choice if you want to sit in a steel cocoon instead of using all the other options for which you can avoid the worst of it.
@ronvandereerden4714 There are definitely solid alternative options in Vancouver!
exactly, drivers are the problem
I live in Vancouver proper, on a bike route, near several bus routes (and eventually a skytrain station). Yeah, people complain about traffic... but living car-free is totally possible here, and, in my experience, it's awesome. I did the math, and it's cheaper for me to live more centrally and not have to pay for a car and spend time in traffic, than it would be to live further out somewhere housing is a bit cheaper... and pay a bunch of time/money for a car.
Agreed @scopeofscience. That's why I stay in the city as well. I value my time (and sanity) too much. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
We are back in Taiwan for a few weeks to visit family and it is crazy here.. a few deaths a day from vehicle and scooter horrible habits for decades
@amateurranconteur Yikes! That's frightening...obviously, we have traffic accidents and fatalities too, but sounds as though it could be much worse.
@@LivingInVancouver-BC always in the news daily here. the interesting thing is that people are very nice but behind a scooter and car, they take on another persona lol... they don't even look when they go over to another side for 99% of scooter riders.. if there is a space, they will try to squeeze into it in traffic
@cdnsilverdaddy Yeah, I hear you! Unfortunately, that seems like a pretty common human behavior...if we can hide behind some form of protection (a car or a computer for instance) many people take on another more aggressive persona.
I put mud and snow tires on my vehicle and leave them all on year long . They are 100 times better than a summer tire or an all season tire . And now you are ready for snow.
@saintelsewere8269 Sounds like a pretty smart idea!
I want to mention my recent experience in Vancouver. When I flew in 2 weeks ago into Vancouver late at night. I took the skytrain to waterfront, seabus to North Vancouver. Stayed in a waterfront hotel. I picked up the rental car just across the street from the hotel.
Also if you can get a cheap flight to Bellingham, rent a car and drive through the Lynden.
These are both easy ways to arrive in Vancouver.
@richardnelson3227 Appreciate you watching and sharing your experience. Vancouver really is a pretty easy place to get around!
Seens like a thing to solve with public transportation but everyone wants to drive for whatever reason
@slothsarecool Actually, public transit ridership in Vancouver is off the charts in comparison to almost every other part of North America...but there's always room for improvement!
Traffic authorities need to start enforcing the law. When it comes to transit/transportation, Vancouver is the wild west.
@sixela2607 I don't know, I see the cops and transit police doing just that quite a bit...
Stay clear of any school zone between 8:30-09:15 & 14:30-15:30 because it's an endless pissing contest to see who can drop & pickup their kid in the largest SUV available & they have no idea how to navigate narrow streets let alone know anything about the flowchart of traffic rules. Children walking, bussing, or biking to school!? Never! 😂
Was the earthquake felt in Vancouver?
@Lidia-zn7nj Which earthquake? We get little tremors all the time...most of them aren't really noticeable.
The thing that pisses me off about traffic in Vancouver is that all this could have been easily avoided given that our land mass is huge!
Greater Vancouver is the same size as Tokyo with 1/7th the population. Why the hell do we have traffic. I get it we can't have skytrains but why didn't this country build roads before land price got expensive.
it's exactly because we have too much land - the government lazily just used it. instead of building a dense city, they built suburbs. just because you have the land doesn't mean it's a good idea to use it! now we have traffic and we are subsidizing the suburbs. suburb property taxes are not enough to pay the roads to get to them, much less the parking necessary to accommodate their cars.
Vancouver has too many roads which made it too easy to sprawl which is the cause of the traffic congestion.
@handavid8465 I think you are wondering why we don't have more highways? One big difference is the number of bodies of water that we are surrounded with. Building bridges adds tremendously to the cost...but also, inner city highways were proposed in the 60s and they were rejected by the citizens. Personally, I'm grateful that that is the case because otherwise our city would be a barren wasteland of concrete and steel. Instead, we have vibrant, lively, livable and interesting neighborhoods that are at the heart of Vancouver...places like Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant, Commercial Drive, etc.
@@LivingInVancouver-BC uh sorry this isn't a vibrant walkable city. Depends on what you compare to. In canada sure. Outside of North America this city is a joke. Also for bridges korea has 30 in 1 city on one of the larger rivers with a width of over 1km. We are just slow. That is really it.
@@ronvandereerden4714 id argue vancouver didn't expand roads when it should have. Bc now we can't and we don't have roads nor transit.
what traffic? I ride a bicycle. sucks to get stopped at red lights though. which are only necessary because people keep refusing to let cars go - cars are outdated tech. they are so slow. average car speed is 18 mph. not just Vancouver, EVERYWHERE! including highway speeds. so imagine how slow they are inside cities like Vancouver. Not that this is a good solution, but literally, you could ban cars inside cities, remove red lights, and people would travel faster! that's how bad cars are.
@ohhellnooooo8233 (did I get all the "o"s?) Appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts. I'm holding out for personal helicopters!
Vancouver also have worse public transit than Toronto and Montreal...
That's a pretty subjective statement....and I'm sure you have your reasons. But, that's also a tough comparison. I suspect the experience for commuters coming from suburbs into the city is much more pleasant in Vancouver. Vancouver is the only Canadian city that has a single transportation authority in charge of all transit in the region. In both Toronto and Montreal it's a mish-mash of various organizations. Despite Vancouver being considerably smaller than both these cities, our transit continually gets rated as one of the best in North America...so...
You do the difference!
@nelsonolsen1409 Not quite sure what you are referring to here?
When you do your TH-cam program, you made things clear you take out the clowns about the theme by your own sympathetic way. So… your work is unique. Congratulations 🍾🎉🎈🎊 we love you! Keep strong and strong 💪 intelligible.
Oh thank you @nelsonolsen1409! That's really kind and I appreciate it!
i have to say , I event avoid the city it self
@joelaprevost Yeah, it all depends on what you are comfortable with. I find the worst traffic isn't so much the city, but the bridges that connect once city to another in our region.
I can see you tried very hard to not mention people that bring their Mumbai driving experience here 😏
@HuanNguyen-sq3gr Not at all. I actually spoke specifically about the impact of being a city of immigrants....but I disagree that any one group of people has any more impact on our traffic than any other.
Stop building here. There is literally an entire country for people to settle in. We are wrecking the LMD. Enough is enough
@punkin314 I'm not sure that's a likely solution. Plus, other parts of Canada are seeing massive amounts of growth as well. The problem with building roads has always been that they eventually get overwhelmed...the answer is increasingly better alternatives (which we are doing reasonably well with).
@@LivingInVancouver-BC Nobody wants to live in places where it’s snowing with nothing else for 10 months a year.