Vancouver vs Seattle (for rent, crime rates, home)

[Zephora]

Interesting discussion.

[Freebird2007]

we have less day time shooting sprees by wannabe gangsters

[stiga9]

Can someone please describe the difference between Seattle and Vancouver's public transit? which one is better? cleaner? available throughout the city? or are they just in the downtown area.

[Robynator]

TransLink - South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority will give you everything you'd ever want to know on Vancouver public transit.

[stiga9]

Originally Posted by Robynator

TransLink - South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority will give you everything you'd ever want to know on Vancouver public transit.

It seems i can get around most places in vancouver and the express train goes a far way, except there is only one line.
The sky train goes in one big loop but more of east vancouver.
The bus goes everwhere.

Thanks for the help rob. What do u think of the transit? do you use it quite a bit?

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by stiga9

Can someone please describe the difference between Seattle and Vancouver's public transit? which one is better? cleaner? available throughout the city? or are they just in the downtown area.

Vancouver doesn't have freeways, therefore Van's public transportation is much better developed than in Seattle. I think, it has also to do with urban planning in both cities.

[Robynator]

Originally Posted by stiga9

It seems i can get around most places in vancouver and the express train goes a far way, except there is only one line.
The sky train goes in one big loop but more of east vancouver.
The bus goes everwhere.

Thanks for the help rob. What do u think of the transit? do you use it quite a bit?

I do happen to use public transit - I'd say it's good, and one of the better public transit systems in North America. I've used public transit in Montreal, London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Boston, so I have a sense of different public transit systems.

I used to use public transit between downtown and UBC - public transit was frequent and efficient. I now take the 98 B-line between downtown Vancouver and Richmond. These are those double buses (with the bendy bits in the middle) that run every 5-7 minutes between downtown, the airport, and Richmond's No 3 Road. I take it to work and back home.

The skytrain, as you've noticed, connects Vancouver with the eastern neighbourhoods and suburbs. The skytrain is great - it's fast, frequent, but the downside is that it's not 24 hours. It starts early and ends some time after 1:45am I think.

They've since been building the Canada Line - a Skytrain extension connecting downtown with Richmond and the airport via Cambie Street. It's under construction but will be ready by November.

I got rid of my car 3 years ago and have been carless quite happily since then. Of course, living downtown makes it easy - I can pretty much walk everywhere I need to.

[Antoyne_42]

I thought i'd jump into this ''comparison'' even though my knowledge of both cities is limited. Last october i did spend a good 10 days in Vancouver and 4 days in Seattle.

Both cities are similar when it comes to people althought Vancouver people slightly friendlier and a tad more relaxed. Vancouver also has an impressive Asian community which brings something ''spicy'' to the city. Both cities are surrounded by plenty of water and i think it's just great but Vancouver uses it's water front much better than Seattle and probably much better than any other city i have seen. False Creek is one good example.

Downtown Seattle seems more interesting but Vancouver becomes much better once out of the center in places like Kitsilano, West side or a place much further in the east that i really enjoyed (forgot the name). The Vancouver's Chinatown is something. It may not be as exotic as SF or NYC but i was surprised to see the residential area right next to it which is also fully chinese.

The Vancouver transport system seemed better although very incomplete. I also enjoyed the Stanley Park a lot because of it's proximity with the city, the nature it provides and, again, the water surrounding it. A couple of other places are also worth a visit like Granville island, Yaletown and Gastown. All of these are fairly small but still well located and charming. Vancouver's east side is something else.....wow, i have rarely seen so many ''homeless'' in my life...all next to each other. My small hotel was right there, in the midts of all of this. No wonder why it was so cheap.

The Seattle highway that cuts the center city with the Elliot Bay (i think) is pretty awful to me. It is really a big blow in the city. Apart from that other places are interesting to go to like Belltown, Capitol Hill and a remote place called Ballard.....Also Queen Anne with nice views of the Space Needle.

Didn't have enough time to experienced the restaurant and club scene since i hate in Chinatown most of the time. While in Seattle i enjoyed a burger in a classic place down in Capitol Hill. Dicks drive-in...(i think).

Overall i would prefer Vancouver over Seattle even if Seattle ranks OK among the US cities i have seen. It was a very pleasant stay in both cities and i enjoyed discovering a relatively different type of city in Vancouver. Different than what i am use to which is mainly the east cities and Europeans ones.

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by Antoyne_42

I thought i'd jump into this ''comparison'' even though my knowledge of both cities is limited. Last october i did spend a good 10 days in Vancouver and 4 days in Seattle.

Both cities are similar when it comes to people althought Vancouver people slightly friendlier and a tad more relaxed. Vancouver also has an impressive Asian community which brings something ''spicy'' to the city. Both cities are surrounded by plenty of water and i think it's just great but Vancouver uses it's water front much better than Seattle and probably much better than any other city i have seen. False Creek is one good example.

Downtown Seattle seems more interesting but Vancouver becomes much better once out of the center in places like Kitsilano, West side or a place much further in the east that i really enjoyed (forgot the name). The Vancouver's Chinatown is something. It may not be as exotic as SF or NYC but i was surprised to see the residential area right next to it which is also fully chinese.

The Vancouver transport system seemed better although very incomplete. I also enjoyed the Stanley Park a lot because of it's proximity with the city, the nature it provides and, again, the water surrounding it. A couple of other places are also worth a visit like Granville island, Yaletown and Gastown. All of these are fairly small but still well located and charming. Vancouver's east side is something else.....wow, i have rarely seen so many ''homeless'' in my life...all next to each other. My small hotel was right there, in the midts of all of this. No wonder why it was so cheap.

The Seattle highway that cuts the center city with the Elliot Bay (i think) is pretty awful to me. It is really a big blow in the city. Apart from that other places are interesting to go to like Belltown, Capitol Hill and a remote place called Ballard.....Also Queen Anne with nice views of the Space Needle.

Didn't have enough time to experienced the restaurant and club scene since i hate in Chinatown most of the time. While in Seattle i enjoyed a burger in a classic place down in Capitol Hill. Dicks drive-in...(i think).

Overall i would prefer Vancouver over Seattle even if Seattle ranks OK among the US cities i have seen. It was a very pleasant stay in both cities and i enjoyed discovering a relatively different type of city in Vancouver. Different than what i am use to which is mainly the east cities and Europeans ones.

In my opinion, a very nice and accurate overview and comparison of the two cities from an outsider. Having been a couple of times to both cities, I agree.

[XXclimberX]

Honestly the weather is pretty much the same LOL.

And I am not sure the people are any different. Lets face it women in both cities are extremely rude and snotty.