I’m seriously considering transferring to UBC next year and I would like some of your opinions about the city of Vancouver. Well, mostly I’m concerned about safety so I guess my main question is where is a nice, safe place to live? Thanks in advance!
Anyone?
Most of the City is “safe” save possibly East Vancouver. I lived in North Burnaby for 5 years and liked it (around Brentwood Mall, nice area). However, with any large cities there is crime. Break ins, theft, drugs are all very common. Vancouver seems a little more susciptable though since it is such a mild climate for Canada and many “undesirables” (homeless, jobless) seemed to move there… in part I believe that if they had to live on the street the weather was better than say, Winnipeg and the social net is still semi-standing, especially compared to Alberta (this is just my gut feeling from living there, not based on any fact).
It has its merits though. Nice climate, nice scenery and some really good people.
Downsides in addition to what I mentioned:
Traffic. The Greater Vancouver Area has no real freeway system. There are a couple main arterial roads joining the south to the North (Richmond/Surrey to Vancouver/Burnaby/Coquitlam/New West) but they SUCK. 2 main highways that go East-West (Trans Canada #1 and #7 Lougheed) and they SUCK. Traffic can be a real nightmare during rush hour. Mass Transit is getting better though. The Skytrain is expanding so that should help out some.
Cost of living. Not cheap, but not New York City expensive either. If you want your own 1 bedroom apartment, expect to pay anywhere for $800 -> $1200 month. When I lived there (transferred away in 98?) I think I was paying $700 per/month for my apt. The closer you get to the “trendy” areas, the more expensive it will be.
Grocery store food prices are not too bad, but not Alberta cheap.
If you plan on buying a Vehicle, the provincial insurance system (ICBC) may be a staggering wake up call to you.
Where to live if you went to UBC? Kitsilano was the “trendy” area when I lived there and close to the U. Gets expensive though. As long as you are somewhere in Vancouver/Burnaby/Coquitlam you would probably be OK as the transit system should get you to school without much difficulty. I’d really just recomend not having to cross any of the bridges. If I had to transfer back and pick a place to live, I’d definetly look at North Burnaby again and probably Coquitlam.
Oh yeah, great food and nightlife. Nobody has an excuse being single in that city… no matter what your tastes 
Thank you, bernse, for your helpful reply. If you don’t mind my asking, why did you leave Vancouver?
Unfortunately, if you’re a student, East Vancouver is probably where most of the places you’ll be able to afford are located. 
Generally you can find affordable shared accomodations for students all over.
The Kits area really is very nice, you might luck out and find something there that’s not too steep, but the cost-of-living is considerably higher there, too.
A friend of mine lives in/manages a 5-bedroom rental house through which a river of UBC students flows – it’s a couple of blocks away from an express bus to UBC and the ALRT (“Skytrain” :rolleyes: ) – unusually convenient transit. I think folks there pay $225 for rent & utilities. The express bus is cool. Well, as cool as a city bus gets, anyway. I expect you might find something similar- though the kids there often say they’d seen some real horrors before the ended up there.
You can browse the rental classified here to get an idea of what’s available.
As for the city itself, I can’t hype it enough. Come on up!
UBC has a Pre-arrival guide online that you may find helpful, if you haven’t found it already.
As for safety, I think that, comparatively, Vancouver is as safe as milk, although in the past few months there have been several instances of female korean exchange students being targeted for robberies and assaults, presumably because language difficulties are thought to make the crimes less likely to be accurately reported. If you avoid the east side, and in particular the downtown eastside, which has the distinction of being the worst sink of poverty, crime, and general despair in all of Canada, then you should be fine.
Cheers!
lethean - It would be helpful to know where you are transferring from to know how it would compare to Vancouver.
I have lived in Vancouver for the past 5 years - and for the most part I like it. Great climate, nice people, good school. I went to UBC, and really enjoyed it - it’s a beautiful campus with some great programs, although not without its red tape buerocracies. At first I found UBC unbelievably huge - at 40,000 students and teachers it is the size of a small city in itself. In fact, I found many things in Vancouver to be intimidatingly huge, but I got used to it.
I spent my first 3 years in Vancouver in residence on campus. I think this is a great, affordable option for students - especially if you really don’t know the city. They provide safe, clean, albiet small, rooms and apartments. For me, this took the guess work out of finding an apartment in a city I didn’t know - like you, I was worried about ending up in a bad part of town because I didn’t know the ins and outs of the place. I stayed for three years because the convenience of being on campus was hard to beat. There are many types of residences, from dormitory-with-cafeteria types to shared townhouses to studio apartments.
Anyways, thats all I know. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.
My job. I got transferred to Vancouver in 93 (?) and got transferred back to Alberta in a management position in 98.
Thanks to everyone who replied!
I’ll be transferring from Toronto.
Well, I came here from Saskatchewan, and I adapted pretty fast. I’ve got to imagine coming here from anothyer big city would be easier than that. In any case, I can’t imagine Vancouver is any less safe than Toronto.
Yes, Vancouver is pretty safe - I’ve had one break-in in over twenty years, most of that in fairly cheap apartments. For quite a while I’ve lived in South Burnaby, in a not-that-good neighbourhood with no problems.
I don’t have a car; transit is so cheap that I can take cabs when I feel like it and still come out ahead. On almost all the Vancouver and Burnaby routes there’s 15-minute service most of the day, and it doesn’t usually take much longer than driving and finding a parking spot. (And you get to read or chat while the driver deals with the traffic!)
Best of all, there are some really nice Dopers in the area!
Yes, but you have to watch out for the bastard dopers such as myself 