BCBusiness

A lfred Kee is someone whose life has changed because of those pushes and pulls. Kee, who grew up in south Vancouver, moved back to B.C. in April, after many years away, to take a job as a senior tech manager at Electronic Arts in Burnaby. He'd been living in a big house in the far-north Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill for •ve years and driving 40 kilometres to get to work, a commute that sometimes took two hours each way. He doesn't even know how he ended up with that life. "My feeling is that a lot of this comes from societal pressure," says the 43-year-old Kee.° "But during the week, I wouldn't see my daughter at all." In Vancouver, Kee and his wife, Nina, decided that life was too short to spend it in the car. They bought a townhouse in Burnaby, near Boundary Road, and Kee walks to work most days. Their decision was nudged by several factors. Kee had had to deal with congestion that was so terrible it prompted him to make a change. And he was able to make that change because there were lower-cost townhouses that he could a'ord close to where he works—townhouses that the City of Burnaby allowed to be built in an area once solely the domain of large-lot, single-family homes. What TransLink planners see happening in the future is subtle shifts on a granular level that will produce more decisions like Alfred Kee's, multiplied by thousands. Millennials may be particularly responsive to those shifts. In the Insights West sur- vey, the one response that mil- lennials gave that was markedly di'erent from older groups was: "If I changed jobs and had a lon- ger commute, I would seriously consider moving from my cur- rent home." 42 BCBusiness JUNE 2016 kaTiE warfiELD, a kwantlen polytechnic university communica- tions professor, and her partner aubyn freyb-smith, a graphic designer, enjoyed their life in the heart of down- town vancouver at first. but after the first baby, the 800-square- foot condo at richards and davie started to seem small. when the second child was on the way, it shrank even more. they looked around the lower mainland, but their budget pushed them farther and farther toward the perimeter. both have friends and family in victoria so, tired FAN OF THE FERRY commuter profile of looking, they thought they'd try living there to see if it worked. it did. after renting for a while, they bought a house. warfield, 38, spends two or three days a week in vancouver. every tuesday, she takes the bus to catch the 7 or 9 a.m. ferry from victoria to tsawwassen, then another bus to her kwantlen office in surrey; at the end of the day, she's on a bus again to the inexpensive room she rents at ubc, where she is taking courses. depending on her schedule, she heads back to the island either wednesday or thursday evening. her partner works in a design studio in victoria, with occasional trips to vancouver to meet clients. warfield says people used to be startled by her story. not anymore. "since we've been here, coming up to four years, it's increasing. i see other regulars on the ferry." like many dedicated transit users, warfield maximizes her commuting time. she works steadily on the buses and ferry, catching up with her academic reading and communicating with her research network on facebook. "My feeling is that a lot of [commuting] comes from societal pressure," says Alfred Kee. "But during the week, I wouldn't see my daughter at all" WALK THIS WAY After enduring two- hour daily commutes in Toronto, Alfred Kee is happy with the stroll to his Burnaby office continued on page 44

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