bcbUsiNEss.ca JUNE 2016 BCBusiness 45
I ' D PAY FO R TO LLS O N ROADS/B R I DGES I F G UA R ANTE E D A S H O RTE R CO M M UTE
when PaTriCk MEEhan
and his wife, erin reddekopp,
were deciding where to live a
year and a half ago, they had
long conversations about new
westminster. meehan's wife
works downtown; he works in
surrey. new west would be
halfway.
then they decided that
life would work better if they
split things up differently. the
couple, in their early 30s, like
city life, for one. so they
opted instead for a 560-square-
foot condo in the olympic
village on false creek, which
allows reddekopp to ride
her bike to work at a local
nonprofit. and meehan takes
the skytrain from main street
and then the 319 bus from
scott road and along 72nd
avenue to his office. as
part of the deal, his wife
agreed to take over all the
shopping duties, since she'd
have the extra time.
the couple represent two
trends typical of vancouver.
one is the growing number
of people who live in the city
and commute to a suburb. the
second is the compromise
commuting patterns of dual-
income households.
while transportation plan-
ners would love it if everyone
would live close to their jobs, in
two-career families, that's often
impossible. so couples are
making unusual choices about
how to split up the commute.
some will pick a midpoint while
others, like meehan and
reddekopp, will choose the
community that appeals to
them most and is most conve-
nient for one while the other
does the schlepping.
meehan's reverse com-
mute is also becoming more
typical in vancouver's polycen-
tric city. he says he still gets
a seat every day as he heads
out to surrey while everyone
is coming in. but he can see
the line is getting busier. his
strategies for commuting:
learn to pack efficiently. and
always carry a book and a
smartphone.
LEARNING TO COMPROMISE
commuter
profile
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B.C.
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Metro
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B.C.
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VanCouVer
Island
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32%
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27%
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38%
30%
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4%
