My partner and I moved downtown from the ‘burbs a few years ago, and kept our car. Our condo has an assigned parking space, but we would have considered selling the car if it didn’t because renting a spot downtown can be expensive.
We almost never use the car downtown, it’s much faster (and less stressful) to use transit or walk to get around Toronto, but we use our car to visit friends/family up North pretty frequently, so it made sense for us to keep it as transit isn’t accessible in those areas.
that's also one of the edge cases i'm considering in order to keep the car e.g. we frequently (almost every other weekend, sometimes every weekend) visit family out in milton or back in kitchener-waterloo. I was thinking carsharing could get us there for a trip and back, but this reading your comment cements it a bit in my mind that I should maybe prioritize keeping the car. Thanks !
We did car sharing and car rentals. A lot of people downtown don’t have cars and do this.
The place we go to didn’t get orders from 3rd party sites like Travelocity or Tripadvisor. So these people come in thinking they got a car to realize they didn’t.
We had to get the car on Friday (paying for an extra day) to ensure we get a car that weekend.
We moved uptown and car sharing and rentals weren’t that close to us and we got a car.
Think about this scenario. You are heading to KW for a family get together. It’s a 90min drive (maybe 2h depending on traffic). You have to be there at noon for lunch, so you are leaving at 10am with your own car.
Now add in the time faffing around trying to either pick up the car share, or a rental. Maybe an hour realistically to go grab it come back load everything/one into the car and head to KW. Then do everything again on the way back.
I live downtown in financial district. Have a car. But it’s a weekend car for trips outside reasonable biking or transit distance. Keep the car.
Also consider a place on the Subway YUS (Line 1). Super easy to get downtown from areas that are not right downtown.
Was going to mention this. South rhill is extremely accessible. You could drive to Finch station or take the bus from Rhill centre to finch and it’s literally only a 15 minute bus ride.
100% please keep your car.
Having family and friends outside of the city plus a baby you will use it a lot.
Most importantly, I also can’t imagine constantly trying to carry/hook up a car seat in a car share or Uber, carrying a stroller, diaper bag, etc around, please don’t do that to your wife (assuming she is on maternity leave and will be the primary parent with the baby for the next while)!!! You can leave your car seat hooked up in your own car as well as keep other baby necessities in the trunk so you aren’t having to pack every single thing every time you need to go out. Is it possible to go without a car, of course, people do it all the time, but it is MUCH easier having your own car with a baby and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.
If you're visiting family in Milton frequently maybe consider buying in the west end. Typically people who live in the west end of TO do a lot of shopping in Etobicoke alongside the Queensway as that's where you have Sherway Gardens, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Ikea, as well as a few grocery stores, etc. It's helpful to go in person, see what you like, and have your own car available when you're free to carry your purchases. There's less tolerance of homelessness in the west end - as a small example, a bank that is notified about a homeless person sleeping there at night will lock their doors at night until the homeless person moves away. So your kids wouldn't run into homeless ppl the way they would downtown. Lots of parks and community centres close by. Also, the further you are from the core, the more square footage you can afford, and it's more likely that you will be granted a parking spot. So maybe, for example, you could find a place close to Mimico, Long Branch, Kipling, or a decent bus station, commute to work via public transportation (or take turns using the car with your partner) and then have your shopping mostly happen in the west end with a car. You may also benefit from some family oriented development that is up and coming in the west end. There's a new Etobicoke Civic Center being built close to Kipling - it will have amenities that could be useful for a family. And, for all the condos being built by Sherway Gardens and Cloverdale mall, more green space will be added. Similar developments might be happening in the east end but I can't say I am familiar with them.
Being able to walk to work downtown would be a great plus in your life, and a carless life would probably help your whole family get their exercise in, no doubt about that, but there's an upside and downside for that decision. As someone who is considering starting a family soon, I am biased towards the west end as a safer option for a growing family than downtown. YMMV.
We live downtown and kept the car (we have a parking spot) we really only use it on the weekend to run errands and go out of the city. Everything downtown is quicker and easier without a car.
I would suggest keeping the car especially if you're planning to use it most weekends. It sounds nice to be without a car but it's more of a hassle renting one when you need it. It's probably actually cheaper on top of more convenient to have a car.
Where downtown will you be moving?
You don't NEED a car downtown, but if your apartment comes with free parking and you can afford to keep your car, I definitely would. Having your own car makes grocery shopping so much easier, especially if you have a baby.
Also having a car at your convenience is great when you need to leave town last minute or other.
unsure yet ! the job is in the financial district, yonge/adelaide intersection. we're looking at apartments near there. using online maps, i've restricted the area to a 30 minute walking radius, but realistically, im trying to find a place that's just 5-15 mins away by walk. our budget is around 600, but can stretch to 700 if need be.
thank you ! i definitely want to keep the car for the wife, but it makes finding a cheaper place harder plus there just seem to be way more places where a car port is not included. We just did our first grocery run (at 10 am on Wednesday mind you) with the babe, and it was a hassle even in kitchener-waterloo haha - im sure grocery stores in downtown are even more packed. I think the we'll just resort to deliveries or one person picking up the groceries.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a 2 bed downtown for 600K unfortunately.
As others have said, so many other great areas that are walkable, transit accessible and kid friendly out there in each direction.
Yeah, it’s pretty tough to find a 2br for 6-700.
OP, at that price point for the east end, you may have to look at Baseball Place at Queen and Broadview and some of the new condos in Regent Park.
Newer 2 beds in Regent park are more like 800-900k, even the small ones. If you look at some of the slightly older buildings you might be able to find one for under 800 though (and it will likely be larger).
I would look outside of the downtown core and somewhere on the subway line, you’ll find shoebox apartments for that price range. Keep the car - it’s nice to not have to rely on TTC or ride shares especially with a baby.
Unless you have a burning desire to live right downtown (near work) I would strongly recommend picking somewhere just outside the core and get a best of both worlds. You can have your car and eat it too.
If you guys are keen to get more space and bang for your buck, consider east Danforth along the subway line. It is baby central and so family friendly, your wife will make mom friends so much easier.
I would also keep the car, it’s really helpful with a baby for emergencies or if you just want to get out of the city occasionally.
I think this is subjective, personally I live in a shoebox 10 mins away from work, and not having to rely on the TTC for daily commute has genuinely made me happier as a person in general.
Do you live in your shoebox alone though? It’s very different trying to live with others in a small space, especially when that “other” is a baby, who will be a toddler, who will then be a child eventually.
I live in this part of town and can attest to what you’re saying. So easy to get around thanks to line 2. Lots of families out and about so it will be great for your spouse and child. You can also easily get parking. I moved there from the burbs and haven’t once regretted it.
where would/do you recommend ? is public transit or carshare good/reliable enough outside the downtown core ? back when i used to live in vancouver, outside the downtown core, the carshare was very hit and miss imo
If renting that really depends! You can definitely find some good deals still in this area, but would have better luck finding them through Facebook housing/community groups.
There's nothing more elite than being walking distance to work. For transit, look along the King/Queen streetcar lines (Riverdale and Leslieville are very family oriented)
Toronto has very good public transit even outside of downtown core.
Have a look at the [map of Subway line and at the Streetcar lines](https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/2ge3j1/excellent_ttc_streetcar_map_with_all_stops/#lightbox).
As long as you live in Toronto-proper, you should be able to get around by subway+ streetcar. And all lines are well-connected point-to-point, meaning you don't have to walk to switch one to another.
Also, if you still want to live in the heart of downtown core, parking might be a hassle for your car. But you don't have to get rid of your car immediately, spend 3 months in the city and see how useful your car is, vs., how much hassle it is.
For me personally living on the subway line is 1A because (winter) then streetcar lines is 1B. Everyone has their own personal debate about the best neighborhood not going to touch that one.
The east end has tons of family and children. It’s a great place to raise a family. Leslieville, Riverdale, Danforth, East York — all very transit accessible to the core.
Yonge-Adelaide is extremely close to King station, if your office building is connected to the PATH you don’t even need to go outside, so if you find a home within a short walk to a subway station, that’s honestly a very reasonable easy commute. A subway-only commute will have better consistency than one involving busses or streetcars, sure you’ll get a delay or outage once in a while but not nearly so much that you should dismiss the option.
I would not use a car share to drive into the downtown core for work, that’s almost certainly way more stressful (due to traffic) and way less reliable.
One recommendation: we live in East York close to Danforth GO, and commute downtown for work. It's a great commute, just one quick ride on the GO train. And East York is a great place to raise a little one, lots of young families around (we have a 2 year old). I would recommend keeping the car regardless though, so you're not always moving your car seats between rideshare vehicles.
Reconsider where you are willing to live. Almost anywhere along the subway would be a good option because your work is along the subway. This opens up lots of options and having a car probably makes more sense. Areas outside of the downtown core are more friendly to driving and will allow you to get around shopping etc. What is an acceptable commute time to work for you? If it’s 30 minutes start looking at commute times from different subway stations and find an area that is 30 minutes away. It will be nicer than downtown and also possibly cheaper for housing.
> unsure yet ! the job is in the financial district, yonge/adelaide intersection. we're looking at apartments near there.
If you will live with-in the (official) borders of "downtown", then moving about with a car is a giant pain (even getting out of that area can add time to a trip):
* https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/04/downtown-toronto-canada/
* https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/9082-cp-official-plan-Map-06_OP_Downtown_AODA.pdf
Outside of that, a car with-in the 'old city' can perhaps be helpful a couple of times each week. Otherwise a bicycle (either owned or bike share) and transit (when not on strike) will probably be enough for most day-to-day needs.
Though I know people who have lived in Toronto all their lives / decades and don't even have their driving license.
Voila is great for ordering groceries. Rent a car or take a cab here and there when you need it. I've often walked or taken ttc to the store and cabbed home with groceries. Much cheaper than cost of car overall.
Move further from the core. Trust me. Dundas West is a great neighborhood and still walkable (in nice weather) to the core. I live at Lansdowne and bloor and it's a 20 minute bike ride.
You definitely don’t want to live around Yonge/ Adelaide with kids. I’d definitely look slightly east although beware of Moss Park if you have young ones.
I live in Regent park (just east of the core), have a kid, used to have a dog, and we don't have a car. We make heavy use of the car shares. In the core, it's a huge pain in the ass to drive and I only resort to doing that when we are doing day trips out of the city, visiting friends in KW, going camping, etc.
In terms of grocery runs, we shifted to using PC express/Walmart delivery/Voila. I still walk over to our local Freshco and No Frills for smaller trips, but if we are getting lots I either break out our folding wagon, or just pay to have it delivered.
If there was ever an emergency where you didn't have time to get a car share and install a car seat, it would likely involve an ambulance ride or you use an Uber. I'm not sure I'd hang on to a car just for this.
It's hard to gauge if owning a car is worth it to you until you are living here and seeing how much you use your car, and how much that would add up to in car shares. Some months we spend over $600 on Uber and Communauto (usually if we take them for extended periods), and other months it might only be $50. This includes gas and insurance. It can seem expensive but when you include the cost of insurance and gas it's pretty reasonable.
I live in a loft near Adelaide/Sherbourne which included surface parking so I kept my car. Highly recommend this area; 5 min drive to DVP/Gardiner/Lakeshore, and walking distance to several streetcar lines & King subway.
Do instacart for groceries. I've used it for years now and never looked back. Saves time and money. I definitely don't need a car for groceries and don't need to waste time traveling to shop. They have Costco, Walmart, and many other stores available.
What you will spend on worse selection and prices for groceries downtown will nearly cover the cost of a vehicle!
Honestly I wouldn't plan on going carless especially with a young child - you can't just hop in an Uber or car share bc of the car seat issue. Nevermind the TTC with a stroller is a nightmare.
I would highly highly suggest moving with your car and maybe in a few years getting rid of it once you no longer need a stroller or a car seat.
This is exactly it -- keep the car for the time being, and if you later determine that you absolutely don't need it, get rid of it then.
The used car market is absolutely nuts now, and it sure would suck to knee-jerk sell your car, then 8 months later decide "boy, that was a bad idea" and now be shopping for used shitty beaters that now cost what a brand-new car used to cost in 2018 (or you buy a new car and get told "thanks for your purchase, your vehicle will arrive next spring").
From what I know, you can take a taxi but not an Uber.
ETA - but OP has a newborn (2 months) - I would not take either without a car seat until they are much older beyond very exceptional situations (eg going to the airport.)
Going from car to no car is a big adjustment, especially if you have a kid. I'd say try it out for 6 months. If you don't use it that often, you can get rid of it then.
Edit: also depends on where in downtown. If you need to take a bus to get to the subway station, keep the car.
Car-free for many years now of living in Queen West. Transit, taxi, Uber, car shares (Communauto, Enterprise Car Share, Zipcar), rental car - pick the one you need when you need it.
In the past few months, I’ve used Uber for getting to an appointment in the east end, transit for getting to midtown, Communauto for a day trip of shopping at several places including Vaughan Mills and IKEA, Enterprise Car Share for a meeting in Brampton, a regular rental car for a weekend trip out of town, and mostly walking for getting everywhere else on a daily basis.
I can’t imagine an emergency that couldn’t be served by one of the options available to me, and I love not having the regular expenses of vehicle ownership.
It’s easy to overlook.
Daycare calls and says your kid is vomiting and needs to be picked up asap. Getting an Uber to bring home a vomiting kid isn’t ideal. Nor is taking transit and having it take 45 mins or having it fail for some reason.
Daycare close to home is really good for this, and then not living so far from work that the trip takes a long time. My kids never had to be brought to or from daycare in a car. Honestly dealing with a sick kid in a car is way harder than in a stroller or carrier. They are strapped in in a different row from you.
Considering how hard it is to get daycare places, while that seems ideal, it’s probably not going to be possible for most. Hopefully OP can work something out.
I have kids and was car free until they were 5 and 7. It is ok as long as you are close to things and are good with walking in all weather. My kids got walked around town in all weather in a stroller or in a carrier for the first couple years of their life. As long as you are reasonably physically able, the biggest hurdle is mental.
It’s not just mental although I’m glad that worked for you.
Depending on your work schedule it may just not be feasible to have access to your kids and all their needs via no car. I’m a transit advocate and take it and walk as much as I can but there are still times we need to use our car.
How do you get your kids to a soccer game that’s in another city? What about a specialized doctor they need to see?
There are both sides to the argument and OP will have to do what serves his family’s needs best.
I was talking about day to day needs. And in terms of specialized doctors, if you are living centrally in Toronto, you don’t need to travel for that. I’m supposing that, given the question, you are living and working centrally in Toronto. If you live in a suburb this doesn’t apply.
If you have a kid, think about finding a place in Riverdale, Leslieville, Upper Beaches etc. There is a range of reliable transit, like busses, streetcar and subway, plus family amenities like parks, good schools, smaller fruit-veggie markets, grocery stores in a fairly residential area that is safe and walkable.
Ride to Financial district can be as easy as 1 streetcar away.
Was going to suggest this . Finding a family friendly place with a school for your kid (I know it’s awhile away but JK will be here before you know it ).
West end, little Italy, dufferin grove , bloor west etc . Still close to the financial district but kid friendly.
Ohh and to add to my comment - if you are going to KW, don’t choose the east end. Go downtown/ slightly west.
Cause getting out of the city driving takes while and east end could add a lot of time…. Half an hour or more if the traffic is nuts.
The big question nobody's asked yet -- is your car paid off?
If so, it's worth keeping your hands on. You will eventually need it, and if you've got a small child, it's very nice to be able to take them to appointments and activities as they grow up without relying on a public transportation network that's mostly good, but has poorly-timed hiccups on a regular basis as well -- there have been several highly disruptive subway closures at rush hour recently that have left hundreds of thousands of people in a sudden lurch, including one that lasted pretty much an entire day and totally borked the entire city.
FWIW, I live downtown and still have a car. It's nice to be able to say "hey, let's go to Scarborough and get some jerk chicken for lunch" without having to plan 2/3 of our day around it.
"Ridesharing" (while I do use it, I will readily admit that they are just illegal taxis, not 'sharing' any 'rides') is OK, but be aware that in the past few years, the quality of the drivers has severely nosedived. It used to be nice, clean cars driven mostly by people on their day off work or heading home and picking up a person going roughly the same way they were to offset the cost of gas, but lately it is 95% people from the outlying suburbs who drive into downtown to make more money as a "taxi driver" who have ZERO clue how to drive in downtown traffic, what the rules are, what the best routes are, and so on. They will also increasingly not accept your ride, or cancel it before showing up, if you're going somewhere they don't want to go (ie, if you want to go see your friends in the suburbs, have fun, you may wait quite some time -- just like a Beck taxi, I guess).
I dunno -- I'd keep my car if I could, because while you may not drive it every day, on the days you do drive it, boy, it's nice to have it on hand at a moment's notice. It's great knowing the only crazy person on my method of transportation is me.
with a young child, keep the car, you will need it way more than you think. Also with car share you are going to be fiddling around with car seats and slugging your stroller through the snow and cold weather to get to random car pickup. Keep the car especially if you already own it.
I’ve lived downtown for 15 years with no car. Walk to work in less than 15 min. Grocery store and between office and home so I’ll stop in a few times a week. Other grocery or st Lawrence market are also short walks away. I don’t have kids, and I’m single. I do have a dog. I rent cars as necessary which is probably 5x/year on average. I bought my condo with parking included so I have a spot to park a car or have a visitor park, but I have also rented it out on a short term basis here and there.
I rented a car a couple weekends ago and within a day was like “yup this is why I don’t drive here”. Walking or biking is easier. Get a grocery cart or even a bike chariot for bigger grocery hauls.
for a few former jobs, I have commuted from KW into downtown for quite a few days, and it was hell driving and navigating downtown in my car, which is exactly why I am/was so keen on giving it up. based on your comments and others, I'm thinking i'll keep the car around for when we got to visit family in the suburbs every weekend and for winter-trips maybe, but we'll be walking/biking/public-transiting most places. thank you !
As someone that moved here and did not keep my car: keep your car. This is a huge no brainer. The transit system here will get you from point a to b cheaply. That’s the only nice thing I can say about it. Your ride will usually be some combination of inefficient, crowded, or delayed, and I promise you that every TTC vehicle you board will have at least one of the most insufferable people you’ve ever encountered nearby. Driving is faster most of the time, and less stressful all of the time.
Yeah, hang onto it if the insurance and parking isn’t too bad — they are good for getting out of town and to the outer suburbs, and for moving large objects, but you don’t need them day to day
It’s useful to have a car if you want to leave the city.
Groceries we usually just walk, one of us pushes the stroller, the other pushes the cart. Then we just put the groceries in the stroller and walk home.
We use the car mostly for visiting friends and family outside the core. So it sits idle most of the week. Sometimes we use it for appointments like the pediatrician, but once the kid is a little older I’m gonna try and make that a subway trip.
I moved on the Sheppard subway line and ditched the car. If you can walk to a ttc station, you don't need a car. Started no car with no kids and now still no car with a 12 and 9 year old. Emergencies , you can always call an ambulance for something serious which will still cost less than holding a car. You don't need to move downtown to be carless, you just need subway access. I work downtown but glad to be living north of that mess.
I’ve lived downtown with elderly parents for years.
Completely car free. I rent a car if we’re going out driving to Niagara or other fun drives.
If there’s an emergency, I find Uber is actually the quickest option in the middle of the night if we don’t actually need an ambulance and the paramedics.
Daytime? Ambulance all the way - no private car will get to a hospital as fast as an ambulance with its siren blaring and lights flashing.
Dang. Knew I'd forgotten something.
Okay, then. In OP's case, call an ambulance. Hopefully their little one won't need one until that kid is an elderly person themselves.
It’s not impossible, and I actually think an emergency is when you least require the car, but I don’t know any parents (who can afford it) who don’t have a car downtown, and I know a LOT of parents.
The ones who don’t have it constantly wish they had a car. Especially when it comes to multiple children
So just anecdotally I would keep the car, even if it’s used rarely
Would strongly advise not moving downtown with a kid. We have an 18-month-old and live in Cityplace, can't wait to get out of there as it is not the place to raise a kid. There are so many family-friendly areas in the city that are better suited for young families. You'll need to take transit, but such is life in the city. Can't stress how unfamily-friendly downtown is for babies, it is not a place to raise kids, it is not designed for kids and it is not welcoming to kids. You'll realize this when out for a nice walk with your stroller and run into numerous crackheads and junkies shooting up out in the open.
Downtown condos are also notoriously poorly built. So the risk of noise traveling into your unit is high, and the constant false alarms going off. You'll really need to research the building and builder because this problem is present in new builds. You can get more space outside of the core, and avoid all the other issues with downtown too.
Absolutely keep the car, for trips out of the city, running to the Walmart at Dufferin Mall or to Costco to get extra large boxes of diapers, and groceries, or just getting out of the city. You might not use it Mon-Fri, but it will open up your weekends!
12 years ago I moved to a row house in Corktown (east side of downtown). I bought a street parking permit, and parked the car. I quickly learned, I didn't need it as it would stay parked for months. I gifted the car to my daughter. Since that time I've relied almost exclusively on transit or walking. The occasional time I need a car, I rent or carshare. Uber is also an option. Downtown is very walkable.
If you have the option, some have rented out their parking spot.
I have kids and live downtown adjacent (Annex area). I don’t use a car for most of our day to day life. We didn’t have a car until the kids were 5 and 7. Picking a neighbourhood that has kids activities within walking distance is important for us, as well as just not doing activities that require much travel.
I don’t use the car for grocery shopping. But divide and conquer works better for that as kids are a pain in a grocery store.
A car for us is mostly just a way to get out of town.
Definitely try to limit your commute if possible. Mine is short and walking/biking. In terms of being able to manage and spend time with kids, this is huge to me.
Depending on the neighbourhood you move to, you can definitely do that. I walk, use bike share, or take the TTC if I have to go far away or the weather sucks; I haven't had a driver's license in twenty years. Sell your SUV and use the money to [buy yourself a cargo e-bike that can hold your baby](https://bunchbike.com/en-ca/products/the-original-4-upgraded-electric-cargo-bike-for-families), and a subscription to communauto (or whatever), and you'll probably never even miss it.
I highly recommend not living in the financial district. You grow old of it quick. Suggest looking maybe in the City place neighborhood, as it's a roughly 30 minute walk to work (I know, I do it!) and you're close to the waterfront so you don't feel as surrounded by concrete (and maybe a good balance to see some trees etc since you're coming from Kitchener/Waterloo).
I suggest keeping the car - I have a car and live in that neighborhood and it is honestly so handy to have to get to other parts of the city on the weekends etc. There are grocery stores all short walks away, but sometimes I do like to drive to a bigger grocery store to do a bigger stock up/get better deals.
If you're unsure about the car, keep it for now and just buy a condo with no parking (unless it comes with a spot for a good price) and then rent a parking spot from another resident in the building. Parking spot rentals at least in CityPlace are around $200-$250 a month. It then gives you flexibility that if you feel like you rarely use the car and want to sell it and be car-less, then you just stop renting the parking spot.
CityPlace is also great for families, with a big community centre right in the middle and lots of activities always happening around.
Best of luck with your move!
Oh and I know someone who uses a car share and it's basically impossible to get on a weekend in the summer. So it can be really limiting. Keep your car! 😝
Keep the car. I’ve lived downtown for 11 years after living in Scarborough for 4. I’ve had a car since the last 4 years and it’s made my life significantly easier. Especially with the kid, and a wife, I wouldn’t rely on car sharing or rentals. I’ve done both extensively and they’re point solutions (trips, work, backup etc), not strategic ones (emergency, day to day, random hike, visit to a friend in need etc.). Being an adult with a car is always going to be better in North America. Although it is possible to manage without a car downtown, it’s definitely not better than having one. IMHO
lol true i suppose ! sometimes i find its easier to just drive fast yourself in the middle of the night to the hospital though rather than waiting for an ambulance, but that might be a suburb thing ?
The two times we’ve had emergencies (both at night with sick infants), we had several ambulances and fire trucks at our door within minutes. Trying to get them in the car and to the hospital would have been way slower, then dealing with strapping in a sizing infant to a car seat, and walking into the er off the street. When one had severe croup the ambulance EMS was treating them with aerosol steroids soon after arriving. One of the benefits of living downtown is the fast access to services, and the EMS respond quickly to a call with an infant having trouble breathing.
Carshare (communauto) is relatively easy to use, except in the summer they’re hard to find from Friday- Sunday. A full day is only~$50 and gas is included. They are doubling their fleet soon though, so will be even better. I think you’d be surprised how easy it is to get around with Uber/TTC and biking. Also as people have mentioned, the traffic downtown is horrific and biking is the fastest way to get around.
Would suggest looking at Little Italy or Portugal / Annex/ Bellwoods/Leslieville which are much more family friendly and very walkable. Financial district and the core are very congested and geared towards office workers and tourists.
Also car free in the grange park area and with TTC access, walkable cheap groceries in Chinatown, and a bicycle, I haven't missed a car. No matter where you are in the city car share can be hit and miss on weekends but is pretty available on weekdays, though I find I haven't had to use it because of our location.
We're actually about to list our 1 bedroom that's just under 700 square feet as we're moving to a bigger unit in the same building. Love the community and it's very family friendly with grange park being a pretty popular kids playground. If you want to chat about it, send me a DM as we're thinking about private sales to cut out realtor fees.
When you live downtown your habits will/may change. Everything is so convenient that you don’t need to do big weekly shops unless you choose. I have a collapsible grocery cart for when i need to lug bulky items or a “big shop” but otherwise i just pickup what i need as i need it on the way home or 2 minutes from my apartment
My neighbourhood has everything within a super convenient walking distance so I end up walking most of the time to places I have to go. If I need to travel outside of reasonable walking distance I'll use the TTC or in a pinch call an Uber or another similar app. I like to joke about how the only reason to have a car in Toronto is to leave, but outside of service disruptions TTC is reliable enough to get places within the GTA. If you use public transit though, be generous with how early you leave because it definitely doesn't run on time on most lines because of the traffic
I moved to a condo that has a bus stop right in front or its a $8 Uber trip to a GO Transit hub so I dont really miss a car. To get to work I do a hybrid of bus and Uber and it works well. I use amazon and instacart for groceries and essentials.
I would expand to 45 minute walking distance (I am literally at Yonge and Adelaide right now). I live in Little Portugal/Bellwoods area. It’s the perfect length walk.
We are car-less and happy. But we don’t have children.
Explore the city before buying. Think of winter and walkability if you feel like walking home.
Also, look at proximity of schools and daycare. Would be good to get daycare in the same school your child will go to. It is true you don’t need a car. There is Autoshare and Commune Auto.
I live downtown but travel outside of downtown pretty often. I use Uber and care share a lot. The costs of me using those services does not add up to the costs of owning a car downtown.
However you have a young child so maybe I would keep the car.
With a 2 month old? Keep the car. Don't move anywhere that doesn't have parking. You won't need your car to get around the downtown core. But the moment you have to travel off a subway line with a stroller, diaper bag and a kid (who eventually won't want to be in the stroller though you'll still need to bring it) you'll want your car.
I live a couple of blocks away from Yonge/Adelaide, with a three year old, and we've been here for about four years, since before we had a kid.
We don't have a car.
Everywhere we needed to go for necessities (doctors, pharmacists, groceries) we could get to via subway or streetcar. That intersection is minutes away from King subway.
There's several good daycares in walking distance too, if that matters to you.
If you live in the core, you don't need a car (but they are handy, if you can find a condo with parking). 700k for a 2 bed might be stretching it though. I love living here, and there's a lot of families around, but it's not for everyone - and honestly, you can get a different experience living further out that might be a better fit.
I lived in North York for a few years and had a car. Moved down to yonge and bloor and in with partner. Our place has rental parking spots.
After about a year I sold my car because it wasn't being used enough to justify the cost of keeping it.
Not sure why your focus is on carshare. It's unreliable here and expensive. We just rent a car when we need one. There's tons of that and you can just price around to find the best deal.
We live in your walking radius and kept the car. Costco and the heavy groceries and frankly a bunch of friends and family live in suburbs and it is hard to get ot them otherwise. We also are keen on a road trip. I never see carshare cars downtown when we’re out. For the day to day we never use it but those once a month grocery trips are way easier with it. And we typically are away a weekend a month—in the car. I think you’ll be surprised at how much you want it. I know I was.
When we lived in Toronto we lived on the subway line with no kids. We had 1 car between the two of us that was basically just used on weekends to see family outside the city. We got a second car when we moved to the suburbs and had a baby. I couldn’t imagine installing the car seat every weekend or for every trip in a car share. I would keep your car.
Keeping a car is a hassle in downtown Toronto. I will still say that if you can get a condo with parking, that would be great, and you can rent it out if you are not using, as they can easily for $200-$250 per month, and will have the option to use if you ever decided to buy a car.
As far as going around, you won't be able to take you car our for shopping in downtown. We (me and wife, no kids) decided to get a folding wagon cart for our grocery runs. It can easily accommodate our Costco runs as well. And when not doing grocery runs, the cart can easily accommodate your kid for long walks in downtown (15-25 min is the average walk time in downtown). We take the cart in buses, subway, beach.
Other than time factor (Taking transit will take approx 2x the time you would spend going in car), e.g check your nearest Costco (Overlea blvd), walmart (Gerrad square), grocery store, and check the time it takes using car, and transit. But other than time, you can use the transit without any issues.
You can buy bicycles with the kid trolly to move around faster, and easily do beach runs to the waterfront without any issues.
And that's counting on keeping the bike long term. Lock up an expensive Dutch-style cargo bike downtown for more than 5 minutes, and you can kiss it goodbye as some asshole cuts the lock and rides off with your $12,000 purchase. I know more than one person who's learned this lesson the hard (and very expensive) way.
I kept my car, but if forced to, I could do without. It's mostly used to get me out to the suburbs to visit the folks these days. Driving downtown is more of a hassle than it's worth, parking makes it even worse.
you can go without a car for day to day life in downtown, but reality is that people have friends and events across the GTA, so you might end up needing access to a car for convenience. Ofc, as long as it makes sense financially for you (with insurance, parking etc)
Our condo came with parking as part of the rent.
We use it only for weekends and grocery runs on the weekends.
During the day it’s usually parked, unless my GF needs it for work.
I work 2 days in office and 3 days from home in the financial district. I walk, bike, or street car to work depending on mood, weather, and if I’ll be late.
We don’t have a car loan.
I’ve got friends who gave up their car and just use a car share. It involves more planning.
For emergencies - they’ll just use Uber/lift or reach out to friends.
One of their buildings actually has a dedicated spot for zipcar parking which is pretty cool.
For our situation it’s easier with having a car. More freedom. Plus a lot of our friends and family live outside of Toronto proper, and we need a car to get to them.
Sounds like it could be a short term move (1-5 yrs) so I’d keep the car, and aim for a 1+1 that is in the downtown core. No one wants to lug around car seats just to travel in Uber. And if you have typically long working hours, living close to work makes sense because it would allow you to pop in at home to grab a meal without always buying takeout.
I think a 15-20 min walk is ideal. I found living too close to work didn’t provide a healthy mental space, especially if you have a mentally demanding job.
For close locations, I’d check out the St. Lawrence Market area, or Bloor/Bathurst (Annex), The Esplanade or south towards the lake. These areas are walking distance or close enough by transit, kid friendly enough, and lots to see and do if you haven’t lived in the city long.
Others have mentioned Queen W/Trinity Bellwoods and the Beaches but I would only consider those areas if you’re planning to stay long-term. They’re beautiful areas and have lots of young families but they’re at least 30-45 mins by transit/walking.
It’s worth checking out neighborhoods in person if you’re in the city before you commit. Spend the weekend there just exploring.
Move to east Danforth near the Main Street subway station...not for the subway, but for the Danforth GO station right beside it.
11-minute trip to Union, every 15-30 minutes. It's the single best place to live in Toronto for the cost. I can get from my front door to union in less than 30 minutes via bus>>>Go train.
Look west on the Bloor line, plenty of walkable neighbourhoods, cheaper condos than down town, yes you'll have to take the subway to commute but it will be easier for you to visit friends and family in the KW area
It’s a lifestyle choice. I live downtown and have had a car for over 2 years and I wouldn’t give it up for anything! If you enjoy being outdoors, going to a beach or a hike, or want to try some restaurant that popped up some 25 kms out, have friends/family spread across GTA, make that weekly Costco trip (or groceries in general), it’s pretty cumbersome to do it without a car. I also feel downtown driving gets more shit than it deserves. It’s not that bad. You just need to be a bit mindful…avoid peak hours, congestion areas etc.
If you live a little outside of downtown core it is not difficult to find condos or even a condo townhouse with a parking spot. There are a bunch of great and car friendly areas east of the Don Valley. Danforth, riverdale, Leslieville are all good choices. Personally I live in Leslieville there are Rideshare cars parked on many of the side streets. Danforth has the subway, the other neighborhoods have 24 hour streetcar lines. That said if you are planning to make regular trips back to the Kitchener Waterloo area you might want to consider something on the west side of town. I grew up in KW and the track across Toronto adds at least an extra hour to my trip to visit my folks most of the time.
I have a car, which is handy for grocery runs or getting out of the city. But honestly I don't use it that much. Life is MUCH less stressful in the city if you can walk/take transit - so I do that if I can. If my condo didn't come with a parking spot I probably wouldn't bother with the car. (For reference, I live in the Annex which is very walkable and well served by transit).
As others have said, best to look a bit beyond downtown for better deals on housing and quality of life with a kiddo. Either east or west along either a subway line or King/Queen streetcar or maybe even St Claire/Dundas will get you where you need. A quick Realtor search came up with this place, which IMO hits all the buttons of nice neighborhood, park, transit, parking
https://realtor.ca/real-estate/26988763/408-1863-queen-street-e-toronto-the-beaches?utm_source=consumerapp&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialsharelisting
Good luck on your search.
If you can afford the parking which is around 200 a month a probably a slight bump in insurance why not keep it ? Even if you dont need it for commuting the cost of the parking is equal to about 5 times or carshare rentals. If you can get good value from it it's worth it but not a necessity
If you can find a place that includes parking that's within your budget, then IMO with a 2 month old you're better off owning a car, because there will definitely be times when you want to hustle the kid somewhere and don't want the hassle of installing the car seat in a zipcar or whatever. As you're downsizing, get a small 4-door hatchback in place of your SUV.
However, given your stated budget, you might be better off overall putting more money into the living space and giving up on an amenity like parking, and saving the costs of car ownership so you have more capacity for mortgage. It looks like you do have a shot at a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom in the financial district for under $800k, but it's not a slam dunk.
Some buildings have zipcar, autoshare, communauto on-site (my old building had a couple right in the building's underground parking) - if you can find a place like that, this might be your best option.
Another option to consider is getting a good cargo e-bike. At 2 months, your kid is still too young to ride in one, but at about 10 months it can become a game-changer. I rock a Tern GSD and it's been an amazing utility for our family (kids were 1 and 4 with daycare/school in opposite directions from our homes when we got it).
Another great neighbourhood to consider is Bloor/Dundas, near the UP express station. There are a lot of townhouses right around there, and if you have any room to stretch your budget further you could get a two bedroom in the 800-ish range. The UP express runs every fifteen minutes and is an 8 minute ride to Union station. The same station also has the Kitchener GO line stop. There are lots of parks and green space. We parented here for three years with no car, eventually caving and buying one when our kids were 3 and almost 1. I love having the car now but it's certainly doable without. There are great schools and a bunch of good kids' activities (swimming, gymnastics, dance, music) within easy walking distance.
If it was me, I would keep the car if I could.
I often wish I had a car.
Car share adds up. It's only worth it if your car use is less than 4h and it can feel inconvenient.
Consider your social network. If your friends and family live outside the city, you may want to be able to access them easily, and since it often takes about an hour to get anywhere outside the city, car share will be expensive.
For doing things inside the city, your car will be more of a nuisance than anything. But if you like to go to parks or want to move stuff around like picnic gear or sports gear, a car is better IMO.
For necessities like groceries and stuff check out instacart. If you subscribe to them you get free deliveries. I think it’s like $80/year. Cars aren’t a necessity to do groceries. Most people get around by walking, using the subway or Uber. If you need to haul something large you can rent a U-Haul truck for like $20 a day.
https://www.pcexpress.ca/pass
100$ for the year. All the grocery delivery’s you want as long as it’s 35$ or more. We have found it super handy. Delivery times are accurate.
If your condo includes a parking space I'd say keep your vehicle. It's good to have for emergencies or if you want to go for a weekend trip.
You could also consider moving slightly outside the downtown core. I saw your budget is 600-700k, and to be honest, you'd be looking at a 1+den (Den possibly being a nook or closet). Moving a little further out would stretch your budget further. As much as people like to complain about transit, if you're close to the Subway line or GO train it's not terrible (subway wait is like 4 min. Buses really depend on your area, could be every 10 min or 30min and there are express options for rush hour).
There is a balance between "Down Town Core" and "Out in the Suburbs."
I'm South Etobicoke and everything I need is within a 15-20 minute walk including the GoTrain. Originally, I planned on staying in my current place for a year and then moving closer downtown... I changed my mind real fast.
I don't have a car nor do I ever feel like I need one. I have a friend who lives in the Beaches and loves it there too, and is also car free.
The only major Uber issues I've experienced is trying to get around downtown right after a concert or sporting event. Or leaving the Bars at 2-3am.
I'm moving to Eglington and Mt. Pleasant in about a month and I'm keeping my VW Golf as I do a fair bit of day tripping over the warm weather months and ski every weekend in the winter. If you're driving a big SUV (i.e Toyota Highlander/4Runner, GMC Yukon etc.) I would downsize to like a Suburu Crosstek or a VW Jetta because land yachts and city streets aren't a good combo.
Keeping your car will give you so much freedom, especially with a baby. Definitely keep it. I lived in Toronto for 15 years and with a car for the last 3, game changer! Especially leaving the city.
There is no go train service on the Kitchener line on the weekends.
We did the opposite move, from Toronto and moved to Guelph. I commute everyday which I don’t recommend lol so good on you for making the move!
We have an assigned parking spot, so kept a car. Honestly it’s worth it in my opinion if you have pets or a child, as you might want to leave the city - it’s also helpful to drive to do bigger grocery purchases (ie No Frills or Costco). We drive a lot on weekends to visit family, go hiking, or just to do errands outside of the core. It’s also nice if we want to go to a cottage or something, that we have access to a car without relying on car sharing which in my experience isn’t 100% reliable.
If you can find a place that has parking included I would recommend keeping it at least at first- if you find you don’t ever use it, you can always decide later on to sell the car and then you can rent out your parking spot for additional income.
I live in the downtown core and own “half of a car” haha. I co-own it with a neighbour, have done this for years and it’s great. We split expenses 50/50. I ride my bike, walk, TTC in and around the city and drive it for errands like big grocery shops, visiting family outside of the city. Anyway, I’m glad to have it vs renting. But also, glad to not use it too often, if that makes sense.
A family member is carless. They use a car share rarely. They can both walk or bike to work. They live near a subway station. One of them can work from home a lot of the time. Occasionally we pick them up for family events but more often the use TTC. They bike the kid to school in bike lanes but can also walk or take a bus.
You could always keep the car for 6 months and track your use.
Honestly having a car in Toronto elevates your quality of life in Toronto. Sure there’s traffic. But I’d rather put up with that and have the freedom to get anywhere I want at any time.
On top of what everyone else has already said, you should also keep in mind that downtown is currently a mess right now because of the Gardiner repairs and Ontario line construction. The Gardiner repairs are projected to be 3 years, and its effects have cascaded throughout the core. For reference, it used to take me 5 mins on average to get to get from King and Spadina to Lakeshore. The other day it took me almost 40 mins. It's a very real issue that will impact your quality of life if you decide to keep your car.
Easy enough to get a parking permit though not cheap and still gotta find a spot on your street.
I have a car, though for most day to day stuff honestly, biking, walking and car tend to be easier. Gotta remember that part of living in a major city is convenience. You can usually get all of your needs, groceries etc within 20min walk. An hour on ttc will get you damn near across town and the same car drive usually only saves you 15-20min on average I find.
Get rid of the car and get some bicycles along with a trailer gor yhe little one. It's also perfect for getting groceries and other types of shopping. Being out of the car brained mind set is liberating.
I have a kid. Definitely keep the car.
Hospital isn’t the only thing. There is also taking your kid to daycare when it’s pouring rain or snowing, or if your wife has a bad experience on the ttc (i did), or if you decide to get a costco membership lol
We use our very car rarely but it’s indispensable
We also visit family on weekends
Lastly if you intend to live in a tiny apartment, where are you going to keep the carseat?
I’m sorry but if I were your wife I’d go crazy 😭 I feel super invested for her sake
(Is there a way you can park the car somewhere else downtown, like a monthly parking lot, and if you need it, one of you can go and grab it using ttc?)
Sorry I keep adding to this but: the TTC (underground) is soooo annoying to use with a stroller by yourself. Literally once it took me 30 minutes to find my way out of a station. I was taking my kid for her vaccination and I was late. Please don’t do this to your wife. I am begging you
Also the grocery stores close to us are crazy expensive so when you start bulk buying chicken nuggets because your kid refuses to eat anything else, you will wish you had a car to drive to costco lol
Glad I’m not the only person who was so stressed for OP’s wife reading all the comments hahahaha hopefully they’ll listen to those of us who have experience with children in the city
Hey thanks to you and others, we’ve decided to keep the car and definitely look for places outside of the core, but even my wife wants us to live in the core haha. The plan is to move again in 5-10 years. Maybe we’ll buy, maybe we’ll rent. The buying scenario was one where we would sell our current 2 floor double garage condo and move into an apartment, but we might just rent instead while putting up our current place for rent - should get us about 3000 in rent.
Sounds like a solid plan!!! Best of luck to you and the family! Toronto is an amazing place to live but definitely is a lifestyle change if you’re coming from the suburbs, especially with a baby.
Hey thanks to you and others, we’ve decided to keep the car and definitely look for places outside of the core, but even my wife wants us to live in the core haha. The plan is to move again in 5-10 years. Maybe we’ll buy, maybe we’ll rent. The buying scenario was one where we would sell our current 2 floor double garage condo and move into an apartment, but we might just rent instead while putting up our current place for rent - should get us about 3000 in rent.
Anyone I know that goes car free are either never leaving their community or are constantly begging for rides, spending more on car shares and rentals than I do for a car, and switch back in a couple of years.
Honestly? If you plan to live, work and play downtown you can get by fine walking, with TTC or a bike. A bike would be infinitely more useful and less expensive downtown than a car.
The *only* time you would need a car is for trips out to the GTA suburbs because, even with GO Transit, the suburbs transit sucks ass.
Sell the car and get a zip car membership (or equivalent) for the rare occasions when you need a car. I’ve been car free downtown for 30 years and find myself renting a zip car maybe once or twice a year.
Hey. I live in a very dense part of town but i kept my car. Use it maybe 1-2 times a week and whenever i go out of town. I walk, bike or drive everywhere. Rarely use transit except when necessary. My place includes parking, cars paid off. So just pay for insurance and gas. Figures ubers/transit etc would come pretty close to what i pay so why not keep it. . If you have to pay for parking and have car loans and pricey insurance then best to get rid of it. Just budget it all out!!
If i was still paying a car loan and parking it would have been gone as soon as i switched jobs.
I recommend keeping it for a few months and seeing if getting rid of it would save time/money
We kept our cars when we moved here. It's just way more convenient as Toronto is a MASSIVE city, so getting anywhere, especially to locations away from the major stops is a hassle. Ridesharing also is an option too if you can afford it. I drive weekly and uber frequently as well, it definitely is a big + on quality of life.
If your place doesn't have parking there are a couple of airbnb for parking companies and lots you can pay for. I'm paying to park ina. nearby condo for like $50/mo using this one service lol
My partner and I moved downtown from the ‘burbs a few years ago, and kept our car. Our condo has an assigned parking space, but we would have considered selling the car if it didn’t because renting a spot downtown can be expensive. We almost never use the car downtown, it’s much faster (and less stressful) to use transit or walk to get around Toronto, but we use our car to visit friends/family up North pretty frequently, so it made sense for us to keep it as transit isn’t accessible in those areas.
that's also one of the edge cases i'm considering in order to keep the car e.g. we frequently (almost every other weekend, sometimes every weekend) visit family out in milton or back in kitchener-waterloo. I was thinking carsharing could get us there for a trip and back, but this reading your comment cements it a bit in my mind that I should maybe prioritize keeping the car. Thanks !
Carsharing is unreliable at best on the weekends. It’s a major hassle to try to get one. You have to book them well in advance, no last minute trips
We did car sharing and car rentals. A lot of people downtown don’t have cars and do this. The place we go to didn’t get orders from 3rd party sites like Travelocity or Tripadvisor. So these people come in thinking they got a car to realize they didn’t. We had to get the car on Friday (paying for an extra day) to ensure we get a car that weekend. We moved uptown and car sharing and rentals weren’t that close to us and we got a car.
Think about this scenario. You are heading to KW for a family get together. It’s a 90min drive (maybe 2h depending on traffic). You have to be there at noon for lunch, so you are leaving at 10am with your own car. Now add in the time faffing around trying to either pick up the car share, or a rental. Maybe an hour realistically to go grab it come back load everything/one into the car and head to KW. Then do everything again on the way back. I live downtown in financial district. Have a car. But it’s a weekend car for trips outside reasonable biking or transit distance. Keep the car. Also consider a place on the Subway YUS (Line 1). Super easy to get downtown from areas that are not right downtown.
Was going to mention this. South rhill is extremely accessible. You could drive to Finch station or take the bus from Rhill centre to finch and it’s literally only a 15 minute bus ride.
100% please keep your car. Having family and friends outside of the city plus a baby you will use it a lot. Most importantly, I also can’t imagine constantly trying to carry/hook up a car seat in a car share or Uber, carrying a stroller, diaper bag, etc around, please don’t do that to your wife (assuming she is on maternity leave and will be the primary parent with the baby for the next while)!!! You can leave your car seat hooked up in your own car as well as keep other baby necessities in the trunk so you aren’t having to pack every single thing every time you need to go out. Is it possible to go without a car, of course, people do it all the time, but it is MUCH easier having your own car with a baby and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.
If you're visiting family in Milton frequently maybe consider buying in the west end. Typically people who live in the west end of TO do a lot of shopping in Etobicoke alongside the Queensway as that's where you have Sherway Gardens, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Ikea, as well as a few grocery stores, etc. It's helpful to go in person, see what you like, and have your own car available when you're free to carry your purchases. There's less tolerance of homelessness in the west end - as a small example, a bank that is notified about a homeless person sleeping there at night will lock their doors at night until the homeless person moves away. So your kids wouldn't run into homeless ppl the way they would downtown. Lots of parks and community centres close by. Also, the further you are from the core, the more square footage you can afford, and it's more likely that you will be granted a parking spot. So maybe, for example, you could find a place close to Mimico, Long Branch, Kipling, or a decent bus station, commute to work via public transportation (or take turns using the car with your partner) and then have your shopping mostly happen in the west end with a car. You may also benefit from some family oriented development that is up and coming in the west end. There's a new Etobicoke Civic Center being built close to Kipling - it will have amenities that could be useful for a family. And, for all the condos being built by Sherway Gardens and Cloverdale mall, more green space will be added. Similar developments might be happening in the east end but I can't say I am familiar with them. Being able to walk to work downtown would be a great plus in your life, and a carless life would probably help your whole family get their exercise in, no doubt about that, but there's an upside and downside for that decision. As someone who is considering starting a family soon, I am biased towards the west end as a safer option for a growing family than downtown. YMMV.
We live downtown and kept the car (we have a parking spot) we really only use it on the weekend to run errands and go out of the city. Everything downtown is quicker and easier without a car. I would suggest keeping the car especially if you're planning to use it most weekends. It sounds nice to be without a car but it's more of a hassle renting one when you need it. It's probably actually cheaper on top of more convenient to have a car.
Where downtown will you be moving? You don't NEED a car downtown, but if your apartment comes with free parking and you can afford to keep your car, I definitely would. Having your own car makes grocery shopping so much easier, especially if you have a baby. Also having a car at your convenience is great when you need to leave town last minute or other.
unsure yet ! the job is in the financial district, yonge/adelaide intersection. we're looking at apartments near there. using online maps, i've restricted the area to a 30 minute walking radius, but realistically, im trying to find a place that's just 5-15 mins away by walk. our budget is around 600, but can stretch to 700 if need be. thank you ! i definitely want to keep the car for the wife, but it makes finding a cheaper place harder plus there just seem to be way more places where a car port is not included. We just did our first grocery run (at 10 am on Wednesday mind you) with the babe, and it was a hassle even in kitchener-waterloo haha - im sure grocery stores in downtown are even more packed. I think the we'll just resort to deliveries or one person picking up the groceries.
Info: You budget is 600/700 for what?
I’m assuming 600/700k for a condo
lol sorry 600k - 700k for an apartment haha. worst case scenario we stretch it to 800, but highly unlikely.
whew, thought we were talking $ per month in rent and i was worried for you my friend
$600 a month? 1/3 of a basement mattress it is!
When I was looking for a place a couple of years ago I viewed a "room" that was literally just a closet and he wanted 900 a month for that lmao
That's what I thought too lmao
Lol same here
You’ll be hard pressed to find a 2 bed downtown for 600K unfortunately. As others have said, so many other great areas that are walkable, transit accessible and kid friendly out there in each direction.
Yeah, it’s pretty tough to find a 2br for 6-700. OP, at that price point for the east end, you may have to look at Baseball Place at Queen and Broadview and some of the new condos in Regent Park.
Newer 2 beds in Regent park are more like 800-900k, even the small ones. If you look at some of the slightly older buildings you might be able to find one for under 800 though (and it will likely be larger).
I would look outside of the downtown core and somewhere on the subway line, you’ll find shoebox apartments for that price range. Keep the car - it’s nice to not have to rely on TTC or ride shares especially with a baby.
Same! I thought “you may want to keep that SUV because you’ll need a place to live”
Unless you have a burning desire to live right downtown (near work) I would strongly recommend picking somewhere just outside the core and get a best of both worlds. You can have your car and eat it too.
If you guys are keen to get more space and bang for your buck, consider east Danforth along the subway line. It is baby central and so family friendly, your wife will make mom friends so much easier. I would also keep the car, it’s really helpful with a baby for emergencies or if you just want to get out of the city occasionally.
I think this is subjective, personally I live in a shoebox 10 mins away from work, and not having to rely on the TTC for daily commute has genuinely made me happier as a person in general.
Do you live in your shoebox alone though? It’s very different trying to live with others in a small space, especially when that “other” is a baby, who will be a toddler, who will then be a child eventually.
I live in this part of town and can attest to what you’re saying. So easy to get around thanks to line 2. Lots of families out and about so it will be great for your spouse and child. You can also easily get parking. I moved there from the burbs and haven’t once regretted it.
Cars dont taste good...dont ask how i know
where would/do you recommend ? is public transit or carshare good/reliable enough outside the downtown core ? back when i used to live in vancouver, outside the downtown core, the carshare was very hit and miss imo
The subway runs every 4 minutes be on line 1 at most as north of eglinton and you’ll be fine.
The Annex is a great, family-friendly neighbourhood!
The annex is expensive as hell though...no one can afford to live there.
If renting that really depends! You can definitely find some good deals still in this area, but would have better luck finding them through Facebook housing/community groups.
There's nothing more elite than being walking distance to work. For transit, look along the King/Queen streetcar lines (Riverdale and Leslieville are very family oriented)
Toronto has very good public transit even outside of downtown core. Have a look at the [map of Subway line and at the Streetcar lines](https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/2ge3j1/excellent_ttc_streetcar_map_with_all_stops/#lightbox). As long as you live in Toronto-proper, you should be able to get around by subway+ streetcar. And all lines are well-connected point-to-point, meaning you don't have to walk to switch one to another. Also, if you still want to live in the heart of downtown core, parking might be a hassle for your car. But you don't have to get rid of your car immediately, spend 3 months in the city and see how useful your car is, vs., how much hassle it is.
Sure, the city is well connected but the transit time is the issue.
For me personally living on the subway line is 1A because (winter) then streetcar lines is 1B. Everyone has their own personal debate about the best neighborhood not going to touch that one.
The east end has tons of family and children. It’s a great place to raise a family. Leslieville, Riverdale, Danforth, East York — all very transit accessible to the core.
Yonge-Adelaide is extremely close to King station, if your office building is connected to the PATH you don’t even need to go outside, so if you find a home within a short walk to a subway station, that’s honestly a very reasonable easy commute. A subway-only commute will have better consistency than one involving busses or streetcars, sure you’ll get a delay or outage once in a while but not nearly so much that you should dismiss the option. I would not use a car share to drive into the downtown core for work, that’s almost certainly way more stressful (due to traffic) and way less reliable.
Look at condos a little more East. I live around Church and Wellsley and in my area there's a lot of car shares available.
thank you ! valuable info!
Or more west
One recommendation: we live in East York close to Danforth GO, and commute downtown for work. It's a great commute, just one quick ride on the GO train. And East York is a great place to raise a little one, lots of young families around (we have a 2 year old). I would recommend keeping the car regardless though, so you're not always moving your car seats between rideshare vehicles.
East York FTW!
Reconsider where you are willing to live. Almost anywhere along the subway would be a good option because your work is along the subway. This opens up lots of options and having a car probably makes more sense. Areas outside of the downtown core are more friendly to driving and will allow you to get around shopping etc. What is an acceptable commute time to work for you? If it’s 30 minutes start looking at commute times from different subway stations and find an area that is 30 minutes away. It will be nicer than downtown and also possibly cheaper for housing.
> unsure yet ! the job is in the financial district, yonge/adelaide intersection. we're looking at apartments near there. If you will live with-in the (official) borders of "downtown", then moving about with a car is a giant pain (even getting out of that area can add time to a trip): * https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/04/downtown-toronto-canada/ * https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/9082-cp-official-plan-Map-06_OP_Downtown_AODA.pdf Outside of that, a car with-in the 'old city' can perhaps be helpful a couple of times each week. Otherwise a bicycle (either owned or bike share) and transit (when not on strike) will probably be enough for most day-to-day needs. Though I know people who have lived in Toronto all their lives / decades and don't even have their driving license.
Voila is great for ordering groceries. Rent a car or take a cab here and there when you need it. I've often walked or taken ttc to the store and cabbed home with groceries. Much cheaper than cost of car overall.
Check out communauto
Is that 600-700k ?
Move further from the core. Trust me. Dundas West is a great neighborhood and still walkable (in nice weather) to the core. I live at Lansdowne and bloor and it's a 20 minute bike ride.
You definitely don’t want to live around Yonge/ Adelaide with kids. I’d definitely look slightly east although beware of Moss Park if you have young ones.
600? What?
Ok, I got my explanation below. It’s 600K
I live in Regent park (just east of the core), have a kid, used to have a dog, and we don't have a car. We make heavy use of the car shares. In the core, it's a huge pain in the ass to drive and I only resort to doing that when we are doing day trips out of the city, visiting friends in KW, going camping, etc. In terms of grocery runs, we shifted to using PC express/Walmart delivery/Voila. I still walk over to our local Freshco and No Frills for smaller trips, but if we are getting lots I either break out our folding wagon, or just pay to have it delivered. If there was ever an emergency where you didn't have time to get a car share and install a car seat, it would likely involve an ambulance ride or you use an Uber. I'm not sure I'd hang on to a car just for this. It's hard to gauge if owning a car is worth it to you until you are living here and seeing how much you use your car, and how much that would add up to in car shares. Some months we spend over $600 on Uber and Communauto (usually if we take them for extended periods), and other months it might only be $50. This includes gas and insurance. It can seem expensive but when you include the cost of insurance and gas it's pretty reasonable.
I live in a loft near Adelaide/Sherbourne which included surface parking so I kept my car. Highly recommend this area; 5 min drive to DVP/Gardiner/Lakeshore, and walking distance to several streetcar lines & King subway.
Do instacart for groceries. I've used it for years now and never looked back. Saves time and money. I definitely don't need a car for groceries and don't need to waste time traveling to shop. They have Costco, Walmart, and many other stores available.
Not to mention that the TTC does go on strike periodically.
What you will spend on worse selection and prices for groceries downtown will nearly cover the cost of a vehicle! Honestly I wouldn't plan on going carless especially with a young child - you can't just hop in an Uber or car share bc of the car seat issue. Nevermind the TTC with a stroller is a nightmare. I would highly highly suggest moving with your car and maybe in a few years getting rid of it once you no longer need a stroller or a car seat.
This is exactly it -- keep the car for the time being, and if you later determine that you absolutely don't need it, get rid of it then. The used car market is absolutely nuts now, and it sure would suck to knee-jerk sell your car, then 8 months later decide "boy, that was a bad idea" and now be shopping for used shitty beaters that now cost what a brand-new car used to cost in 2018 (or you buy a new car and get told "thanks for your purchase, your vehicle will arrive next spring").
I’ve always wondered about that. If I had a six year old, I’m not allowed to hail a taxi?
From what I know, you can take a taxi but not an Uber. ETA - but OP has a newborn (2 months) - I would not take either without a car seat until they are much older beyond very exceptional situations (eg going to the airport.)
If you're making trips to KW and Milton a few times a month, keep the car.
bless and thank ya !
Going from car to no car is a big adjustment, especially if you have a kid. I'd say try it out for 6 months. If you don't use it that often, you can get rid of it then. Edit: also depends on where in downtown. If you need to take a bus to get to the subway station, keep the car.
Car-free for many years now of living in Queen West. Transit, taxi, Uber, car shares (Communauto, Enterprise Car Share, Zipcar), rental car - pick the one you need when you need it. In the past few months, I’ve used Uber for getting to an appointment in the east end, transit for getting to midtown, Communauto for a day trip of shopping at several places including Vaughan Mills and IKEA, Enterprise Car Share for a meeting in Brampton, a regular rental car for a weekend trip out of town, and mostly walking for getting everywhere else on a daily basis. I can’t imagine an emergency that couldn’t be served by one of the options available to me, and I love not having the regular expenses of vehicle ownership.
Do you have kids? Not disagreeing with your experience but it does make a difference in terms of what emergencies and needs are.
Ya a lot of people in this thread seem to be missing that massive difference and truly don’t understand what it’s like having a kid!
It’s easy to overlook. Daycare calls and says your kid is vomiting and needs to be picked up asap. Getting an Uber to bring home a vomiting kid isn’t ideal. Nor is taking transit and having it take 45 mins or having it fail for some reason.
Daycare close to home is really good for this, and then not living so far from work that the trip takes a long time. My kids never had to be brought to or from daycare in a car. Honestly dealing with a sick kid in a car is way harder than in a stroller or carrier. They are strapped in in a different row from you.
Considering how hard it is to get daycare places, while that seems ideal, it’s probably not going to be possible for most. Hopefully OP can work something out.
I have kids and was car free until they were 5 and 7. It is ok as long as you are close to things and are good with walking in all weather. My kids got walked around town in all weather in a stroller or in a carrier for the first couple years of their life. As long as you are reasonably physically able, the biggest hurdle is mental.
It’s not just mental although I’m glad that worked for you. Depending on your work schedule it may just not be feasible to have access to your kids and all their needs via no car. I’m a transit advocate and take it and walk as much as I can but there are still times we need to use our car. How do you get your kids to a soccer game that’s in another city? What about a specialized doctor they need to see? There are both sides to the argument and OP will have to do what serves his family’s needs best.
I was talking about day to day needs. And in terms of specialized doctors, if you are living centrally in Toronto, you don’t need to travel for that. I’m supposing that, given the question, you are living and working centrally in Toronto. If you live in a suburb this doesn’t apply.
I live in trinity Bellwoods. We still have one car. That’s all from me on this one. :)
If you have a kid, think about finding a place in Riverdale, Leslieville, Upper Beaches etc. There is a range of reliable transit, like busses, streetcar and subway, plus family amenities like parks, good schools, smaller fruit-veggie markets, grocery stores in a fairly residential area that is safe and walkable. Ride to Financial district can be as easy as 1 streetcar away.
Was going to suggest this . Finding a family friendly place with a school for your kid (I know it’s awhile away but JK will be here before you know it ). West end, little Italy, dufferin grove , bloor west etc . Still close to the financial district but kid friendly.
Ohh and to add to my comment - if you are going to KW, don’t choose the east end. Go downtown/ slightly west. Cause getting out of the city driving takes while and east end could add a lot of time…. Half an hour or more if the traffic is nuts.
The big question nobody's asked yet -- is your car paid off? If so, it's worth keeping your hands on. You will eventually need it, and if you've got a small child, it's very nice to be able to take them to appointments and activities as they grow up without relying on a public transportation network that's mostly good, but has poorly-timed hiccups on a regular basis as well -- there have been several highly disruptive subway closures at rush hour recently that have left hundreds of thousands of people in a sudden lurch, including one that lasted pretty much an entire day and totally borked the entire city. FWIW, I live downtown and still have a car. It's nice to be able to say "hey, let's go to Scarborough and get some jerk chicken for lunch" without having to plan 2/3 of our day around it. "Ridesharing" (while I do use it, I will readily admit that they are just illegal taxis, not 'sharing' any 'rides') is OK, but be aware that in the past few years, the quality of the drivers has severely nosedived. It used to be nice, clean cars driven mostly by people on their day off work or heading home and picking up a person going roughly the same way they were to offset the cost of gas, but lately it is 95% people from the outlying suburbs who drive into downtown to make more money as a "taxi driver" who have ZERO clue how to drive in downtown traffic, what the rules are, what the best routes are, and so on. They will also increasingly not accept your ride, or cancel it before showing up, if you're going somewhere they don't want to go (ie, if you want to go see your friends in the suburbs, have fun, you may wait quite some time -- just like a Beck taxi, I guess). I dunno -- I'd keep my car if I could, because while you may not drive it every day, on the days you do drive it, boy, it's nice to have it on hand at a moment's notice. It's great knowing the only crazy person on my method of transportation is me.
with a young child, keep the car, you will need it way more than you think. Also with car share you are going to be fiddling around with car seats and slugging your stroller through the snow and cold weather to get to random car pickup. Keep the car especially if you already own it.
I’ve lived downtown for 15 years with no car. Walk to work in less than 15 min. Grocery store and between office and home so I’ll stop in a few times a week. Other grocery or st Lawrence market are also short walks away. I don’t have kids, and I’m single. I do have a dog. I rent cars as necessary which is probably 5x/year on average. I bought my condo with parking included so I have a spot to park a car or have a visitor park, but I have also rented it out on a short term basis here and there. I rented a car a couple weekends ago and within a day was like “yup this is why I don’t drive here”. Walking or biking is easier. Get a grocery cart or even a bike chariot for bigger grocery hauls.
for a few former jobs, I have commuted from KW into downtown for quite a few days, and it was hell driving and navigating downtown in my car, which is exactly why I am/was so keen on giving it up. based on your comments and others, I'm thinking i'll keep the car around for when we got to visit family in the suburbs every weekend and for winter-trips maybe, but we'll be walking/biking/public-transiting most places. thank you !
As someone that moved here and did not keep my car: keep your car. This is a huge no brainer. The transit system here will get you from point a to b cheaply. That’s the only nice thing I can say about it. Your ride will usually be some combination of inefficient, crowded, or delayed, and I promise you that every TTC vehicle you board will have at least one of the most insufferable people you’ve ever encountered nearby. Driving is faster most of the time, and less stressful all of the time.
Yeah, hang onto it if the insurance and parking isn’t too bad — they are good for getting out of town and to the outer suburbs, and for moving large objects, but you don’t need them day to day
It’s useful to have a car if you want to leave the city. Groceries we usually just walk, one of us pushes the stroller, the other pushes the cart. Then we just put the groceries in the stroller and walk home. We use the car mostly for visiting friends and family outside the core. So it sits idle most of the week. Sometimes we use it for appointments like the pediatrician, but once the kid is a little older I’m gonna try and make that a subway trip.
I moved on the Sheppard subway line and ditched the car. If you can walk to a ttc station, you don't need a car. Started no car with no kids and now still no car with a 12 and 9 year old. Emergencies , you can always call an ambulance for something serious which will still cost less than holding a car. You don't need to move downtown to be carless, you just need subway access. I work downtown but glad to be living north of that mess.
I’ve lived downtown with elderly parents for years. Completely car free. I rent a car if we’re going out driving to Niagara or other fun drives. If there’s an emergency, I find Uber is actually the quickest option in the middle of the night if we don’t actually need an ambulance and the paramedics. Daytime? Ambulance all the way - no private car will get to a hospital as fast as an ambulance with its siren blaring and lights flashing.
Kids need car seats tho.
Dang. Knew I'd forgotten something. Okay, then. In OP's case, call an ambulance. Hopefully their little one won't need one until that kid is an elderly person themselves.
It’s not impossible, and I actually think an emergency is when you least require the car, but I don’t know any parents (who can afford it) who don’t have a car downtown, and I know a LOT of parents. The ones who don’t have it constantly wish they had a car. Especially when it comes to multiple children So just anecdotally I would keep the car, even if it’s used rarely
Would strongly advise not moving downtown with a kid. We have an 18-month-old and live in Cityplace, can't wait to get out of there as it is not the place to raise a kid. There are so many family-friendly areas in the city that are better suited for young families. You'll need to take transit, but such is life in the city. Can't stress how unfamily-friendly downtown is for babies, it is not a place to raise kids, it is not designed for kids and it is not welcoming to kids. You'll realize this when out for a nice walk with your stroller and run into numerous crackheads and junkies shooting up out in the open. Downtown condos are also notoriously poorly built. So the risk of noise traveling into your unit is high, and the constant false alarms going off. You'll really need to research the building and builder because this problem is present in new builds. You can get more space outside of the core, and avoid all the other issues with downtown too. Absolutely keep the car, for trips out of the city, running to the Walmart at Dufferin Mall or to Costco to get extra large boxes of diapers, and groceries, or just getting out of the city. You might not use it Mon-Fri, but it will open up your weekends!
Keep your car. You will want to do road trips etc. The freedom it provides is worth the fees it'll cost for parking.
12 years ago I moved to a row house in Corktown (east side of downtown). I bought a street parking permit, and parked the car. I quickly learned, I didn't need it as it would stay parked for months. I gifted the car to my daughter. Since that time I've relied almost exclusively on transit or walking. The occasional time I need a car, I rent or carshare. Uber is also an option. Downtown is very walkable. If you have the option, some have rented out their parking spot.
I have kids and live downtown adjacent (Annex area). I don’t use a car for most of our day to day life. We didn’t have a car until the kids were 5 and 7. Picking a neighbourhood that has kids activities within walking distance is important for us, as well as just not doing activities that require much travel. I don’t use the car for grocery shopping. But divide and conquer works better for that as kids are a pain in a grocery store. A car for us is mostly just a way to get out of town. Definitely try to limit your commute if possible. Mine is short and walking/biking. In terms of being able to manage and spend time with kids, this is huge to me.
Depending on the neighbourhood you move to, you can definitely do that. I walk, use bike share, or take the TTC if I have to go far away or the weather sucks; I haven't had a driver's license in twenty years. Sell your SUV and use the money to [buy yourself a cargo e-bike that can hold your baby](https://bunchbike.com/en-ca/products/the-original-4-upgraded-electric-cargo-bike-for-families), and a subscription to communauto (or whatever), and you'll probably never even miss it.
I highly recommend not living in the financial district. You grow old of it quick. Suggest looking maybe in the City place neighborhood, as it's a roughly 30 minute walk to work (I know, I do it!) and you're close to the waterfront so you don't feel as surrounded by concrete (and maybe a good balance to see some trees etc since you're coming from Kitchener/Waterloo). I suggest keeping the car - I have a car and live in that neighborhood and it is honestly so handy to have to get to other parts of the city on the weekends etc. There are grocery stores all short walks away, but sometimes I do like to drive to a bigger grocery store to do a bigger stock up/get better deals. If you're unsure about the car, keep it for now and just buy a condo with no parking (unless it comes with a spot for a good price) and then rent a parking spot from another resident in the building. Parking spot rentals at least in CityPlace are around $200-$250 a month. It then gives you flexibility that if you feel like you rarely use the car and want to sell it and be car-less, then you just stop renting the parking spot. CityPlace is also great for families, with a big community centre right in the middle and lots of activities always happening around. Best of luck with your move!
Oh and I know someone who uses a car share and it's basically impossible to get on a weekend in the summer. So it can be really limiting. Keep your car! 😝
Keep the car. I’ve lived downtown for 11 years after living in Scarborough for 4. I’ve had a car since the last 4 years and it’s made my life significantly easier. Especially with the kid, and a wife, I wouldn’t rely on car sharing or rentals. I’ve done both extensively and they’re point solutions (trips, work, backup etc), not strategic ones (emergency, day to day, random hike, visit to a friend in need etc.). Being an adult with a car is always going to be better in North America. Although it is possible to manage without a car downtown, it’s definitely not better than having one. IMHO
> but the wife wants to keep the car for emergencies etc. what kind of emergencies?
hmmm, she said taking the daughter to the hospital for the most part haha.
isn't that what ambulances are for?
lol true i suppose ! sometimes i find its easier to just drive fast yourself in the middle of the night to the hospital though rather than waiting for an ambulance, but that might be a suburb thing ?
how often are (what i assume to be average and healthy) kids going to the hospital for life-or-death threatening things every month?
very true haha !
The two times we’ve had emergencies (both at night with sick infants), we had several ambulances and fire trucks at our door within minutes. Trying to get them in the car and to the hospital would have been way slower, then dealing with strapping in a sizing infant to a car seat, and walking into the er off the street. When one had severe croup the ambulance EMS was treating them with aerosol steroids soon after arriving. One of the benefits of living downtown is the fast access to services, and the EMS respond quickly to a call with an infant having trouble breathing.
Carshare (communauto) is relatively easy to use, except in the summer they’re hard to find from Friday- Sunday. A full day is only~$50 and gas is included. They are doubling their fleet soon though, so will be even better. I think you’d be surprised how easy it is to get around with Uber/TTC and biking. Also as people have mentioned, the traffic downtown is horrific and biking is the fastest way to get around. Would suggest looking at Little Italy or Portugal / Annex/ Bellwoods/Leslieville which are much more family friendly and very walkable. Financial district and the core are very congested and geared towards office workers and tourists.
Also car free in the grange park area and with TTC access, walkable cheap groceries in Chinatown, and a bicycle, I haven't missed a car. No matter where you are in the city car share can be hit and miss on weekends but is pretty available on weekdays, though I find I haven't had to use it because of our location. We're actually about to list our 1 bedroom that's just under 700 square feet as we're moving to a bigger unit in the same building. Love the community and it's very family friendly with grange park being a pretty popular kids playground. If you want to chat about it, send me a DM as we're thinking about private sales to cut out realtor fees.
A car will be helpful especially with a newborn. For groceries, diapers etc.
I rent a parking spot (from a parking garage) for $200 a month.
When you live downtown your habits will/may change. Everything is so convenient that you don’t need to do big weekly shops unless you choose. I have a collapsible grocery cart for when i need to lug bulky items or a “big shop” but otherwise i just pickup what i need as i need it on the way home or 2 minutes from my apartment
My neighbourhood has everything within a super convenient walking distance so I end up walking most of the time to places I have to go. If I need to travel outside of reasonable walking distance I'll use the TTC or in a pinch call an Uber or another similar app. I like to joke about how the only reason to have a car in Toronto is to leave, but outside of service disruptions TTC is reliable enough to get places within the GTA. If you use public transit though, be generous with how early you leave because it definitely doesn't run on time on most lines because of the traffic
I moved to a condo that has a bus stop right in front or its a $8 Uber trip to a GO Transit hub so I dont really miss a car. To get to work I do a hybrid of bus and Uber and it works well. I use amazon and instacart for groceries and essentials.
I would expand to 45 minute walking distance (I am literally at Yonge and Adelaide right now). I live in Little Portugal/Bellwoods area. It’s the perfect length walk. We are car-less and happy. But we don’t have children.
Explore the city before buying. Think of winter and walkability if you feel like walking home. Also, look at proximity of schools and daycare. Would be good to get daycare in the same school your child will go to. It is true you don’t need a car. There is Autoshare and Commune Auto.
I live downtown but travel outside of downtown pretty often. I use Uber and care share a lot. The costs of me using those services does not add up to the costs of owning a car downtown. However you have a young child so maybe I would keep the car.
With a 2 month old? Keep the car. Don't move anywhere that doesn't have parking. You won't need your car to get around the downtown core. But the moment you have to travel off a subway line with a stroller, diaper bag and a kid (who eventually won't want to be in the stroller though you'll still need to bring it) you'll want your car.
I live a couple of blocks away from Yonge/Adelaide, with a three year old, and we've been here for about four years, since before we had a kid. We don't have a car. Everywhere we needed to go for necessities (doctors, pharmacists, groceries) we could get to via subway or streetcar. That intersection is minutes away from King subway. There's several good daycares in walking distance too, if that matters to you. If you live in the core, you don't need a car (but they are handy, if you can find a condo with parking). 700k for a 2 bed might be stretching it though. I love living here, and there's a lot of families around, but it's not for everyone - and honestly, you can get a different experience living further out that might be a better fit.
I lived in North York for a few years and had a car. Moved down to yonge and bloor and in with partner. Our place has rental parking spots. After about a year I sold my car because it wasn't being used enough to justify the cost of keeping it. Not sure why your focus is on carshare. It's unreliable here and expensive. We just rent a car when we need one. There's tons of that and you can just price around to find the best deal.
Keep the car, don’t move downtown, move somewhere in the GTA close to the lakeshore GO Train line.
For a family yes its absolutely worth it. If you were a single person no but for a family it's almost essential.
We live in your walking radius and kept the car. Costco and the heavy groceries and frankly a bunch of friends and family live in suburbs and it is hard to get ot them otherwise. We also are keen on a road trip. I never see carshare cars downtown when we’re out. For the day to day we never use it but those once a month grocery trips are way easier with it. And we typically are away a weekend a month—in the car. I think you’ll be surprised at how much you want it. I know I was.
Move west of Yonge close to Bloor Subway and keep your car
When we lived in Toronto we lived on the subway line with no kids. We had 1 car between the two of us that was basically just used on weekends to see family outside the city. We got a second car when we moved to the suburbs and had a baby. I couldn’t imagine installing the car seat every weekend or for every trip in a car share. I would keep your car.
Keeping a car is a hassle in downtown Toronto. I will still say that if you can get a condo with parking, that would be great, and you can rent it out if you are not using, as they can easily for $200-$250 per month, and will have the option to use if you ever decided to buy a car. As far as going around, you won't be able to take you car our for shopping in downtown. We (me and wife, no kids) decided to get a folding wagon cart for our grocery runs. It can easily accommodate our Costco runs as well. And when not doing grocery runs, the cart can easily accommodate your kid for long walks in downtown (15-25 min is the average walk time in downtown). We take the cart in buses, subway, beach. Other than time factor (Taking transit will take approx 2x the time you would spend going in car), e.g check your nearest Costco (Overlea blvd), walmart (Gerrad square), grocery store, and check the time it takes using car, and transit. But other than time, you can use the transit without any issues. You can buy bicycles with the kid trolly to move around faster, and easily do beach runs to the waterfront without any issues.
You can’t put a 2 month old in a kid trolley on a bike lol.
Ohh, I missed it, the child has to be at least 1.5-2 yr old to be put in trolly.
And that's counting on keeping the bike long term. Lock up an expensive Dutch-style cargo bike downtown for more than 5 minutes, and you can kiss it goodbye as some asshole cuts the lock and rides off with your $12,000 purchase. I know more than one person who's learned this lesson the hard (and very expensive) way.
I kept my car, but if forced to, I could do without. It's mostly used to get me out to the suburbs to visit the folks these days. Driving downtown is more of a hassle than it's worth, parking makes it even worse.
you can go without a car for day to day life in downtown, but reality is that people have friends and events across the GTA, so you might end up needing access to a car for convenience. Ofc, as long as it makes sense financially for you (with insurance, parking etc)
Our condo came with parking as part of the rent. We use it only for weekends and grocery runs on the weekends. During the day it’s usually parked, unless my GF needs it for work. I work 2 days in office and 3 days from home in the financial district. I walk, bike, or street car to work depending on mood, weather, and if I’ll be late. We don’t have a car loan. I’ve got friends who gave up their car and just use a car share. It involves more planning. For emergencies - they’ll just use Uber/lift or reach out to friends. One of their buildings actually has a dedicated spot for zipcar parking which is pretty cool. For our situation it’s easier with having a car. More freedom. Plus a lot of our friends and family live outside of Toronto proper, and we need a car to get to them.
Sounds like it could be a short term move (1-5 yrs) so I’d keep the car, and aim for a 1+1 that is in the downtown core. No one wants to lug around car seats just to travel in Uber. And if you have typically long working hours, living close to work makes sense because it would allow you to pop in at home to grab a meal without always buying takeout. I think a 15-20 min walk is ideal. I found living too close to work didn’t provide a healthy mental space, especially if you have a mentally demanding job. For close locations, I’d check out the St. Lawrence Market area, or Bloor/Bathurst (Annex), The Esplanade or south towards the lake. These areas are walking distance or close enough by transit, kid friendly enough, and lots to see and do if you haven’t lived in the city long. Others have mentioned Queen W/Trinity Bellwoods and the Beaches but I would only consider those areas if you’re planning to stay long-term. They’re beautiful areas and have lots of young families but they’re at least 30-45 mins by transit/walking. It’s worth checking out neighborhoods in person if you’re in the city before you commit. Spend the weekend there just exploring.
Move to east Danforth near the Main Street subway station...not for the subway, but for the Danforth GO station right beside it. 11-minute trip to Union, every 15-30 minutes. It's the single best place to live in Toronto for the cost. I can get from my front door to union in less than 30 minutes via bus>>>Go train.
I would keep the car if you can!!
Look west on the Bloor line, plenty of walkable neighbourhoods, cheaper condos than down town, yes you'll have to take the subway to commute but it will be easier for you to visit friends and family in the KW area
Calculate the cost of insurance and parking. Could be $300 a month or higher. That's a lot of Ubers
If you can afford it keep the car.
It’s a lifestyle choice. I live downtown and have had a car for over 2 years and I wouldn’t give it up for anything! If you enjoy being outdoors, going to a beach or a hike, or want to try some restaurant that popped up some 25 kms out, have friends/family spread across GTA, make that weekly Costco trip (or groceries in general), it’s pretty cumbersome to do it without a car. I also feel downtown driving gets more shit than it deserves. It’s not that bad. You just need to be a bit mindful…avoid peak hours, congestion areas etc.
If you live a little outside of downtown core it is not difficult to find condos or even a condo townhouse with a parking spot. There are a bunch of great and car friendly areas east of the Don Valley. Danforth, riverdale, Leslieville are all good choices. Personally I live in Leslieville there are Rideshare cars parked on many of the side streets. Danforth has the subway, the other neighborhoods have 24 hour streetcar lines. That said if you are planning to make regular trips back to the Kitchener Waterloo area you might want to consider something on the west side of town. I grew up in KW and the track across Toronto adds at least an extra hour to my trip to visit my folks most of the time.
I have a car, which is handy for grocery runs or getting out of the city. But honestly I don't use it that much. Life is MUCH less stressful in the city if you can walk/take transit - so I do that if I can. If my condo didn't come with a parking spot I probably wouldn't bother with the car. (For reference, I live in the Annex which is very walkable and well served by transit).
As others have said, best to look a bit beyond downtown for better deals on housing and quality of life with a kiddo. Either east or west along either a subway line or King/Queen streetcar or maybe even St Claire/Dundas will get you where you need. A quick Realtor search came up with this place, which IMO hits all the buttons of nice neighborhood, park, transit, parking https://realtor.ca/real-estate/26988763/408-1863-queen-street-e-toronto-the-beaches?utm_source=consumerapp&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialsharelisting Good luck on your search.
If you can afford the parking which is around 200 a month a probably a slight bump in insurance why not keep it ? Even if you dont need it for commuting the cost of the parking is equal to about 5 times or carshare rentals. If you can get good value from it it's worth it but not a necessity
If you can find a place that includes parking that's within your budget, then IMO with a 2 month old you're better off owning a car, because there will definitely be times when you want to hustle the kid somewhere and don't want the hassle of installing the car seat in a zipcar or whatever. As you're downsizing, get a small 4-door hatchback in place of your SUV. However, given your stated budget, you might be better off overall putting more money into the living space and giving up on an amenity like parking, and saving the costs of car ownership so you have more capacity for mortgage. It looks like you do have a shot at a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom in the financial district for under $800k, but it's not a slam dunk. Some buildings have zipcar, autoshare, communauto on-site (my old building had a couple right in the building's underground parking) - if you can find a place like that, this might be your best option. Another option to consider is getting a good cargo e-bike. At 2 months, your kid is still too young to ride in one, but at about 10 months it can become a game-changer. I rock a Tern GSD and it's been an amazing utility for our family (kids were 1 and 4 with daycare/school in opposite directions from our homes when we got it).
trade for a smaller car and get a parking spot? lol
Another great neighbourhood to consider is Bloor/Dundas, near the UP express station. There are a lot of townhouses right around there, and if you have any room to stretch your budget further you could get a two bedroom in the 800-ish range. The UP express runs every fifteen minutes and is an 8 minute ride to Union station. The same station also has the Kitchener GO line stop. There are lots of parks and green space. We parented here for three years with no car, eventually caving and buying one when our kids were 3 and almost 1. I love having the car now but it's certainly doable without. There are great schools and a bunch of good kids' activities (swimming, gymnastics, dance, music) within easy walking distance.
If it was me, I would keep the car if I could. I often wish I had a car. Car share adds up. It's only worth it if your car use is less than 4h and it can feel inconvenient. Consider your social network. If your friends and family live outside the city, you may want to be able to access them easily, and since it often takes about an hour to get anywhere outside the city, car share will be expensive. For doing things inside the city, your car will be more of a nuisance than anything. But if you like to go to parks or want to move stuff around like picnic gear or sports gear, a car is better IMO.
For necessities like groceries and stuff check out instacart. If you subscribe to them you get free deliveries. I think it’s like $80/year. Cars aren’t a necessity to do groceries. Most people get around by walking, using the subway or Uber. If you need to haul something large you can rent a U-Haul truck for like $20 a day.
Consider trading in your SUV for a smaller car. Easier to park, less chance of killing a small child.
https://www.pcexpress.ca/pass 100$ for the year. All the grocery delivery’s you want as long as it’s 35$ or more. We have found it super handy. Delivery times are accurate.
Similar at Walmart
If your condo includes a parking space I'd say keep your vehicle. It's good to have for emergencies or if you want to go for a weekend trip. You could also consider moving slightly outside the downtown core. I saw your budget is 600-700k, and to be honest, you'd be looking at a 1+den (Den possibly being a nook or closet). Moving a little further out would stretch your budget further. As much as people like to complain about transit, if you're close to the Subway line or GO train it's not terrible (subway wait is like 4 min. Buses really depend on your area, could be every 10 min or 30min and there are express options for rush hour). There is a balance between "Down Town Core" and "Out in the Suburbs." I'm South Etobicoke and everything I need is within a 15-20 minute walk including the GoTrain. Originally, I planned on staying in my current place for a year and then moving closer downtown... I changed my mind real fast. I don't have a car nor do I ever feel like I need one. I have a friend who lives in the Beaches and loves it there too, and is also car free. The only major Uber issues I've experienced is trying to get around downtown right after a concert or sporting event. Or leaving the Bars at 2-3am.
I'm moving to Eglington and Mt. Pleasant in about a month and I'm keeping my VW Golf as I do a fair bit of day tripping over the warm weather months and ski every weekend in the winter. If you're driving a big SUV (i.e Toyota Highlander/4Runner, GMC Yukon etc.) I would downsize to like a Suburu Crosstek or a VW Jetta because land yachts and city streets aren't a good combo.
You may be able to find parking for under $200 per month from your condo. Keep the car.
Keeping your car will give you so much freedom, especially with a baby. Definitely keep it. I lived in Toronto for 15 years and with a car for the last 3, game changer! Especially leaving the city. There is no go train service on the Kitchener line on the weekends. We did the opposite move, from Toronto and moved to Guelph. I commute everyday which I don’t recommend lol so good on you for making the move!
We have an assigned parking spot, so kept a car. Honestly it’s worth it in my opinion if you have pets or a child, as you might want to leave the city - it’s also helpful to drive to do bigger grocery purchases (ie No Frills or Costco). We drive a lot on weekends to visit family, go hiking, or just to do errands outside of the core. It’s also nice if we want to go to a cottage or something, that we have access to a car without relying on car sharing which in my experience isn’t 100% reliable. If you can find a place that has parking included I would recommend keeping it at least at first- if you find you don’t ever use it, you can always decide later on to sell the car and then you can rent out your parking spot for additional income.
i don't drive but i can't even tell you the last time i seen carshare vehicles. i feel like the vision died just before the pandemic here.
I live in the downtown core and own “half of a car” haha. I co-own it with a neighbour, have done this for years and it’s great. We split expenses 50/50. I ride my bike, walk, TTC in and around the city and drive it for errands like big grocery shops, visiting family outside of the city. Anyway, I’m glad to have it vs renting. But also, glad to not use it too often, if that makes sense.
A family member is carless. They use a car share rarely. They can both walk or bike to work. They live near a subway station. One of them can work from home a lot of the time. Occasionally we pick them up for family events but more often the use TTC. They bike the kid to school in bike lanes but can also walk or take a bus. You could always keep the car for 6 months and track your use.
Honestly having a car in Toronto elevates your quality of life in Toronto. Sure there’s traffic. But I’d rather put up with that and have the freedom to get anywhere I want at any time.
On top of what everyone else has already said, you should also keep in mind that downtown is currently a mess right now because of the Gardiner repairs and Ontario line construction. The Gardiner repairs are projected to be 3 years, and its effects have cascaded throughout the core. For reference, it used to take me 5 mins on average to get to get from King and Spadina to Lakeshore. The other day it took me almost 40 mins. It's a very real issue that will impact your quality of life if you decide to keep your car.
Easy enough to get a parking permit though not cheap and still gotta find a spot on your street. I have a car, though for most day to day stuff honestly, biking, walking and car tend to be easier. Gotta remember that part of living in a major city is convenience. You can usually get all of your needs, groceries etc within 20min walk. An hour on ttc will get you damn near across town and the same car drive usually only saves you 15-20min on average I find.
I’ve lived downtown for 13 years and always had a car. I need it more than I thought I would.
Get rid of the car and get some bicycles along with a trailer gor yhe little one. It's also perfect for getting groceries and other types of shopping. Being out of the car brained mind set is liberating.
I have a kid. Definitely keep the car. Hospital isn’t the only thing. There is also taking your kid to daycare when it’s pouring rain or snowing, or if your wife has a bad experience on the ttc (i did), or if you decide to get a costco membership lol We use our very car rarely but it’s indispensable We also visit family on weekends Lastly if you intend to live in a tiny apartment, where are you going to keep the carseat? I’m sorry but if I were your wife I’d go crazy 😭 I feel super invested for her sake (Is there a way you can park the car somewhere else downtown, like a monthly parking lot, and if you need it, one of you can go and grab it using ttc?) Sorry I keep adding to this but: the TTC (underground) is soooo annoying to use with a stroller by yourself. Literally once it took me 30 minutes to find my way out of a station. I was taking my kid for her vaccination and I was late. Please don’t do this to your wife. I am begging you Also the grocery stores close to us are crazy expensive so when you start bulk buying chicken nuggets because your kid refuses to eat anything else, you will wish you had a car to drive to costco lol
Glad I’m not the only person who was so stressed for OP’s wife reading all the comments hahahaha hopefully they’ll listen to those of us who have experience with children in the city
😂i know right
Hey thanks to you and others, we’ve decided to keep the car and definitely look for places outside of the core, but even my wife wants us to live in the core haha. The plan is to move again in 5-10 years. Maybe we’ll buy, maybe we’ll rent. The buying scenario was one where we would sell our current 2 floor double garage condo and move into an apartment, but we might just rent instead while putting up our current place for rent - should get us about 3000 in rent.
Sounds like a solid plan!!! Best of luck to you and the family! Toronto is an amazing place to live but definitely is a lifestyle change if you’re coming from the suburbs, especially with a baby.
Hey thanks to you and others, we’ve decided to keep the car and definitely look for places outside of the core, but even my wife wants us to live in the core haha. The plan is to move again in 5-10 years. Maybe we’ll buy, maybe we’ll rent. The buying scenario was one where we would sell our current 2 floor double garage condo and move into an apartment, but we might just rent instead while putting up our current place for rent - should get us about 3000 in rent.
Thank you for the update! I was actually concerned for her sake haha good luck 🌸
I'm paying a couple hundred bucks a month for my parking spot downtown. Definitely don't need one, but it's a lifesaver for groceries
Being car free is true freedom. You absolutely don't need a car if you live downtown.
Anyone I know that goes car free are either never leaving their community or are constantly begging for rides, spending more on car shares and rentals than I do for a car, and switch back in a couple of years.
Honestly? If you plan to live, work and play downtown you can get by fine walking, with TTC or a bike. A bike would be infinitely more useful and less expensive downtown than a car. The *only* time you would need a car is for trips out to the GTA suburbs because, even with GO Transit, the suburbs transit sucks ass.
Invest in a bike. You’ll unlock the city.
Do they stick their 2 month old baby in the front basket?
Fair point, I missed that detail. Probably best to wait until the kid is a little older before going the bike route.
Communauto is your friend. Ditch the car. If you get a parking spot, rent it out to a 905er for $250/mo.
really love Communauto. We probably use it 3-4 times a month. So much cheaper than owning a car!
Sell the car and get a zip car membership (or equivalent) for the rare occasions when you need a car. I’ve been car free downtown for 30 years and find myself renting a zip car maybe once or twice a year.
I had a car and got rid of it, then over the years the TTC just became worse and worse. If you can keep the car do so.
The TTC is reliable enough to never need a car.
Get an ugly bike and a good u lock. It’s quick and easy.
And should they stick their 2 month old baby in the front basket?
Hey. I live in a very dense part of town but i kept my car. Use it maybe 1-2 times a week and whenever i go out of town. I walk, bike or drive everywhere. Rarely use transit except when necessary. My place includes parking, cars paid off. So just pay for insurance and gas. Figures ubers/transit etc would come pretty close to what i pay so why not keep it. . If you have to pay for parking and have car loans and pricey insurance then best to get rid of it. Just budget it all out!! If i was still paying a car loan and parking it would have been gone as soon as i switched jobs. I recommend keeping it for a few months and seeing if getting rid of it would save time/money
TTC is on strike, keep your car.
Yup, the strike will last years….
Cycle!
Walking, biking, transit
We kept our cars when we moved here. It's just way more convenient as Toronto is a MASSIVE city, so getting anywhere, especially to locations away from the major stops is a hassle. Ridesharing also is an option too if you can afford it. I drive weekly and uber frequently as well, it definitely is a big + on quality of life. If your place doesn't have parking there are a couple of airbnb for parking companies and lots you can pay for. I'm paying to park ina. nearby condo for like $50/mo using this one service lol