Quote:
Originally Posted by MonctonRad
Amsterdam is great, but not everyone wants to live in a small apartment on the sixth floor of a six storey walk-up.
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I visited friends who lived in the suburbs of Amsterdam and their place was basically identical to what you'd get in metro Vancouver. It was connected to the core by a highway and commuter rail which took maybe 20 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal.
I think Amsterdam's transportation (road + highway + ferry + bike + tram + metro + commuter rail) is just better than what we have in any city in Canada, and they have a lot more housing options than what you find in the older parts of town. They also have much higher quality public housing than we do. And Amsterdam is a global city with rich investment buyers; there are other cities like Utrecht or Rotterdam that might be a bit easier housing-wise (and are super easy to get to from Amsterdam or vice versa; you do not say goodbye to your friends and family when you move to another town) although I am not sure.
Another phenomenon I experienced in Amsterdam was getting "caught" taking transit around rush hour but it was really pleasant and functional compared to Vancouver or Toronto. Maybe I was there on unusually quiet days or something. Could it be that they just have enough capacity that they're not at crush loads on normal days?