Places about 40 minutes from Toronto
 

Hello,

Im about to move to Canada soon and ive got a job in Toronto, King street.

I dont really like the busy life of the city, rather a quiet place.

Looking around for an apartment or house to buy which is around 30-40 minuted. Any ideas where i can look at?

I've always lived in the centre of the city so I'm not that familiar with the suburbs but one thing you should know is that for a city this size we have a pretty poor (and very crowded) public transportation system. And it's very expensive to park downtown.

I suggest that you download a GO-Train (Government of Ontario's commuter train system) map and pick a few spots that are 30 to 40 minutes by train from downtown. If you're working on King Street (and your office is centrally located) you'll be able to walk to work from Union Station.

If you come back here with a few locations in mind, you might get a more specific sense of the locale. Also, it would help if we knew what kind of housing you want. House, apartment, condo? How big? Do you have a family? Do you know what your budget for lodging is? That sort of thing.

Good advice from GTG.
I worked in downtown Toronto for many years, and commuted in from Oshawa on the east side, and Burlington on the west, on the GO Train. I only had a few blocks to walk to work, in the bank towers. Both cities are 55-60 km from downtown.
Toronto rush hour traffic is pretty horrid, and I drove downtown only a couple times a year, when I needed a car. Rush hour lasts much longer than an hour, and it gets worse every year.
There are several GO lines going out of the city, with lots of towns and cities on the routes.
Generally speaking, the further you get from downtown, the cheaper the housing prices and rents, but the commuting costs ($$ and time) increase. Fairly typical, in most places, I assume.
So, check out those GO routes. Good luck!

Thanks goddesstogo / Kanunu. There will be only me and my husband. Would have preferred a house, but it seems quite impossible to find a house in these areas unless you are prepared to move further away from the city, like 2 hours.

With my budget, ill be able to afford only a condo or appartment.

Do you know the rush hour times, my office hours might be flexxible. So i can use it to my advantage for the rush hour traffic.

Ill definitely check the GO Train.

"As far as the TTC is concerned, the busiest time of the morning is between 8:15 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.. That's when all the available subway trains, streetcars, and buses are in service to meet the biggest spike in demand, says spokesman Brad Ross. Officially, the morning peak is from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., but those 45 minutes in the lead-up to 9:00 a.m. see the most crowding.

On the highways, the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway is most congested at the same time: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Mike Brady, the manager of the city's Traffic Safety Unit, says that's when vehicle speeds are slowest due to the sheer weight of traffic. The highest number of vehicles - not necessarily the worst delays - occurs weekday mornings on the Gardiner west of Kipling at the same time, he notes.

The afternoons are a little harder to navigate. The TTC says, based on observation, demand tops out between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., several hours after the highways are most congested from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.. The afternoon transit peak technically lasts from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., so perhaps it's a case of the roads cresting before public transport.

Conclusion: There are three distinct rush hours in Toronto. The first, between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., is when both highway speeds and transit crowding are worst. In the afternoon, the second rush between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. is when the DVP and Gardiner are slowest. The third rush, slightly later between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m., is when the TTC is most claustrophobic."

To this I'll add that construction of new condos and the new crosstown subway construction will slow traffic to a crawl much of the working day.

There's plenty of options that are 30-40 mins out of DT by GO Train/Bus. I live in Brampton and take the Train/Bus sometimes when I have to go downtown and that takes about 40 mins. My suggestion is to loo at places on the Kitchener line or Georgetown line to the west house prices over here are usually cheaper than they are on the East although Brampton is becoming a bit expensive.

Thanks Muskoka, thats really helpful. I can plan my travelling time to avoid these rush hours.

I guess its more efficient travelling by car then.

Thanks Shaquille, i will try searching in Kitchener today.

I just want to avoid ending up living in a condo/app.

Kitchner seems to be too far from Toronto!

I'll stick my neck out here but I don't think Shaquille was suggesting looking to live in Kitchener but that you look at the GO TRANSIT line called Kitchener.... many of its stops will be within your commute time.

What is your housing purchase price?