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Everyone has different value in life, depending on what matters most to you.
For years, I lived downtown. My commute was anywhere from 5 - 15 mins walk, depending on my job at the time. I could socialize after work as much as I wanted without having to worry about driving/taxi, etc. On a rainy day I could take an EVO home for $5. Anything I could ever possibly want was walking distance. I swore I'd never give that up.
Now we live on the North Shore and we couldn't be happier.
She goes for walks in the evening on her own (something she'd NEVER do downtown).
We love our view of downtown (had no view before) from our balcony.
It has a smaller city feel. Today I wrote to the City about something and a very nice guy wrote back to me within the hour with a detailed reply! Whenever we've had to call the RCMP (once for a loud party and once for a B&E) they attended super quick and made sure we were taken care of. VPD would have given zero fucks.
Parking in the neighbourhood is free when we have visitors before covid.
ICBC insurance is less expensive.
Our Save on Foods is massive and way less stressful. Big parking lot and free parking wide spaces, lots of space inside too (used to shop at the Save on Foods on Cambie with underground pay parking, tight spaces and cramped aisles, getting in and out quick was never easy).
Yes the downside is when the bridge gets snarled, there is gridlock. Most days (before covid) I'll take the seabus to work. It's way less stressful than driving, I chill out with podcasts and watch videos on my phone. Then I connect to the rapid bus.
At some point we just aged out of downtown. We are happier now surrounded by other couples and young families, instead of before when it was mostly younger people spending most of their time going to bars and clubs, something we don't do much anymore.
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