NSW Sydney's Northern Beaches - commute to city?

Do people who live in Sydney's Northern Beaches commonly commute to the city for work?

I've looked at the Google estimate for public transport from Dee Why and it is about 1 hour to the city. I can't imagine many people are doing this.

Are people in the Northern Beaches generally people that work locally, or tradies who drive to work sites?

I am not from Sydney originally, so I am a bit clueless as to what people do and how far they are prepared to travel.

I currently own in Ultimo, but looking to rent the place out and rent myself further out, but I'm thinking the Northern Beaches is too far, since I work in the city.

 

Not the NB, but I know tons of people travelling 1.5h one way to work. They have cushy jobs and can only afford a house far from cbd (they want a house) , so they make the commute. That's 30 whole days a year spent going to work.

Personally I'd go insane travelling 3 hours a day to anywhere.

 

People on the northern beaches stay on the peninsula, I know plenty who never go to the city let alone past the spit bridge.

 

Yes people in Sydney commute 40minutes-2hrs to Sydney, some may even come from blue mountains and central coast.

but dee why/northern beaches not areas known for public transport, so most people dont live there to work in the city (or will move somewhere more public transport friendly)

 

Live on the northern beaches and a lot of people commute to the city. There are also express buses, with limited stops in peak hour……not just the B1. The lifestyle makes it worth the commute for some.

 

I haven't kept up-to-date but there's also the beaches tunnel, which is meant to be built in the next whatever many years. In a long enough time horizon, the commute will get shorter.

 

1hr is not that bad comparing to other good suburbs in the Upper North Shore, the Hills or the Shire. Plus, you can be productive on the public transport...

 

Wrong Bridge.

I work in Mona Vale .Two attitudes .

it’s known as the insular peninsular . Told a patient that I was sending them to someone in Dee Why and they replied “I don’t like going south of the bridge “ . I said , Dee why , not the city “ . Their response , no , the bridge at Narrabeen “ . Common attitude.

My daughter in the other hand didn’t want to buy in narrabeen because it was too far out but she’s not from the northern beaches .

The fast b line bus is good and lots of people DO commute to the City .

There are a lot of tradies who live on the northern beaches and work there and all over Sydney . My sons boss lives at freshie ( plumber ) . He’s successful , has a boat at spit marina , does work on the houses of international rock stars .

There’s quite a lot of successful business/ industries located on the northern beaches . Eg Blackmores. Marcus is the resident billionaire . My daughter has had two jobs where she commuted to the Mona vale area ( Marketing exec) .

In terms of which areas ?

More central and cheaper area . Frenches Forrest , Forestville. One of my sons mates ( tradie ) just bought a renovator special here . I think it would be a good place for my kids to buy . Northern beaches , easy access to north shore and drivable to city over the Roseville bridge.

Cromer , Narraweena , Beacon Hill , Dee why are the traditionally working class areas on the beaches .

People were a bit stunned around 10 years ago when one of our docs choose to buy in Narraweena .

Warriewood with all its new developments it not considered as nice( snob value..)

Northern Beaches has been one of the stand out performs in last few years , in particular post covid due to people wanting a commutable life style.

There is a proposal to build a tunnel bypassing the lower north shore , but ? Put on hold recently .

Lots of locals don’t want improved public transport as it would make it easier for “ riff raff “ to get in .

Cronulla had the riots , not palm beach….

cliff

 

According to the time table , the b line , Mona Vale to Wynyard is under an hour at peak time .

Has its own lane . Express versions. It’s well regarded locally

Cliff

 

Most southerners wouldn't realise there's a bridge at Narrabeen & I usually use the Roseville Bridge.

 

Fantastic write-up, Cliff.

What do you think of investing in a unit in the Northern Beaches?

 

we’ve had units in Mosman and Manly . All sold for a nice profit which we invested else where

I wouldn’t be buying anywhere is Sydney at the moment , but may well buy around there in a few years time .

We do think of downsizing to 1 Lauderdale in Manly at some stage .

Not about to buy at the moment , but will be watching that area over the next 5-10 years .

In the mean time we’ll be buying more in perth and that will ( IMHO ) go up before the northern beaches so we’ll have more to spend when we buy back in Sydney .

it’s all about timing the markets .

Cliff

 

I think an upgrade to wakehurst parkway was announced , but when it happens …

It floods with any of the big rain events such as sim deciding to build up a sweat and ride a bike along it .

walk around narrabeen very popular and north narrabeen is the only non US beach to rate a mention in a beach boys song .

cliff

 

A colleague live in Elanora Heights (not really close to any beaches TBH...), I've seen him in person twice in almost 2.5 years. Personally I've travelled to Blackmores office for work several times with another colleague who lives in upper north shore suburbs, he cursed the commute all the way (he was driving).

Lifestyle is good if you can get used to the beach environment (I do enjoy the view from heights but windy, sound of waves, humidity, corrosion - not for me, a 20 mins drive to beach for me).

The commute is bad, although there is "infrastructure upgrade" in progress. I was joking with him that all non-Northern Beach suburbs (north shore) are western suburbs to them lol.

Some of our friends actually considered moving to Northern Suburbs should their children got into NBSC (didn't, went to private schools...)

 

I would agree a lot of the locals would not think of living in Warriewood Valley, it is a newer development area with smaller lot sizes, town houses and apartments. It is called the valley by locals. People that do live there seem to love it, its just local snobbery as Cliff has said.

The older sections of Warriewood including Warriewood Beach, Turrimetta beach etc any of the streets walking distance to either beach are valued places to live. Same suburb, different values….

 

Dee Why was always considered entry level for suburbs on the beach . Had a bit of a stigma . ( some VERY nice places on the headland on the south side of the beach )

On the West side of Pittwater road was considered the undesirable area .

Cliff

 

Totally agree

 

Some nice properties are up for sale but I see it as requiring a lot of work. As a former resident of Killarney Heights and Forestville, peak time traffic in the morning on Warringah Road was a total nightmare.

 

I commuted every day in to the CBD for 2 years from Dee Why. I didn't mind it, the BLine is a really comfy bus, comes every 4 minutes and I just worked on the bus

Commuting from Allambie Heights going forward which saves an extra 15 minutes which is nice

For me, coming from Bondi and Coogee, the commute is very much worth it