Oshawa is a small city to the East of Toronto. It is part of "Durham Region", which includes: Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa.
Transportation from Oshawa to Toronto is a disadvantage, especially if you rely on public transportation, as I do. I had to take a bus from Oshawa to Ajax, which took one hour, and then a train from Ajax to Toronto. Going back to Oshawa was the same issue. Walking back to catch the train from Toronto's Union Station, then to catch the bus that goes from Ajax to Oshawa - UOIT / Durham College.
Although Go Transit increased the number of Lakeshore East trains to every half an hour from Union Station to Oshawa, Durham Region Transit reduced or even cut the buses from Oshawa Go Station to University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Durham College. Durham Region Transit mainly doesn't not want to serve Oshawa Go Station. A lot of people who live in Oshawa and commute to Toronto, have their cars parked at Oshawa Go Station. This would be an easy solution, if you can get a car. (Car insurance would be $300, gas would cost $280 on average in Ontario, car maintenance, cost of the car...).
On the weekend the buses in Oshawa are only every hour. If you miss one, you have to wait another hour.
Go Transit's iphone application is a good one. However, Durham Region Transit doesn't have a good iphone application for the bus schedules. So you need to find the bus schedule that you find online or in the DRT book, with the Go Schedule.
Sometimes a bus would reach the Go station after the train leaves, so you'd have to wait for the next train. The same issue is when coming back from Toronto to Ajax.
I think there needs to be more coordination between Durham Region Transit and Go Transit.
Durham Region Transit routes do not appear on Google Maps. So you can't really find which buses to take within Durham Region when searching on Google Maps, unlike Go Transit.
There is a bus from Mississauga / Square One to York University, then another bus from York University to University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). This is pretty convenient if you are going to Mississauga. But it doesn't go to Toronto.
As there are a lot of students in Oshawa, you can find a room in a shared house with other students. This would be cheaper than getting a condo in Toronto, if you were living in Toronto.
Some people live in Oshawa and commute to Toronto. The houses are cheapter there. There are houses for around $325,000. However, this would be the price of one room in Toronto.
General Motors has operations in Oshawa. It closed part of its operation in 2012, and 2000 people were laid off. In October 2013, General Motors decided to delay closure of its Oshawa assembly plant till 2016. http://globalnews.ca/news/908287/gm-delays-closure-of-oshawa-assembly-line/
I lived in Oshawa as I worked at UOIT for 15 months. I stayed in Oshawa for several months after my contract ended. I decided to move out of it, because of limited transportation to/ from Toronto.
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