Connor C

I've lived in Croydon for 2 years. The options for food and general shopping is actually pretty good, you have Croydon Central, Civic Square, Chirnside and Eastland all very close (though Chirnside is not so PTV friendly). In terms of going out at night, not great, there is one bar of note that does custom Vodka Flavours (low alcohol but tastes nice). During the day though, there is a decent selection of Cafes and other places to grab lunch.

PTV is good in the sense that Croydon is a main stop on the Lilydale line so every train stops there. However, for people heading to the CBD it does take 40-50 minutes. For students (further ed) you have Swinburne Croydon Campus which offers TAFE courses, as for going out, again if you want the CBD it takes a while.

Overall, I would say Croydon has good food, decent shopping options, poor nightlife and is most beneficial to those who drive. I should also mention there is a lot of green which may be appealing, though the crime rate is actually kind of high compared to many suburbs closer to the city.

Mitcham is a pretty safe place, I lived there for a year in 2019 and can confirm that I never felt unsafe while walking to and from the station at night or in the early hours of the morning. It is a bit lacking in things to do and shops, though its close proximity to Eastland, Forrest hill chase and Nunawading does make up for this. In terms of PTV Mitcham is a primary station and is rarely skipped, you also get the Lilydale and Belgrave trains.