Location Transport

Which areas of Melbourne are reasonably cheap to rent but decent and close to public transport?

My husband and I moved to Melbourne in June and we have a 1 yr lease on a one bedroom apartment on the cusp of Melbourne/South Yarra/Prahran. It's okay living here but we get seriously ripped off with our rent and we need to minimize our outgoing expenses but increase the size of our place! My husband works in the CBD and I am studying at ACU on Victoria Pde (so links to Central, Flinders St or Parliament Station are all okay). We don't mind moving out a bit, but we MUST have good transport links as we don't have a car and can't afford to buy one. Zone 2 is okay if the housing is cheap enough! We are 27 and 31, so ideally we don't want to live in an area with only retirees, but as I spend quite a bit of time alone and we are also looking to start a family the new area we move to must be safe. Any information you can give would be really appreciated - we've got until June to find a new place so for now we're just looking around at the different areas and trying to get a 'feel' for them. If you need more info let me know and I'll edit my question.

Public Comments

1. Footscray is pretty cheap and close. But very dangerous...
2. Fitzroy FTW
3. Both of there answers are good,.....if you want to get your face smashed in. Go along the belgrave / lilydale line on the map and search the close to city ones. there nice suburbs. richmond will be pricey though so avoid that.
4. I'll just give you general knowledge about Melbourne suburbs. -West is developing (just starting), dodgy and some places are dangerous at night, low to middle income people. Tons of Asian. -North is multicultural, less dodgy than west and safer, also low to middle income people, and more developed than west. Mix of Asian; Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, and many more. -South/South-East is magnificent place because they have easier access to the beach and peaceful suburb, already have good facilities, services and development, mostly white people and only certain suburb consist of Asian, for middle to high income family. -East is the highest among highest. this is where the richest and the best family stay with best development, facilities and shopping malls and best community. Mostly white people as well and only one or two suburb consist lots of Asian. -City is pretty much high up but you can only find apartment instead of townhouse, or landhouse. Rent is depend on which suburb and which street you pick. i believe you got the price difference as well based on the suburb location (west, east, city or sometimes else). There are also two zone in Melbourne; zone 1 and zone 2. it need different ticket to travel except during weekend and only by using weekend ticket. but soon the ticket will be change to myki. Zone 1 is practically near city and zone 2 is the one further away. zone 1 will be more expensive than zone 2. zone 1 will be more develop than zone 2. zone 1's land will be smaller than zone 2's land. and so on, you will figure those out.