Considering job in Tualatin, Good Commute from Downtown Portland? (employment, to live in)

[sinfree]

Greetings,

I live in Huntsville, AL presently, but I am considering a job in the Portland area, and the office is located in Tualatin. However, I would really want to live in a very walkable area of town (for eating, shopping, entertainment), so I am particularly looking at the Pearl District. I am a 24-year-old Male, by the way.

1) My main question is, how bad is commuting south via car out of Portland during rush hours? Pretty much the entire drive would be 11 miles going south on I-5. How long would that take during a typical rush hour?

2) Also, there is a bus ride that is supposed to take around 20 minutes from Portland to Tualatin. Are the buses schedules reliable? Would you guys recommend taking the bus all the way down to Tualtin? I am interested in seeing if it would be reasonable to try to live up there without a car (I own a car now, I've just always thought it would be neat to live in an area that I could walk everywhere and take public transit).

Thanks for your time!

[Nell Plotts]

Whether or not taking the bus to your job is practical will depend on the location of your place of employment and your hours of work. A daily drive from the Portland city center to Tualatin, particularly with today's gasoline prices, would not be my preference. Goggle has a tool that shows nearby bus stops that includes TriMet Routes.

TriMet bus Route 96 operates from the city center.