Can someone tell me about the traffic situation in this area and...

[figmalt]

I live in Hillsboro near the airport, and I can get to St. V's in about 15 minutes without any traffic on 26. I can get into PSU in about 25 minutes without traffic. Friday night and weekends shouldn't be too bad. The worst times are 7:00am - 9:00am, and 3:30-6:30 weekdays.

[philwithbeard]

Melissa:

Just a small point: Portland has one of the best Mass Transportation systems in the country. It really is great. There are many in your situation where just the working person uses the car and the student rides the light rail MAX line or the buss into Portland center.
TriMet: Public Transportation for the Portland, Oregon, Metro Area
There is almost no parking downtown, and what there is, is $$$.
Be sure to check out Student discount fares for TriMet.

Also, you should forget about the social / economic / cultural / racial stratification that is so common in the Mid-West with central cities and their suburbs. Portland ain't like that. Yes, there are suburbs, but living within the city limits is not the social / cultural put-down like so many large cities in the Mid-West that I am familiar with. My goal is to live with using only one tank of gas per month so I can use my car just to go shopping on the weekends. Many household don't even own a car in Portland. The Mass transit is that good. BTW: Portland city itself is very Liberal; Very Liberal. and it has almost no mosquitoes.

Just some other tid-bits of information.

[malachai23]

Hi Melissa, Have you checked out the hospital in Silverton? It is fairly new and quite large (for being in such a small town/rural area anyhow). I think it has also won some awards. I'm sorry I don't know that much about it but I know people who have worked there and really enjoyed working there. They lived in Salem and commuted. Your commute wouldn't be much more than 15 minutes from the easten edges of Keizer or Salem, more like a 1/2 hour if you lived further into town. Or you could live in Silverton (a really nice town!) and your SO could commute to Chemeketa CC - that would only be about a 20 min. drive.

[figmalt]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

Be sure to check out Student discount fares for TriMet.

It isn't much of a discount for students. You have to pay $175 per term, which is 12 weeks long.

One good thing about working at St. Vincent's is it would be very close to the Sunset Transit center for going into downtown (i.e. PSU). Otherwise, if you live anywhere around St. Vincent's, it probably wouldn't make much sense to use mass transit, especially if your goal is to cut commute time. The buses don't run as often on the lines outside of Portland.

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by figmalt

It isn't much of a discount for students. You have to pay $175 per term, which is 12 weeks long. .

Dang, I only noticed the TriMet fare page had me paying $86.00 per month and "students" paying only $26.00 per month. From you comment, I went down to the fine print to read that discount only applies to high school students. I thought all college students got that $26.00 fare also. 12 weeks is just under 3 months. And 86 times 3 is 258.00, So, college students are getting something like 30% discount off a full all zone adult pass. (70% of 258 = 180 w/ fudge factor for less than full 3 months.... call it $175 for 12 weeks.)