Is Biking From West Seattle to Downtown Easy? (Prescott: 2013, apartments)

[WesleyPrescott]

So, I've been trying to familiarize myself with Seattle recently. I'm strongly considering it as my next destination to live and hopefully live for a long time. I'm estimating my budget for housing would be around $1,000 to 1,300 depending on the quality of the unit. I've been scouring the internet for studios and one bedroom apartments and I've found a couple properties in my price range located in West Seattle, just 6 miles from downtown.

Although I own a car, I am entirely uninterested in using it to commute to work, considering what I've been reading about parking fees. With that said, I'd like to ride my bike from West Seattle across the bridge into downtown. Is that ride particularly bike-friendly? If not, where would you suggest for this?

[Prince Mongo]

Yes.

[GuitarArt1980]

I tried this a couple of months ago on a weekend day and it went pretty well. My trip was actually from Ballard to West Seattle and back, and to my surprise, the West Seattle bridge was the easiest part of the trek. My only trepidation in trying this during rush hour commutes is near the viaduct construction. I can imagine that bottleneck of cars could be challenging. I think you can also bring your bike on the water taxi, which would make the ride much easier.

[WesleyPrescott]

@GuitarArt1980 Are there dedicated bike lanes on the bridge or do I have to test my luck not getting clipped? Also is the water taxi free?

[bingitslola]

Originally Posted by WesleyPrescott

So, I've been trying to familiarize myself with Seattle recently. I'm strongly considering it as my next destination to live and hopefully live for a long time. I'm estimating my budget for housing would be around $1,000 to 1,300 depending on the quality of the unit. I've been scouring the internet for studios and one bedroom apartments and I've found a couple properties in my price range located in West Seattle, just 6 miles from downtown.

Although I own a car, I am entirely uninterested in using it to commute to work, considering what I've been reading about parking fees. With that said, I'd like to ride my bike from West Seattle across the bridge into downtown. Is that ride particularly bike-friendly? If not, where would you suggest for this?

I think it depends on where you live in West Seattle. You have to keep in mind there are some extremely steep hills. I suppose after a few weeks you would get used to it. There is a C line rapid ride bus that comes every 15 minutes during peak times which will take you right downtown. You could possibly do a combination of the bus/bike to avoid parts of the commute.

[505HPC6Z06]

No.
Doable? yes.

[Hemlock140]

One of my employees lives in the Admiral area, and tried it for several weeks, about two years ago. He was arriving at a different time every day (Belltown) depending on traffic and trains. Then a bike commuter got killed by a truck and he decide to switch to the bus, and hasn't risked it since.


Update: Bicyclist killed in crash east of West Seattle low bridge

[west seattle gal]

The bike path is underneath the WS bridge, and the paths go straight into downtown. Lots of bike commuters do it.