New to the Seattle area. Help! Help! (Tacoma, Bellevue: apartments, condo)

[lexistone]

My job is relocating to Bellevue .
I am looking at a Condo in Central Seattle is this an area that is Black people friendly and well as lesbain and gay friendly?

[Ira500]

Depends on what part of the Central District, but for the most part, absolutely yes.
The Central District has is no longer as African-American as it used to be, but there are still plenty of black folk and gays and lesbians in the CD, as it's commonly known.

[j_k_k]

Anything on Capital Hill would also work fine. The bigger question for me would be bus route convenience. When I lived in apartments in Seattle, my whole strategy was based around proximity to bus lines: how early and late they ran, whether there were express buses to where I wanted to go, etc. It has been twelve years since I had to mess with that, but if it were me I would carefully study Sound Transit's bus schedules for your chosen area and pick someplace that had convenient, direct express buses to the part of Bellevue you'll be working in.

Park & Rides are also an option, but I remember the parking lots becoming very full unless you were a major early bird (as I was, working in the investment industry where the market opens at 6:30 AM Pacific time).

Black lesbian friendliness isn't much of an issue in most of Seattle. Letting that dictate your choices, causing you to burn an extra hour each day waiting for transfer buses when you could have located someplace convenient to an express bus that would zip you almost door to door, that would be a drag.

[lexistone]

Would you say that it is better to use public transportation then to Bellevue?

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by lexistone

Would you say that it is better to use public transportation then to Bellevue?

From where to Bellevue is the key.

Most locations on the west side of Lake Washington would require you to take one bus from that location to a transfer point, then transfer to another bus to get to Bellevue. In some cases it might then be necessary to transfer to a third bus to get to a specific address in Bellevue. If you were to locate near one of Sound Transit's stops in downtown Seattle, and get that bus to the Bellevue Transit Center, you would still have to transfer to a Metro bus to get you to a specific address in Bellevue.

Why not live in Bellevue? Or Redmond or Kirkland? Then you wouldn't spend a lot of your personal time just traveling. Unless you love to read -- then bus transit is great because you have comfortable, undistracted opportunity to read.

BTW, Sound Transit doesn't service more than a couple of avenues in the city of Seattle, Metro transit does.

[Ira500]

BTW, Sound Transit doesn't service the city of Seattle, Metro transit does.

Actually, lots of Sound Transit routes service the city of Seattle. They tend to be limited stop or express buses that go from one city to another...Amongst those routes that service Seattle..
510 from Everett to Seattle
522 from Woodinville to Seattle
535 from Lynnwood to Seattle
545 from Redmond to Seattle
550 from Bellevue to Seattle
590 from Tacoma to Seattle
595 from Gig Harbor to Seattle

soundtransit.org has more info

[allforcats]

"Sound Transit ... limited stops or express buses ... "

Exactly what I meant -- especially if the OP wants to live in the Central District, or even anywhere north or east of downtown, Sound Transit is not an option for much traveling around. The OP is asking about traveling to Bellevue, which means an extremely limited use of ST.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by allforcats

"Sound Transit ... limited stops or express buses ... "

Exactly what I meant -- especially if the OP wants to live in the Central District, or even anywhere north or east of downtown, Sound Transit is not an option for much traveling around. The OP is asking about traveling to Bellevue, which means an extremely limited use of ST.

Sorry. When I was living there it was Metro (King County mostly) and Community Transit (Snohomish County mostly). I thought that Metro was now Sound Transit. Erase and correct all my Sound Transit mentions with 'whatever bus outfit services that area.'

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by lexistone

Would you say that it is better to use public transportation then to Bellevue?

There is no way, no way in the world, that I would commute to Bellevue and back from Seattle in my own car during commute hours. And I felt that way at $1.50 a gallon, so imagine how I'd feel now. If your plan is to live in Seattle, the only reasons not to go by bus would be either odd work hours, or because you discover that the bus is just horrendously inconvenient to your work. Your home, you can control that by where you choose to locate, but your work is where it is.

I would first identify the bus routes that go as near as possible to your workplace, and then see where all they pick up, trying to get a one-bus ride that has local and express (in case you have to work late some night after the express buses are over). Armed with that information, you can tell if a given living area would be convenient for you. You do not want to have to transfer to a second bus if you can possibly help it. Bear in mind that most of this will be in the rain and dark in winter.

I misspoke on Sound Transit, as has been pointed out. I thought that's what Metro was called now. So replace 'Sound Transit' with 'bus lines' in general.

In general, you shouldn't find commuter buses too difficult or annoying. I can think of some parts of town I wouldn't be eager to bus in business attire (if your job requires it), simply because one stands out a lot, but Seattle to Bellevue isn't an issue that way. Sometimes you are standing room only and packed in like a sardine can, but I don't think people messing with one is very common. At worst, people step on your foot a lot without the civility to excuse themselves, and then when you call them on it, they seem to think you are the one being rude. For me that was the worst part, but that's a pretty minor worst part. Of course, women might have to deal with different issues on crowded buses than I did, but for the most part no one on the bus wants any interaction of any kind with anyone else on the bus. Bring a magazine. Dullest half hour you'll have all day.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

Sorry. When I was living there it was Metro (King County mostly) and Community Transit (Snohomish County mostly). I thought that Metro was now Sound Transit....

Hi JKK. Here's the deal:
Metro is the local and long-distance transit service in King County.
Community Transit is the same for Snohomish County.
Pierce Transit is the same for Pierce County.
And Sound Transit is a fourth, separate service which attempts to connect as many high-population areas from north Puget Sound to south Puget Sound as the money available will allow. Ira500's post above is the clearest, quickest explanation of Sound Transit; it's mostly long-distance service.
Make sense now?