can you get around in Seattle without a car? (Vancouver: apartment, rental)

[cheerchix]

Hi,

thinking of moving back to the westcoast, but have been living in NY without a car for quite a while. Can i get around easily on public transit? The potential job would be in Sea tac, is this doable? What neighborhoods should we look at for easy commute to work and the city? What good neighborhoods are close to the new light rail that just went up? Lots of questions. Any answers would be nice

[Molly 56]

This was my dream before I came here. I lived in Texas where public transit is mostly a joke (or worse) and I wanted to do without my car. Seattle has a great transit system compared to most places, and you will get better advice from others on this forum, but I had to give up the dream and keep the car as my job ended up to be in Bellevue. I used the buses a lot when interviewing and job searching, and I would say that the way to make it work over the long term has got to be that you live on a route that allows you to commute back and forth with almost no transfers. You lose a LOT of time with transfers unless you're lucky. Also, I don't think I could be happy for long without the express routes, so I would be sure to be close to one of those. Light rail wasn't in yet, but I have hope that in a few years I can maybe go back to the urban car-less life. Not yet, though, by a pretty long shot.

[oso_te_great]

Molly is right, you lose A LOT of time with transfers, and its not 24 hour

mass transit, even for the west coast, is a joke in Seattle, it does an ok job of getting you downtown, and just that.

[eskercurve]

I would agree that you have to live in the city proper or live near a bus line to get you where you're going.

Another option would be the light rail link. Ther eis a light rail line which, last I checked, is due to open in a couple days. It starts downtown and goes through the south end of the city to the airport. Will your job be near the airport?

If you plan carefully you can do it, even to Seatac. My wife did it for about a year before she met me.

[cheerchix]

So it looks like we should seek out neighborhoods along the light rail line, I feel the light rail would be faster and more efficient than trying to get around solely by bus. Does anyone know how the bus commute would be from the Tukwila stop to seatac (The Hilton seatac to be exact)? Is there a bus connection at the tukwila stop that will take you straight to the airport? Our commute right now is 45 min - 1 hr here in NY so anything around that is fine with us.
What neighborhoods along the light rail line are nice? We are looking to rent a 2 bedroom for about $1000/month. We have a toddler so clean, safe and family friendly is important to us. Any ideas???

[LookinForMayberry]

Hmmm, before you make that move.... you may want to visit the areas, because you are not really getting the "Seattle experience" when you are living in the area south of downtown, especially on the way or near Sea-Tac.

We lived in North Seattle for ten years and managed with only one car (for groceries, out of town visits, etc) for a few years. I worked AND went to school full time, but I lived within 1.5 miles of both work and school, albeit in opposing directions. While the downtown access is the most frequent and numerous, it also has the most interesting people, and if you are sensitive about sitting next to someone that smells bad, or is mentally unsound (for whatever reason), you may want to avoid the Metro transit. Community Transit is usually cleaner, more elbow room, etc.

Seattle is not ONE city, it is MANY neighborhoods -- ALL very distinct from one another. We started in Fremont, then moved to Westlake after six years, and on to the U-District for two more, before moving out to Kenmore. Every neighborhood has good and not so good qualities, and you really need to go there and see what YOU like, according to your personal experiences.

Still, if you want to play around with "what if" planning from where you are, try using their Trip Planner. You will want a Seattle Metro Map to play with it, but it is a very useful tool, and will include the wait times involved, regardless of whether you take the bus, ferry, or rail -- or all three.

Best wishes!

[cheerchix]

Yeah unfortunately we don't have the luxury of taking our time with this potential move, and given the lifestyle or lack thereof we have in NY like paying $1700 a month for a roach infested apartment, we kind of feel anything would be better at this point and we are just trying to find a way back home to be honest. So it's hard to pass up this opportunity.

It's not going to be a total shocker for us either way b/c my husband used to live in Seattle and i'm from Vancouver and visited there all the time so we're pretty familiar with the area more or less. We will only be living in or around the seatac area for the first 6 months, enough time to buy a car and then we know what areas what want to live in from there. So South Seattle as undesirable as it is just kind of a starting point for us.

As for mass transit, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. The subway system in NY isn't exactly the cleanest place, and you see crazies every morning on your way to work i'm kind of used to it by now...no biggie.

Easy commute to the new Tukwila light rail station is the goal, since from there there is a free shuttle that takes you to Seatac every 10 min. The trip planner you suggested is going to be very helpful thank you, I'll give me a better idea of life in Seattle without a car.

[angeeellis]

Originally Posted by cheerchix

Yeah unfortunately we don't have the luxury of taking our time with this potential move, and given the lifestyle or lack thereof we have in NY like paying $1700 a month for a roach infested apartment, we kind of feel anything would be better at this point and we are just trying to find a way back home to be honest. So it's hard to pass up this opportunity.

It's not going to be a total shocker for us either way b/c my husband used to live in Seattle and i'm from Vancouver and visited there all the time so we're pretty familiar with the area more or less. We will only be living in or around the seatac area for the first 6 months, enough time to buy a car and then we know what areas what want to live in from there. So South Seattle as undesirable as it is just kind of a starting point for us.

As for mass transit, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. The subway system in NY isn't exactly the cleanest place, and you see crazies every morning on your way to work i'm kind of used to it by now...no biggie.

Easy commute to the new Tukwila light rail station is the goal, since from there there is a free shuttle that takes you to Seatac every 10 min. The trip planner you suggested is going to be very helpful thank you, I'll give me a better idea of life in Seattle without a car.

The official start for the new light rail is Saturday, July 18th! Should be good...

[argo69]

The convenience of living without a car in Seattle will really be dependent on the proximity of your workplace to your residence. I have been living sans vehicle for almost five years now but I live on Capitol Hill and work downtown (15 min bus ride). As soon as bus transfers are involved it all becomes a tedious, long, rather unworkable prospect for a daily commute. Portland has much better public transit (it's all buses in Seattle, many without a/c) while Seattle waits for our long delayed light rail to be up and running. Just choose a residence close to work and you'll be ok.

[Ira500]

I'm going to suggest North Beacon Hill. Close enough to downtown, has a major light rail station, is an interesting area with some cool old buildings, and convenient to other neighborhoods....Another good area to consider would be Columbia City...The light rail station is on Martin Luther King Way, within walking distance of the heart of Columbia City, and Columbia City has emerged as a vibrant, fun neighborhood with great restaurants, a great bakery, and one of the city's better farmer's markets.