commuting from olympia to seattle, unrealistic? (Tacoma, Kent: sales, apartment, for rent)

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by Haakon

Wonderful public transportation?? What a joke. The nearest bus stop to my house is over 7 miles away. It takes the bus over 90 minutes to get from there to Bellevue, 2 hours to get to Seattle.

Most people don't use public transportation because they have better things to do with their time than sit on a bus for twice as long as it takes to drive. The bus works great for the people in Seattle but not for the millions of people who don't live there and have absolutely no desire to live there.

Exactly my point! Thank you!

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by Haakon

Wonderful public transportation?? What a joke. The nearest bus stop to my house is over 7 miles away. It takes the bus over 90 minutes to get from there to Bellevue, 2 hours to get to Seattle.

Most people don't use public transportation because they have better things to do with their time than sit on a bus for twice as long as it takes to drive. The bus works great for the people in Seattle but not for the millions of people who don't live there and have absolutely no desire to live there.

We're pulling this thread off-topic but I disagree. I truly believe that Metro is doing a good job. A bus system can't be perfect but Metro is trying its best. They can't put a bus route within walking distance to everybody's house who lives in the county. Suburban service is good --VERY good in some areas; look at Issaquah or Eastgate--, however, the use of the Park and Rides is the way to go ...or use kiss and ride at the P&Rs.

I'm listening to Don and Ron right now on KIRO radio on the internet and they're discussing this issue right at the moment (3:15 PDT).

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by I ♥ the PNW

Commuting from Olympia to Fort Lewis should be doable, thoughts?

I'm assuming since no one has brought it up, that there is not an Amtrak route between Olympia & Seattle that would accomodate a commuter working a typical 8/9-5 schedule? Then again, I don't imagine it is going to stop anywhere near the VA hospital either??

Olympia to Ft Lewis is doable. I work near the Ft, and we have several people who commute from Olympia and even a bit farther south. Sometimes traffic bottlenecks near nisqually exit and the Ft Lewis exit, but your commute will be much more doable and the flow of traffic is less dense and more consistent than it would be from Seattle to Olympia. I used to commute from Seattle to Ft Lewis so I know! 30 minute commute would be average from Oly to the Ft. The only real problem is Fridays going southbound the traffic is backed up until you get maybe 5 or so miles south of the Ft.

Your money for housing will go farther in Oly and 200k would be doable. Plus they have great Farmers Markets there. PM me if you have any other questions.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by Haakon

MN drivers seem less easily distracted than Wa drivers, a pop can on the side of the road is enough to slow traffic down out here.

Yes, Washington drivers go slow for any reason. Rain seems to especially slow traffic which is funny because it rains here all the time. Cop cars sitting on the side of the road really slow traffic (like to 45 in a 60 zone) which is funny because there's no way you can speed when traffic is going 45 so they don't catch anyone when they do that.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by I ♥ the PNW

Commuting from Olympia to Fort Lewis should be doable, thoughts?

I'm assuming since no one has brought it up, that there is not an Amtrak route between Olympia & Seattle that would accomodate a commuter working a typical 8/9-5 schedule? Then again, I don't imagine it is going to stop anywhere near the VA hospital either??

OK, enough of trying to figure out how to make Olympia to Seattle work! It's not reasonable....

There is a commuter train that runs from someplace in Tacoma (I think) to downtown Seattle. My wife takes it when I have the car (we only have one car). It works but takes 90 minutes from the time we leave the house (to drop her off at the station) until she walks in the door at work. She takes a bus from downtown Seattle to the VA on Beacon Hill.

Realistically, you'll need to plan on living around South Seattle/Burien/Federal Way/Kent/Auburn/Renton to work at the VA and have a reasonable commute.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by allforcats

FARMER'S MARKETS:
I just want to address this in the bit of time I have right now, because it's clearly important to you.

Pike Place Market is open daily and is for people who work in downtown Seattle to buy things before they go home, for anyone around the region who wants to shop there on weekends, and for tourists. It's hard to drive to, it's hard to park in downtown and expensive, and it's crowded and potentially a good place for pickpockets because there are so many distracted tourists there.

Despite being hard to drive to, and despite the parking issues the Pike Place Market is one of our treasures.

Don't let the parking, or other potential issues keep you from the Pike Place Market, it is in my opinion the very soul of Seattle.

[I ♥ the PNW]

Originally Posted by lgmagone

Realistically, you'll need to plan on living around South Seattle/Burien/Federal Way/Kent/Auburn/Renton to work at the VA and have a reasonable commute.

Well, based on what your telling me...we need to live in King County to work at the VA in Seattle, but you also stated that $200k would not buy us a decent house in that area, so that pretty much rules out that option. There is always the Olympia-Fort Lewis employment option.

Although, I'm not ruling out living further south than you are suggesting until we actually drive it in October, no offense to you in any way. Have you actually drove from Olympia to Seattle during rush hour? I know there are people that do it, I have run across it on other forums. I need to hear an opinion directly from someone actually experiencing it. If it truly is 2-3 hours, it will definitely NOT be an option!

I'm pretty discouraged at this point with the commute times, I might have to start looking into Portland, OR suburbs and post to that forum for commute times to the Portland VA... We truly want to live around the Puget Sound though, time will tell... Thanks again!

[hotshawt]

My sister drives from Seattle to Olympia daily, and it takes her an 45 minutes to an hour. She goes against the traffic. Double that on a worst case scenario if you are going from Olympia to Seattle.

[I ♥ the PNW]

how early would you have to leave in the am to avoid "rush hour" traffic on I-5?

[MaikeerinWA]

I've been seeing a lot of billboards around town for Polygon Homes in Auburn, "from the 200s."

Looking at the company's website, they just satisfy that claim - $299,990.

Polygon - Madera at Lakeland (http://www.polygonhomes.com/polygon/communities/ThisSeries.aspx?Series=ResidenceB41&Community=Made raatLakeland7 - broken link)