Work in Puyallup - live in ? (Seattle, Tacoma: apartments, rental, insurance)

[blacknotebooks]

Thanks Diana - I totally get what you mean by miles/cars variables and 1 accident = ruined day. That is almost a daily occurrence in the LA/Toronto areas. It's a way of life here unfortunately.

[Upthewazzu]

I'd highly recommend against it. I used to live in Puyallup and work at Seatac in 2005. It was not a fun commute, and it's only gotten worse since then because they refuse to expand 167.

[blacknotebooks]

Originally Posted by Upthewazzu

I'd highly recommend against it. I used to live in Puyallup and work at Seatac in 2005. It was not a fun commute, and it's only gotten worse since then because they refuse to expand 167.

True but my commute would be opposite of yours - work in Puyallup and live in south Seattle.

[SunAndRain808]

Originally Posted by blacknotebooks

I totally realized I sabotaged a different poster's thread so I'll start a new one.

The details:

- Currently live in LA, job offer is in Puyallup
!

If you will be working in Puyallup, I would recommend that you live in Puyallup.

You would be really nuts to live in downtown Seattle and having to commute from Seattle to Puyallup. That's a whooping 32-36 miles. I know because I live in Puyallup area right now, and visit my friends who live in downtown Seattle. On night time when there is not traffic, it takes me 40-50 minutes to get from Puyallup to Seattle.

Imagine how much MORE time you will be spending on the road when you make commutes in the morning and afternoon!


Other choice is to take the Sounder train. Don't ask me anything about public transportation here, because I too have recently moved to the Puget Sound area, and don't know anything about the Sounder or the bus system here.

Good luck with your move too!

[Ira500]

The commute between south Seattle/Columbia City/W Seattle junction would be long and unpleasant on a good day. if you're working in Puyallup, but want to live in a more hip urban setting, why not the Stadium District in Tacoma, or Hilltop/Old Town, etc within Tacoma's north end. Tacoma is much closer to Puyallup than Seattle, and is a really underrated place.

[Upthewazzu]

Originally Posted by blacknotebooks

True but my commute would be opposite of yours - work in Puyallup and live in south Seattle.

Unfortunately, the direction of travel doesn't really matter anymore.

[blacknotebooks]

I think I must be missing something if all you guys think this commute is crazy, haha.

Granted, it's not 5 pm yet, but I just plugged in the office address and a Columbia City apartment address and it's currently at 37 minutes (33 minutes without traffic). Distance wise alone, it's 28 miles.

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by blacknotebooks

I think I must be missing something if all you guys think this commute is crazy, haha.

Granted, it's not 5 pm yet, but I just plugged in the office address and a Columbia City apartment address and it's currently at 37 minutes (33 minutes without traffic). Distance wise alone, it's 28 miles.

I never find those drive times accurate in Seattle for sone reason, I can absolutely guarantee it'll take much longer than 37 minutes anytime during daylight hours 7 days a week

[blacknotebooks]

Update: I'm sitting in LA traffic right now and the commute is still 36-37 mins from the office to Columbia City according to Google Maps.

[drshang]

A year or 1.5 years ago, google maps was pretty inaccurate and would underestimate times. And it still does a lot in the city - it doesn't understand very well that you can literally spend 15 minutes at one intersection when you are in the downtown core area during rush hour. That's the main reason why so many people on here signaled the warning lights when you wanted to live on the other side of Mercer in a place like QA.

All that said, I will go against the grain and say google maps will be reasonably accurate for that route as is. Quite frankly, there isn't much traffic going in the reverse direction and there aren't going to be any intersections on that route that will have traffic lights backed up for several rotations.

By LA standards, that type of commute would be considered pretty standard, normal, typical, not a big deal. In general Seattleites will tell you that doing a long, reverse commute is a bad idea. And there will be weather events that spoils that time. But if you can handle a 50ish minute commute "LA style" I think you can handle that one without a huge deal.