Relocating from NJ (Seattle, Bellevue, Vashon: apartment complex, renting, Home Depot)

[NJ908]

I'm relocating to Seattle area for work and will be renting a place in West Seattle called West Ridge Park (7901 Delridge Way S.W.)

I would like to know what the commute is like to downtown Seattle (3rd Ave & Madison Street) by bus. 8-5 job so it will be during rush hour. Can you also tell me exactly how you would get there? How about driving? Do you advise not to? What's monthly parking cost like in these area?

Also if you have any comments about the apartment complex or area in general, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

[allforcats]

Driving from West Seattle to downtown Seattle in the rush hour (and back again) is sometimes (often?) a semi-nightmare because there are so many cars, trucks and busses doing the same thing. Also, to park your car in a downtown building garage (most parking lots are underground) all day five days a week from 7:30AM to 6PM (standard hours of the buildings' day rates) will cost you a minimum of $150 per month, probably more. Add that to the increasing cost of gas.... Outdoor parking lots will be a few dollars cheaper, but they're east and north of the center of downtown, and you'd have to take a bus or walk from them to your office.

The fabulous bus system will take you anywhere downtown you want, within one block. The system is called Metro. This is their home page:
Metro Online Home Page (http://transit.metrokc.gov/ - broken link)
I worked their Trip Planner from your address to the dead center of downtown, the Seattle Public Library on 4th Ave. between Madison and Marion. (I used that because I know the street address, 1000 4th Ave., and Trip Planner requires a street address.) Here's the link that shows you how to get from your address to the center of downtown:
Automated Travel Information System - Missing Data (http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov/cgi-bin/itin.pl - broken link) (there isn't any "missing" info).
Metro Trip Planner says, using "Itinerary 1", the trip (bus traveling time only) will take 23 minutes. Add a bit for unforseeables, and you can figure less than a half-hour for the bus. That's a terrific way to get almost an hour, five days a week, for reading, thinking, writing, knitting, whatever you enjoy.

I would definitely recommend using the bus. I've lived in Seattle and Bellevue for many, many years, and have use Metro busses about 95% of the time to commute all over the area. I love them, for their comfort and dependability. ALSO, the vast, vast majority of employers in the area will either pay part of a Metro monthly pass, or will pay for all of it. Such a deal!!

[Ira500]

I'll concur that Metro is the only way to go. The buses have an exclusive lane on the West Seattle bridge, so they fly by the cars stuck in traffic.
The area? Has it's good and bad. The good: Not far from Lincoln Park or the ferries to Vashon Island. Not far from shopping at Westwood Town Center. The bad?
Delridge may not be the worst part of west Seattle, but when most people think of West Seattle, they think of Alki or the Admiral District. Delridge has more apartments, less views, less "cool". But not far from some real nice areas.

[pwright1]

This is so funny but I have a friend who lives in those exact apartments, works 8-5 on 3rd and Madison and catches the bus everyday. Coming from the Delridge area it is 1000 percent better to catch the metro bus to work. Its so much easier and like Ira500 said the buses have their own lane across the West Seattle Bridge. I've actually taken the bus with her to her Delridge apartment and its not that bad of a ride and only takes about 25 minutes during rush hour. Also Westwood Village shopping center which is just a couple of blocks from your apartment is really nice. Its been renovated and expanded to the likes of Barnes & Noble, Target, BedBath & Beyond, a nice QFC supermarket, 24hour Fitness and more. Also a Home Depot opened about 2 years ago a couple of blocks north of your apt. on Delridge Way. Delridge has gone through its ups and downs through the years but it really is on the upswing now. What part of New Jersey are you coming from?

[NJ908]

Thank you for all your advices.
I'm coming from Central Jersey near Rutgers area. Landscape in Seattle area is gorgeous compared to what I'm used to seeing over here.
I have heard many bad things about West Seattle but where the apartment is situated, it doesn't seem all that bad.