job opportunity in tacoma, unsure of whether to live in seattle or tacoma? (Kent: apartment)

[kiran]

Hi all,

Have never been to Washington state, but have always wanted to. Just got a job opportunity to work for 3 months in either Puyallup or Tacoma starting in October, but was wondering if it made sense (transportation wise) to live in Seattle and commute? How long, in your experience, would the am/pm commute from Seattle to Tacoma or Puyallup take? I think it is going against traffic - also saw that Sounder rail doesn't offer Tacoma to Seattle in am or other direction in pm. Also, how bad would it be to have a car in Seattle vs. relying on public transportation (live in Chicago now, which is v. public transportation friendly)? And how bad is the weather from Oct to Jan?

Thanks!,
Kiran

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by kiran

Hi all,

Have never been to Washington state, but have always wanted to. Just got a job opportunity to work for 3 months in either Puyallup or Tacoma starting in October, but was wondering if it made sense (transportation wise) to live in Seattle and commute? How long, in your experience, would the am/pm commute from Seattle to Tacoma or Puyallup take? I think it is going against traffic - also saw that Sounder rail doesn't offer Tacoma to Seattle in am or other direction in pm. Also, how bad would it be to have a car in Seattle vs. relying on public transportation (live in Chicago now, which is v. public transportation friendly)? And how bad is the weather from Oct to Jan?

Thanks!,
Kiran

I'd recommend that if you are not going to have a car here, live as close as you can to you temporary job and use mass transit or a bicycle, etc. To answer your commute question, you could not pay me to commute anywhere in the Puget sound area anymore, I'd recommend living near your job and visiting downtown Seattle if the need arises, but that's just me.

Good luck on your job, the area is beautiful, more so except for all of the people that moved there :-)

Tony

[pw72]

I grew up in Seattle, and spent some time in Chicagoland. DO NOT expect a public transportation system similar to Chicagoland. It simply doesn't exist, although they are trying. The auto still rules in this area. (and really, there is no "going against traffic" in Seattle/Tacoma anymore. Too many drivers going too many different directions. Driving from Seattle to Tacoma can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, anytime of the day.

Tacoma is more affordable than Seattle. Puyallup isn't too bad, price-wise.

Weather during the winter is wet, cloudy, but rarely snows.

[scootertrash61]

well, this is a little different situation..... if you're into central districts of larger cities, seattle has a great, thriving downtown with alot going on. BUT IT'S EXPENSIVE. traffic would not be quite as bad because you would be going against the flow, but i agree with pw72, it still would be a motha of a commute. oldtown/downtown puyallup is pretty cool imo. it has a nice feel to it. steer clear of the south hill [just south of puyallup] if possible though. it's suburban hell and traffic in and out of there is terrible gl kiran

[rick8603]

Here is a thought. Driving from Puyallup to Kent (distance 20 mile north) is bad in the morning at 5:15. It took me 50 minutes to drive 20 miles in the morning. I took the back roads and if taken the Valley Highway it may have taken longer.

You could comute by train (Sound Transit), by bus (Sound Transit) or drive go to Seattle during odd hours. You could drive to Seattle when everyone is getting off work and thus driving in the opposite direction.

The problem with the Seattle Area is that aren't many main highways. I mean that you I-5 and the valley highway. That is partly a problem because of the geography of the are. You have Puget Sound to the west.

Rick

[margaretBartle]

Originally Posted by kiran

.. wondering if it made sense (transportation wise) to live in Seattle and commute?

Why would you want to live in expensive, congested, crowded Seattle unless you worked there?
Are you looking for some specific kind of social life? Theatre? arts? bars? people? Weekends? after work?
Unless you are specifically looking for something in Seattle you can't get in Tacoma, I'd stay as close to work as you can get. If you don't have a car, look at the transit system map, decide what buses go to your jobsite, and get a place to rent that is on that bus route. You don't want to have to change buses if you can avoid it. Otherwise, get a car.

Originally Posted by kiran

How long, in your experience, would the am/pm commute from Seattle to Tacoma or Puyallup take?

Depends upon how far from the freeway your worksite it. It can take half an hour from the downtown Seattle to a Tacoma off-ramp, and another half hour to get from the freeway in Tacoma to your worksite.

Originally Posted by kiran

how bad would it be to have a car in Seattle vs. relying on public transportation

Depends upon what you need to do. If all you need to do is commute to work, and you've chosen an apartment on the busline to your work, and you live a few blocks away from a good grocery store and in a good, walkable neighborhood (expensive!) then you're fine. Most of Seattle, however, is miles from a good grocery store or retail core, and you'll want to have a car.

Originally Posted by kiran

And how bad is the weather from Oct to Jan?

Dark, rainy, windy. You need to have your headlights on at 3 pm. Low, dark clouds. Usually a week or two of temps in the 20s, but most of the time, I don't much turn the heat on - it's in the 40s. If you're from Chicago, you probably understand what early evenings are like.

[CrazyDonkey]

Short answer: Live in Tacoma. More likely to find a three-month lease, for one thing. Doing anything else would be stupid, stupid, stupid. Note: You can commute on Sounder from Tacoma to Puyallup. You can still easily visit Seattle on weekends or on days off.

[joyfulmorning]

I would definitely wait to buy in the current market, as there are going to be permanent job losses and fall out from that. You don't want to try and catch a falling knife. If you rent first it gives you a chance to really check out the entire region and decide where you want to be. I also agree with
A) there is very little public transport for such a big population
B) Geography prevents more major roads so the highways are always busy now and often can be parking lots
C) Try and live close to work, to save money and your sanity.

[SusVelo]

OP is from 2007..

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Hopefully at least some of the newly-remote jobs in the world today will stay that way, and "live near where you work" will become a less important concern when picking a place to live.

You always hear about people wanting to move out to small towns once they can work remotely, but a lot of people are like the OP too, they want to live in a populated urban environment but their job is in the far-out suburbs.

Going into the big city for trips on the weekends is really not a substitute for living there. You really have to be able to go to social events regularly and meet up with people on short notice if you want to develop tight friendships with them, and if you want to be friends with the kinds of creative, artsy, adventurous, and politically active people who live in cities, that means living there yourself.