Commuting & traffic

[krautlaus 7]

HA Seattle metro huh? i hear ya! well I don't work but whenever I hitch a ride with hubby or the in-laws it takes us about an hour to 75 min... it's that darn water slowing us down over here.. bus is a little faster but still about an hour door to door because of all the waiting.

We'd like to move closer downtown soon too and put up with sort of a ####### place meanwhile - rents are insane, we're actually thinking about going back to sharing an apt..

[Aubrey 10]

HA Seattle metro huh? i hear ya! well I don't work but whenever I hitch a ride with hubby or the in-laws it takes us about an hour to 75 min... it's that darn water slowing us down over here.. bus is a little faster but still about an hour door to door because of all the waiting.

We'd like to move closer downtown soon too and put up with sort of a ####### place meanwhile - rents are insane, we're actually thinking about going back to sharing an apt..

Well, my husband works in downtown Bellevue, so in typical I-405 traffic it's a 40-50 minute drive, mostly just idling on the freeway. My last job was in N Seattle, so it was ~50 minutes on a good day in traffic on I-5. I'm up for a job on Mercer Island, and ... well, just about anywhere but from Renton would be a more pleasurable commute.

But the rents are so insane. Today we looked at a condo for rent. It was $1150/month (3/2) but the doors were falling off the closets and it had holes in the walls instead of cable outlets. Other 2 bedroom rentals are $1300 and up easy for really basic housing. Even up in Kirkland and Issaquah, it does not improve much. And I thought when I lived in Austin things were expensive. Blech!

What part of the sound are you in? Did you do the seattle meetup? We weren't in town at the time, but curious if our friends jundp met you. PM if you like.

Edited July 20, 2010 by Aubrey

[GabiandVi 34]

1. My commute is kind of hard to calculate because it includes me going out of my way to drop my child at daycare and waiting in the parking lot at daycare for it to open, after which I have exactly 15 minutes to get to work, and that's exactly how long it takes.

2. In a car by myself (and my child.) Transit is not good here and it would involve me taking two transfers and two hours to get two blocks from work (8 miles from my home), if it could even get me there on time. I'd be 30 minutes late for work (at least) if I tried transit.

3. I chose farther away, bigger house. I'd really like to be able to walk to work, but if it came to walking to work vs space, comfort, and safety, I'd choose the latter.

In my case, living closer to work (walking distance) would mean having a fairly large house that's not as expensive as houses that are farther away. The neighborhood is in decline, though, so I'm not interested in buying there.

Hope you find that happy medium.

[krautlaus 7]

Well, my husband works in downtown Bellevue, so in typical I-405 traffic it's a 40-50 minute drive, mostly just idling on the freeway. My last job was in N Seattle, so it was ~50 minutes on a good day in traffic on I-5. I'm up for a job on Mercer Island, and ... well, just about anywhere but from Renton would be a more pleasurable commute.

But the rents are so insane. Today we looked at a condo for rent. It was $1150/month (3/2) but the doors were falling off the closets and it had holes in the walls instead of cable outlets. Other 2 bedroom rentals are $1300 and up easy for really basic housing. Even up in Kirkland and Issaquah, it does not improve much. And I thought when I lived in Austin things were expensive. Blech!

What part of the sound are you in? Did you do the seattle meetup? We weren't in town at the time, but curious if our friends jundp met you. PM if you like.

We live up north of Seattle, around Lynnwood, but that is about to change and we'll have to find a place in the Hill or the U district. I don't have a DL (not to mention the money to afford a car right now) and as soon as we both can work, I'll have to saddle up on my bike again

Those rents are crazy! I can only imagine Austin already being quite pricy itself and now here I am from a small city in D and still trying to understand the cost of living (compared with what you get for it!) I've seen some icky places and sure, I'd like to avoid molds and carpet that seems to have been around for at least a century but oh well.. We're scaling down all expectation of a grand apt for the next year and put up with a studio/1 until we can afford something better..

I've heard of those meetups before, what's that all about? I haven't been in town for too long yet so I'm still trying to settle in and find my way around..

[^_^ 5,021]

I voted 10-29, by car by myself, small expensive house near work.

BUT I'm really not sure about that last one. How small? How expensive? What are my options? The cheaper house that's far away - how cheap, how far? It all depends. I'd rather live in a 350K 1500 sq feet townhouse a 30 minute drive from work than live in a 500K 1000 sq feet condo in walking distance from work. But does that necessarily mean I'd also rather live in a 250K McMansion two hours from work? No, it doesn't.

[Aubrey 10]

I voted 10-29, by car by myself, small expensive house near work.

BUT I'm really not sure about that last one. How small? How expensive? What are my options? The cheaper house that's far away - how cheap, how far? It all depends. I'd rather live in a 350K 1500 sq feet townhouse a 30 minute drive from work than live in a 500K 1000 sq feet condo in walking distance from work. But does that necessarily mean I'd also rather live in a 250K McMansion two hours from work? No, it doesn't.

Well, it is all relative, isn't it? It was intended more of a question of which direction to you lean. Most people seem to find a happy medium. (Around where I live, there isn't much of a medium... it's either close and expensive as hell or really far away because of the traffic and no alternate routes due to the water everywhere.) Though obviously there are people who choose the 2 hour commute, since someone complained that I didn't include an option for 1.5+ hours one way.

[cartaverde 12]

The commute I had in my last job was closer to an hour one way, worst case 2 hours to get back. I seriously hated that commute.

Now when I'll be looking for the next job, the commute matters and quite a bit. I won't like the idea of 40 minutes or worse in a car either direction, especially if I'll do normal 9 to 5 shifts. If it will take more than 15-20 min realistically in the traffic to get to work or home in an average day, the conditions including salary will have to be much higher to consider the job.

The good news is that one of the jobs I want (and where they want me) is actually walking distance from home, or a 3 minute drive. (I'm so not California material I know..)