4 ms·

> The real tragedy is that Americans have built a country where stepping out of your home once a day is a miserable chore to be avoided at all costs if possible

> The real tragedy is that Americans have built a country where stepping out of your home once a day is a miserable chore to be avoided at all costs if possible. This is exactly it for me. The job I've held for many years is in Seattle's city limits and my family has lived in Seattle for even longer. I intentionally looked for a job here because I gave up driving years ago, as did my wife. My children have never learned to drive or have a license. Meanwhile, many of my colleagues have moved to Auburn or Kent or Edmonds or Snohomish, insisting that it's not possible to raise a child in the city (my kids would beg to disagree) or seeking the "American Dream" of a standalone house. But every single one of them complained about the hours of their lives they were giving away in exchange for that. I think it's fine to build transit to the suburbs. It doesn't have to be light rail, though there's a well-known rail bias, but we've proven that frequent express buses from regional centers can work. Commuting is a drag, that's why I don't do it. (My employer also went to open plan spaces for technical and administrative staff before the pandemic. As we are a medical group, doctors still had their own doors, of course. Now, we have sold one office building and given up the lease on another. Technical and admin staff are fully remote but can use a company-paid WeWork account if we like. Medical staff are in the remaining office building and our patient care locations.)

Arainach 4y ago
>we've proven that frequent express buses from regional centers can work Who's "we"? Seattle's express busses, at least outside the downtown core, have been a joke for a long time. Every half hour at absolute peak for ST routes like the 545/522 and stopping hours before bars and nightlife close so good luck getting home. Admittedly they were better than the awful suburban alternatives - for a long time the fastest bus route from my eastside house to Microsoft was to take one express bus 45-60 minutes to downtown Seattle and another one 30-45 minutes east to Redmond because the other north/south connections are that bad. I wouldn't call that proof that they can work. And of course that's ignoring the current light rail split. If you don't want to go somewhere directly on the light rail line (let's say South Lake Union, since we're commuting) you could previously take an bus from Woodinville, Kirkland, or Redmond into downtown Seattle and with a single transfer get where you want to go. Post-light rail good luck. The 522 will drop you off in Northgate, where you can walk a few blocks to light rail, ride a few stops, walk a few more blocks, and catch another bus. 1h43min with 2 transfers at peak commuting hours or a 28min drive. If that's success I hope never to see failure.
- Arainach 4y ago
  Edit: I will admit that the express busses run frequently at peak commuting hours, but they still drop to half hourly or hourly in evenings such that if you're not commuting at peak hours they're painful to rely on. https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/545?at=1680332400000&direction=0&start_stop=null&view=table&route_tab=schedule&stops_0=1_21765%2C1_81755&stops_1=1_81755%2C1_21850 https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/5...
- gtop3 4y ago
  I had a very different experience relaying on the buses, bicycle, and light rail as my primary transportation within Seattle. Seattle has very limited East/West travel options, but that is mostly because of geographic concerns. If you want to travel North/South it's much easier. The dedicated bus lanes and app to tell you estimated arrival time based on location data were particularly good touches. I would consider Seattle bus system to be among the best in the states. Edit: IMO the key to easy commuting in Seattle is to plan your life in a way that you minimize the number of times you have to cross a lake, canal, or bay.
  - re-thc 4y ago
    If you have to add so many constraints it means it doesn't work.
  - jwestbury 4y ago
    I lived in Ballard for five years. If I drove to and from the office, even at rush hour, it was probably a 30-minute commute. It was 45-60 minutes by bus most days, and far less comfortable, because route 40 is one of the busiest on the network (or was at the time), and would often get stuck in traffic. This is despite every-7-minute service and dedicated bus lanes. Seattle might have some of the best bus service in the US, but bus transit is objectively worse than rail transit on a separated grade. (And on this point, one of Sound Transit's worst decisions was building at-grade light rail, which essentially turns Link into a streetcar for substantial portions of its route.)
influx 4y ago
I bought a house on the C-line, which was great for awhile. Then Seattle decided enforcing fares was racist, that it was intolerant to kick off people smoking fentanyl on the bus, and it was still faster to drive to work, so I did that instead. :(
- 908B64B197 4y ago
  You just know people high enough at the city government would never use public transit. Or the transit authority's CEO.
- olyjohn 4y ago
  My 5 years in Seattle taught me that there's no faster way to commute than by car. I bought a house as close into the city as I could, but the only affordable place was Skyway, so that's where I ended up. My partner and I at the time were both in tech, and that's all we could afford. Anything closer in to where transit didn't suck, cost monumentally more money. Prices of homes near light rail was totally unaffordable. When we left Seattle, we would not have been able to afford the house at the price we sold it.
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  Minneapolis is dealing with similar non-enforcement issues on our light rail. As safety and harassment issues increased, common ridership has dropped which exacerbates the problems.
briffle 4y ago
> The job I've held for many years is in Seattle's city limits and my family has lived in Seattle for even longer. Curious about what your mortgage payment is, verses someone who buys it at current value. If it’s more than a few years, can be 2-3x more given property values and interest rate

Arainach 4y ago

>we've proven that frequent express buses from regional centers can work Who's "we"? Seattle's express busses, at least outside the downtown core, have been a joke for a long time. Every half hour at absolute peak for ST routes like the 545/522 and stopping hours before bars and nightlife close so good luck getting home. Admittedly they were better than the awful suburban alternatives - for a long time the fastest bus route from my eastside house to Microsoft was to take one express bus 45-60 minutes to downtown Seattle and another one 30-45 minutes east to Redmond because the other north/south connections are that bad. I wouldn't call that proof that they can work. And of course that's ignoring the current light rail split. If you don't want to go somewhere directly on the light rail line (let's say South Lake Union, since we're commuting) you could previously take an bus from Woodinville, Kirkland, or Redmond into downtown Seattle and with a single transfer get where you want to go. Post-light rail good luck. The 522 will drop you off in Northgate, where you can walk a few blocks to light rail, ride a few stops, walk a few more blocks, and catch another bus. 1h43min with 2 transfers at peak commuting hours or a 28min drive. If that's success I hope never to see failure.

Arainach 4y ago
Edit: I will admit that the express busses run frequently at peak commuting hours, but they still drop to half hourly or hourly in evenings such that if you're not commuting at peak hours they're painful to rely on. https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/545?at=1680332400000&direction=0&start_stop=null&view=table&route_tab=schedule&stops_0=1_21765%2C1_81755&stops_1=1_81755%2C1_21850 https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/5...
gtop3 4y ago
I had a very different experience relaying on the buses, bicycle, and light rail as my primary transportation within Seattle. Seattle has very limited East/West travel options, but that is mostly because of geographic concerns. If you want to travel North/South it's much easier. The dedicated bus lanes and app to tell you estimated arrival time based on location data were particularly good touches. I would consider Seattle bus system to be among the best in the states. Edit: IMO the key to easy commuting in Seattle is to plan your life in a way that you minimize the number of times you have to cross a lake, canal, or bay.
- re-thc 4y ago
  If you have to add so many constraints it means it doesn't work.
- jwestbury 4y ago
  I lived in Ballard for five years. If I drove to and from the office, even at rush hour, it was probably a 30-minute commute. It was 45-60 minutes by bus most days, and far less comfortable, because route 40 is one of the busiest on the network (or was at the time), and would often get stuck in traffic. This is despite every-7-minute service and dedicated bus lanes. Seattle might have some of the best bus service in the US, but bus transit is objectively worse than rail transit on a separated grade. (And on this point, one of Sound Transit's worst decisions was building at-grade light rail, which essentially turns Link into a streetcar for substantial portions of its route.)

influx 4y ago

I bought a house on the C-line, which was great for awhile. Then Seattle decided enforcing fares was racist, that it was intolerant to kick off people smoking fentanyl on the bus, and it was still faster to drive to work, so I did that instead. :(

908B64B197 4y ago
You just know people high enough at the city government would never use public transit. Or the transit authority's CEO.
olyjohn 4y ago
My 5 years in Seattle taught me that there's no faster way to commute than by car. I bought a house as close into the city as I could, but the only affordable place was Skyway, so that's where I ended up. My partner and I at the time were both in tech, and that's all we could afford. Anything closer in to where transit didn't suck, cost monumentally more money. Prices of homes near light rail was totally unaffordable. When we left Seattle, we would not have been able to afford the house at the price we sold it.
germinalphrase 4y ago
Minneapolis is dealing with similar non-enforcement issues on our light rail. As safety and harassment issues increased, common ridership has dropped which exacerbates the problems.

briffle 4y ago

> The job I've held for many years is in Seattle's city limits and my family has lived in Seattle for even longer. Curious about what your mortgage payment is, verses someone who buys it at current value. If it’s more than a few years, can be 2-3x more given property values and interest rate