Commuting — seattle

Ah, the joys of commuting...

By foot

There are a lot of pedestrian paths around Seattle. In order to get the additions started I've added this entry.

WSDOT Seattle-area current traffic conditions offers real-time data on bridges and highways in the Puget Sound area; also has information on express lanes, carpooling, closures, etc.

King County Park & Ride offers a comprehensive Seattle commute/event park-and-ride bus service.

For the occasional car user (for example, someone who usually takes a bus), one option besides normal car rental is Flexcar, which has more than 100 vehicles in more than a dozen neighborhoods in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and Kitsap County.

Metro Transit - bus timetables, [http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov/cgi-bin/itin_page.pl trip planner, and more. Take a good book with you and your trip will be done in no time!

Busview is a handy Java application that shows the positions of buses on a map of Seattle in near real-time. You can filter the tool by one or more bus-route numbers.

Bus Monster delivers information from Metro Transit and Busview in a slick Google Maps package.

The Cascade Bicycle Club has lots of info on commuting, biker education, current events, etc. Also features a commuter message board that you can use to get (and give) advice on routes, equipment, etc.

You can get lots of PDF maps (or instructions on where to pick up a free bike map) from the King County Bicycling guide website.

You can download and/or order (free!) a Seattle Bike map from this page on the City of Seattle's website

At veloroutes.org you can map out your commute and build an elevation profile of it. Total distance is calculated as you click. Live weather for Seattle, and webcams on the to show you live shots of the city streets.

Sounder commuter trains from Tacoma to Seattle, currently five departures in the morning (stops in Puyallup, Sumner, Auburn, Kent, and Tukwila), and from Everett to Seattle, currently three departures in the morning (stops in Edmonds). As for the future? Here's the official (i.e., optimistic) word: "Once in full operation, 18 trains (nine in the morning and nine in the evening) will serve the Lakewood-Tacoma-Seattle segment, and 8 trains (four in the morning and four in the evening) will serve the Everett-Seattle segment. Headways (the time between trains) will be approximately 30 minutes. Some trains will run in the off-peak direction."

Washington State Ferries can take you to several of the islands in the Puget Sound, as well as the San Juan Islands and Victoria, BC.

The Elliott Bay Water Taxi takes you from California Ave and Harbor Ave in West Seattle to Pier 55 at Spring and Alaskan Way in Seattle. Currently runs from late Spring to early Fall.

Seattle Center Monorail offers trips between Seattle Center and Westlake Center every 10 minutes or less. The Monorail is currently under repair after the November 2005 crash.

Seattle Monorail Project is currently moribund due to a ballot initiative pass by voters on November 8, 2005. There are no current plans for reviving the project.

Lost in Seattle: A project to map the city down to the individual structures on each block.
Personal Rapid Transit: An efficient transportation system technology that promises to provide great benefits. See [1] and [2]