seattle-portland

[tielan]

Are either of these cities very public-transport friendly? Seattle seems to be, but I know that "seems to be" is not the same as "actually is".

At this point, I don't necessarily need 'accessible' but it's good to know. Also I am (perhaps foolishly) not particularly concerned by 'safeness'. Safety, yes; safeness, no.

Comments

[james]

Both cities have public transit, trains and buses. I haven't used it in Seattle much but you can get around in Portland though it's been 5-6 years since we were up there.

My partner and I are both willing to walk several miles, so we consider Portland to be sufficient in terms of public transit, taking the trains and walking. It is walking friendly (and bicycle friendly) though there are areas with homeless folks camping on the sidewalk or right off it, depending on your sensitivity to such things.

Also, a suggestion for Seattle to San Fran trip is the Coast Starlight via Amtrak: https://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train

It is a truly gorgeous ride, even though you wouldn't be able to stop and get off and on unless you bought your tickets for segments of the journey as separate tickets (like get the ticket from Seattle to Portland and stay the night, etc).

It doesn't strictly go down the coast (it goes from Portland to Salem, Albany, Eugene, Klamath Falls), but it is very picturesque and you do go by the ocean between Seattle and Portland. We take Amtrak all the time and this ride is a very nice one.

[jenab]

I found Portland's transit easy to use. The main meeting point in downtown is Pioneer Square. I also found the city very walkable. There is a lot of homeless people but had no issues with them.

[ringsandcoffee]

Another DW friend lives in Seattle and usually uses public transit to get to work. She seems to say the bus system is good.

[raine]

Seattle has a robust public transit system; you can get pretty much anywhere using an interlinked bus/light rail/ferry pass called ORCA. Passes can be purchased in advance or you can download the ORCA app and buy passes that way. Routes can be planned online, either using the ORCA website, Google maps, or https://onebusaway.org.

That said: all the public transit options are ADA compliant but the drivers are sometimes super impatient about dealing with people who need help. Also, Seattle is a city of hills, sometimes steep ones. The city founders bulldozed and reshaped the land to make it so that they could slide lumber downhill to the port. There are paths through the city that are more accessible than others but I can't vouch for how safe it is (or if those buildings are open) because I haven't personally walked that way in >2 years. You're probably better off figuring out where you're going, getting an Uber or Lyft to your destination, and conserving your energy for exploring your destination.