PDX to SEA Commute (Portland, Hillsboro: rental, hotel, home)

[Nate55]

Does anyone have experience commuting from Portland to Seattle once a week? I need to be in the office once a week, potentially once every two weeks, for one day. I can work from home the other 8-9 days in a pay period.

Driving seems like a brutal commute, trains don't have good time options, and flying seems like a solution although expensive depending on frequency.

Any ideas or experience?

Edit: I need to be in the office from 9:00am - 3:00pm.

[texasdiver]

Flying will suck because navigating the airports at each end will add more time to your commute than just driving.

If you don't want to drive then probably the best option would be to use the Amtrak Cascades and take the late train up the night before and return after work the next day. Maybe you can find a convenient hotel or AirB&B or something that will be a convenient Seattle crash pad once every 2 weeks.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Nate55

Does anyone have experience commuting from Portland to Seattle once a week? I need to be in the office once a week, potentially once every two weeks, for one day. I can work from home the other 8-9 days in a pay period.

Driving seems like a brutal commute, trains don't have good time options, and flying seems like a solution although expensive depending on frequency.

Any ideas or experience?

Edit: I need to be in the office from 9:00am - 3:00pm.

That's a three hour drive. Just leave at 5AM and get to Seattle by 8AM, with one hour to spare. Start back promptly at 3PM, before the traffic gets too bad, and you should be home at 6PM or 7PM.

Flying would not save you any time, and what would happen if your flight got delayed or cancelled?

[gingersnap337]

Flixbus might be an option for you. It's inexpensive, reliable, and in my experience, the wifi works well.

The downside is that it's not door-to-door like driving your own car would be, so you'd have to Uber/Lyft/taxi/bus to your final destination.

https://www.flixbus.com/

Oh wait, in checking the schedule, it looks like the earliest bus leaves Portland at 7:00am and arrives in Seattle at about 10:00. So then I agree with the others that driving is the best option.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Traffic will be awful. If you fly, you still have to deal with the traffic around the airport. Just drive and leave really early.


It will help that traffic has been a little less since WFH and Covid, but it is still awful and Seattle-ites still can't drive with any consideration for others. (reported by a truck driving family member)

[Nate55]

Originally Posted by gingersnap337

Flixbus might be an option for you. It's inexpensive, reliable, and in my experience, the wifi works well.

The downside is that it's not door-to-door like driving your own car would be, so you'd have to Uber/Lyft/taxi/bus to your final destination.

https://www.flixbus.com/

Oh wait, in checking the schedule, it looks like the earliest bus leaves Portland at 7:00am and arrives in Seattle at about 10:00. So then I agree with the others that driving is the best option.

Thanks! I might be able to get some flex on arrival. I wish they had earlier options on the bus or train, but maybe in time. With the bus or train I could work while commuting with the wifi options.

[timfountain]

Get your private pilots license (and instrument rating for the cloud days!). I can fly HIO (Hillsboro) to Boeing Field (BFI) in 52 minutes in a Cessna 182. On a more practical note I used to drive from SW Portland to Seattle (various places) once a month. The drive up I5 is very, very boring. Flying commercial is not much quicker, as others have said. I've not done the train, but for me the departure times and duration were not attractive, and as for Union Station in Portland, I just could not believe how skanky that part of town is, especially parking a car. Nope, no thank you. There aren't really any good options.

[fy10fyr]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

That's a three hour drive. Just leave at 5AM and get to Seattle by 8AM, with one hour to spare. Start back promptly at 3PM, before the traffic gets too bad, and you should be home at 6PM or 7PM.

You forgot the "sarcasm" emoji.

This MIGHT be possible on a Saturday or Sunday, during the week? No. Not even close. On a weekday the OP could easily burn 1-1/2 to 2 hours between Olympia and Seattle both AM and PM.

I'd agree with the poster that suggested going the night before. Leave PDX around 5 or 6 and you should miss the worst of the traffic, and then at least you only (hopefully) get one crappy commute.

[texasdiver]

If it were me and I had employment in Seattle that required my occasional presence. I would actually look for some sort of itinerant Seattle crash pad. Maybe a shared room in a house. Maybe take a look at AirB&B and see if there is someone with a spare room near your Seattle office who might go for a regular once a week or once every 2 weeks rental that you could take "off the books" away from AirB&B to save everyone money.

Or maybe just some co-worker who has a spare room that they might want to rent out on those terms for some extra cash. There are a lot of creative options that you can explore.

Then you can do things like commute back and forth via train, which means relaxing with the onboard espresso service, using the on-board WiFi or a 5G signal to get productive work done on the train rather than staring with glazed eyes at bumper to bumper traffic on I-5.

You can still drive back and forth but you aren't tied to fighting rush hour commutes. You can drive up the night before if you want as long as you have some home base in Seattle to use when you need it.

[StealthRabbit]

If Seattle based employer... stick within WA border for your southern home. (much easier tax filing)
Vancouver, WA is about 7min to downtown Portland (non-traffic commute).

As I mentioned on your same WA thread... The commute is best done via express bus or train if PT to PT is within walking distance. but.. it is not impossible just a minor 6-8 hr chunk out of your life each trip. Drive at night to avoid traffic and housing issues. My dad was in the hospital many times during his 15 yrs in the north, so I would sometimes make the round trip 2x / day to meet with his drs, then come back to Portland area for work, then drive up again to deal with his issues. There are 24 hrs in a day, you are only spending 6 - 8 on the commute. But it gets old, and is dangerous if done frequently.