I Am Finally Leaving Reno | Why I Chose Seattle
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2023
- In July, I am going to move from Reno to Seattle, so for this video, I want to discuss how I wound up in Reno and why I would rather live in Seattle.
Sources:
Yes, the Tesla thing is real:
/ 1659348980759769088
WalkScore:
www.walkscore.com/NV/Reno
www.walkscore.com/WA/Seattle
Seattle’s rate of car ownership saw the biggest drop among big U.S. cities - by far:
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...
No Right Turn on Red Default in Seattle:
www.theurbanist.org/2023/05/0...
Congratulations on making the move. It's definitely the right choice.
Reno is a place that is beyond hope in the forseeable future, and it's more valuable to have a committed urbanist like yourself promoting great projects in Seattle, eather than mediocre projects that will rarely get completed in Reno.
I'm looking forward to your experiences in Seattle! 👍
Leave north America !
Reno video in the near future?
Reno will make you or break you. It broke you.
Most people who come from a big city, Denver, to a small town think it sucks.
It's why I'm moving back to reno. Big cities are full of rude, obnoxious people. And no one knows how to drive.
You're such an elitest.
When you guys say a place is beyond hope, are you specifically talking about walkability and nothing else? Seattle has miserable weather, generally not well liked people, and not the same access to the outdoors like Reno. Is biking in 200 days of rain really that much better than the inconvenience of a car with 300 days of sun?
3:37 "Rather than viewing transit as a way to absorb predictable commutes..."
This is so true. So many people are going to the same areas anyways if you think about it. The same schools, the same working districts, the same grocery stores, the same parks etc. Yet everyone drives themselves and gets stuck in their own creation of traffic.
"To the same areas" yes, but not necessarily from the same areas. A lot of the traffic is people committing into the city from their rural homes 20+ miles outside of the city. I don't ever see public transportation working for them or families with 3 or more young children.
Actually, 45% of all car trips in the U.S. are 3 miles or less. It’s these journeys that an alternative (walking, biking, transit) can work best. Sure, you can commute by car, but what if you could do your daily errands by a quick walk or bike ride?
@@goldcoin2444And yet freeways are a good solution?
@@goldcoin2444 how many people do you see in Downtown or near your local grocery store that are from a f*** town far enough away that transit would not be able to serve them, considering we literally built the transcontinental railway in the 19th century, it is 2023, and we're having this conversation over microelectric impulses modulating slight currents in wires across continents and oceans?
That's right, not anywhere near enough to overload what roads would be freed after the turbo absorption, and DEFINITELY NOT ANYWHERE CLOSE TO ENOUGH that building out that infrastructure would be a waste, considering we dump national money pit levels of money into roads to have them end up not transporting shit anyways cause CARRAIGES ARE NOT MEANT FOR HIGH VOLUME PREDICTABLE ROUTES, THEY ARE MEANT FOR ARBITRARY, RANDOM POINT TO POINT TRAVEL
I.E. NOT A COMMUTE
@@supercellex4D 20% of the US population still live in rural areas. The grocery store where I worked during high school was the only real one for the next 40 miles to the north. Most of the people that live to the north of me don't live in towns but on land that their family settled on in the 1800s. They drive 10-20 miles to the store and 20-30 miles to work daily. Also, public transportation is impractical for families with 3 or more children under the age of 10.
Welcome to the city when you get here. Different city, different challenges, but the transit is certainly better. I moved back from Taiwan a bit over a year ago and I haven't really needed a car for anything. When I do, a car sharing service works just fine. Voting is super easy and the Seattle Channel here on youtube shows a lot of the stuff the city is doing. Best of luck when you get here, hombre.
The Seattle Channel is on CZcams? Good to know, I don't have cable.
I could never live in a such unsafe and woke city tbh. Seattle isn’t as good as it used to be
@@grandhomme4183 Same bro, it's a shame
@@grandhomme4183 Is it really as woke as you think? Some of the national media portrayals are exaggerated and misleading.
@@grandhomme4183 I hope you dont mind me asking but do you mind sharing the city you live in?
The reason I ask is because I have lived in many US cities and from my limited experience pretty much every city has crime and is left-leaning.
In other words I would be very fascinated to learn which city you chose and in what concrete clear ways it has less crime and is less"woke".
Thanks and I hope to hear back from you.
As someone who moved to Seattle from a sunny state, I love it but make sure to take care of yourself over the winter. The gloominess can really wear you down.
I'd rather shoot myself than live in Seattle for that exact reason. The weather is merciless.
im trying to move to the PNW BECAUSE of the gloominess. I am done with the sun. I need clouds and rain
Moved to the PNW from Florida and it took a few years to adapt to the cloudy dreary winters. I quite like it now
It’s not even like it snows either because Seattle borders on a cloudy Atlantic Mediterranean climate
We all grow to love the rain in Cascadia
Congrats! Looking forward to videos on Seattle. We can definitely relate to wanting to live in a place with like-minded people that feels like it's at least going in the right direction.
I moved from car-centric suburban Ottawa to Montreal last year and I find it difficult to even describe how much better things are for me. I don't own a car, so just existing in public outside of one felt like I was a burden and unwelcome in Ottawa, whereas I feel genuinely welcome in Montreal. Here's hoping you have the same experience with your move
I had a similar experience when I relocated from London, Ontario to Toronto. Often, we can't rely on waiting for issues that may never be adequately addressed. Urban planning plays a crucial role in shaping cities and ensuring a more welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone.
Ottawa is so controlled by its suburbs it’s awful. They complain that places like ByWard Market has too little parking.
I move from Ottawa to Montréal 7 years then I needed better so I moved to Copenhagen and then Malmö next I think is Nederland's. Montréal still has way to much space for cars I figured to be happy with Montréal infrastructure I would have to wait till I am 85 years old. I don't wait say Montréal is good for north America anymore. We should all compare the world :)
Ottawa was doomed from poor decision making in the 80s when it was decided that hoards of busses were the answer versus light rail. It may have made sense financially at the time, but look at where we are now. A failed light rail implementation that barely works during good weather and seizes up in winter.
@@whapabab4340 Amalgamating with the suburbs was a bad idea in retrospect. The suburbs are all like Bane to the city: "Do you feel in charge?"
After my car was totaled in a crash, I didn't have the money to replace it. To be honest, I couldn't afford the car in the first place - I bought it from my family for $1 and never even gave it so much as basic maintenance. I started taking the bus to work, but there were multiple occasions where I couldn't take the bus home because they didn't run long enough. It's always "fun" knowing that if a single thing happened outside of my control I'd be spending the night walking home instead of sleeping, and getting home just barely in time to take the bus back to work
I commute by bike now, and riding my bike I'm able to see just how many people are in the same situation I was in, just one unforeseen circumstance away from seeing exactly how my city's bus system fails the people it's supposed to serve. It's still amazing how many people I see driving cars that are clearly multiple years overdue to see a mechanic. In my experience, most people who have cars can't afford them. If buses are for the poor and desperate, cars serve primarily to make people poor and desperate; by draining people's bank accounts and taking away basic consideration for anyone who doesn't drive
You have a good point there. I drive buses for public transit and I see people driving in near bald tires, trouble lights, broken AC, non-working headlights and taillights, etc. That’s a tell-tale sign that people can’t afford a car in the first place, but they desperately need it to get around in a car-centric environment.
Yes!! Move!! I hate the attitude that some people have that urbanists should fight to make where ever they are from or happen to be better. Life is too short and our individual voices are too small to make enough change in many places. Better to go somewhere interested in the change you want and work towards accelerating it. Moving somewhere more alinged with my values was the best decesion ive ever made
That's what destroyed Seattle more than anything else. We used to have a functioning city council and a city that was more or less high-end backwater and we liked it. But, as a city, no matter what we do, there's only so much that can be done with people that come here. The city is blocked in on 2 sides, with one of those sides having only ferry traffic and the other having 2 bridges to cover the traffic. Within the city, there are tones of ravines and steep hills that make development a challenge and roads oftentimes have to be laid out to suit the topography rather than the needs of the residents.
It's been decades of people moving here and bringing with them dysfunction and trying to make us a "world-class" city, when I don't think anybody who was living here before the mid '90s wanted that. Not every city needs to be world class and the resulting changes have mostly destroyed the livability, not to mention that the city has nearly doubled since 1980, but the space to build hasn't kept pace and there's limited ability for the city to grow outward due to the bodies of water on two sides.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Many cities in the world are constrained by water and/or other natural resources and/or political factors and yet they are still able to grow and build housing for their population although of course it could always be better. New York, Boston, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Amsterdam. Just need to build more smartly and densely.
Not to be rude but a lot of the rest of your comment is hard to understand what you are upset about and you dont really specify whats changed since the 90s that has made it less "liveable".
Without guessing what your specific complaints are the only thing I can say is the city of Seattle never entered into a countract with you saying things would never change and the city would never grow. Pretty much every major metro area with a vibrant growing economy worldwide is grappling with housing affordability issues. Some are tackling this better than others.
@@concernedcitizen6572 Which one of those cities doubled in size over the course of one generation, in large part due to people coming into the region with large amounts of money and no particular consideration for making the necessary changes to accommodate the growth?
Change is one thing, but being in a city where the growth exceeds a certain limit combined with NIMBYs gets to be a massive problem pretty quickly.
Not to mention that the SDOT head is on record as saying that it's not his job to make traffic safe and efficient, it's to force people out of their cars.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I dont doubt that Seattle has had a faster growth rate than any of the cities I listed. I dont have an argument there but I dont think it changes any of my original points at all.
To alleviate upward price pressures on housing you have to either lower demand or increase supply. You are never going to have the power to outright keep new residents out of a city/town/community so lowering demand for housing is basically out of the question. So the best thing you can do is build more housing. Of course with overly restrictive zoning and restrictions and community hearings and blah blah blah this can def be an agonizingly slow process.
@@concernedcitizen6572 Sometimes there is “frontier” mentality on an “island” - an Easter Island mentality.
You'll enjoy it! Make the most of it. I moved from Manassas VA which looks pretty darn similar to these Reno B-roll shots, but more trees- to Chicago. I walk everywhere for everything. I ride my bike daily and take the metro occasionally. Im sick of the wind but its MUCH better than living in a dystopia where you feel completely neglected and out of place. Looking forward to the eventual seattle videos!
Chicago, Philly, and NJ by Philly/NYC are on my watchlists for underrated cities
yeah northern virginia kinda sucks in terms of urbanism except for arlington and alexandria, though fairfax is upzoning around metro stations. Anyways, prince william county sucks hard
Hey I live in Bristow looking to move to a city, how did you adjust to Chicago?
@@applesyrupgaming yuppppp
@@sammymarrco47 had to adjust more socially tbh. public transit and closeness of things felt natural and not overwhelming as you might expect. first day in a city I waved at everyone I walked past LOL ... not used to seeing people outside of a car
I'm so happy for you! Outside of a few blocks downtown, Reno is a wasteland and it's going to stay that way for a really long time. No matter where I am in the world, thinking about all the people needlessly driving back and forth tens of miles in Reno, makes me angry. It's a colossal waste of our resources that went into actively making a place horrendous.
1:07 "I don't want anyone getting the impression that I have given up on the city. Giving up requires having faith in something in the first place." Savage.
@@zherkezhi it's not the 15 minute cities commie hell hole they're dreaming of. Seattle on the other hand....welcome home, commies!
If you ever decide to leave Seattle again, you are very welcome in my city (Frankfurt) 🤝🏻
Seattle is terrible and I was born and raised there. It's gotten progressively worse over time and I see no reason to have any optimism that sanity is going to return. We used to have local government that functioned reasonably well, but those days are gone. We can't even address the homeless crisis or retail theft in any sort of sensible way.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I spent some time there myself. Horrible place. I would never recommend living there.
This video almost exactly encapsulates why we are moving from Bellevue to Seattle, after living in Bellevue for 6 years. Seattle has everything I have ever longed for my entire life growing up in car-dependent suburbs, and I didn't understand that until going down the urbanism rabbit hole last year. I feel similarly toward Bellevue as you do towards Reno. Perhaps I'll send this video to city council when we move. See you soon in Seattle!
Is this Lara G?
Congrats on the move! I moved from Chicago to Dallas 1 year ago to find better job. But have gotten really frustrated with Dallas's car centric nature and general lack of city vibe. Can't wait to move to Portland or Seattle, which are kinda target destinations, but getting a new job there as a mechanical engineer is not easy given the job market.
Don't trip over the homeless tents.
From what I understand dallas really does have a good transit system (its just really really spread out like my hometown of Jax Fl)
@@FrederickJones-bi1fv Dallas has light rail and buses are not too bad near downtown. But everything is still very spread out and connections aren't great. And I work in a northern suburb just outside Dallas proper, near one of the busiest arterial in the city. So driving is kinda the only option.
@@michaelcap9550 In all seriousness have you found a major metro area in the US where homelessness is not a problem? If so please share we are all ears.
I have not been to every US city BUT every US city I have been to has had major homeless populations / tent cities.
@@concernedcitizen6572 You're absolutely right about the homeless issue. I live in Northwest Florida and there's homelessness there, too.
Ballard walking is not the best, and it's pronounced like the name AL, bALard. Cap Hill, Queen Anne, and Fremont are my common choices. Cars act differently in different districts, it's weird.
Most places around downtown are a 15 minute city, it's great!
I'm so glad you are moving to my city!
I couldn't disagree more! It's amazing to walk around Ballard. It's actually my favorite neighborhood to walk around. We have lots of stop signs and narrow traffic circles that slow down drivers, and drivers stop when I'm not even at the crosswalk yet. It's amazing! I can't imagine living in Queen Anne and walking home 🤨 unless you like hikes 🧗
Glad you pointed out the pronunciation, I heard it and RAN to the comments 😭
ngl, I kinda like the ball-erd pronunciation.
That's interesting. While Seattle is obviously going to be miles better than Reno, I've never thought of it as a super walkable city. It has a lot of very wide roads between buildings and outside of the neighborhoods near downtown, it turns into mostly single family homes, that said, maybe the public transit makes up for it, and maybe it's a good biking city. I would've probably moved to Philadelphia or Chicago. I mean ideally I would move to NYC but I know that's not possible for many people due to how expensive it is. With that said, I'm looking forward to seeing an urbanist's perspective on living in Seattle.
The single-family mindset is one reason that Seattle lost its lustre for me. That said, they are now finally allowing accessory units and duplexes and quads to be built in “single family” zones. Plus, whatever its faults, Seattle is still easier to get around by bike or transit than is Reno.
As soon as you get north of the university district area, it becomes very suburban feeling really quick too when I stayed near Northgate station
Seattle's "urban village" development model is a travesty. I'm crossing my fingers it will get replaced with a broad upzoning model in the next comp plan next year, but recent leaks seem like it might not despite lots of public feedback requesting it. At least the stepped in no require 4 units on all lots and two detached ADUs (current city law allows only 1 detached and 1 attached)
Seattle's streets aren't super-narrow but they're narrower than 85% of the country. The six-lane Aurora highway is unusual, but I've been in Sunbelt cities that had those every mile.
Seattle is not perfect, but compare to other U.S. cities, it is pretty good already. It's the entire U.S. sucks in transit and walkability. In Canada, a lot of smaller Metro areas like Vancouver (2.5 million), Montreal (4 million) and Calgary (1.25 million) have a lot better transit and walkability than big U.S. Metros like Dallas (7 million), Atlanta and Miami (both 6 million)
The problem is that Reno/Sparks is a small single dwelling extropolis, the lack of both centre and density, make transit at useful frequencies very difficult.
The only real destinations are the spread out casinos and people don’t travel between them much. Outside of a small rush hour the traffic is never really that bad and the city must have 4 times as many parking spaces as citizens, so parking is never a difficulty. Therefore transit for most journeys is always going to struggle to be a better alternative, when driving is so easy.
It would be a difficult to design a more car oriented city than Reno/Sparks.
The reason why driving is so easy and faster is because lobbyists and politicians spent billions of dollars to make it that way, while public transit projects remain underfunded. And that why we have car dependency and too much traffic.
I greatly enjoyed Reno when I lived there, even as someone that is pro-urbanist (Granted I did have a car). So it sucks to hear that Reno failed you by not offering an effective car-free alternative like every decent sized city should. I hope Seattle works out much better for you and elevates your quality of life as a car-free urbanist.
I recently moved to Denver ironically and even just having the light rail option has done wonders for me. Good luck!
Funny how different all of our experiences are. Some folks complain about Silicon Valley being built very car centric but it was the most walkable place I ever lived lol, they had light rail and train. Now I live in TN and it’s ACTUALLY impossible to live without one, not difficult
When you get here, please do a video comparing the east side (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond) to the Seattle proper. Despite being just a few miles away, they have drastically different urbanist philosophies
Heyy welcome to the city! As somebody who lives in Lower Queen Anne Seattle I can tell you, you will love it here in comparison to Reno. It's by no means a perfect city and has a lot of its own problems regarding a car-free lifestyle, but I have been living car-free for a year and do not miss my car one bit. I can't wait to watch your content regarding Seattle and see what you like and dislike about the city!
I've never had a car and I've lived in Seattle for for 34 years, and in Bellevue (suburb) for 10 years before that. It's definitely doable, even if you're limited on where you can live and work conveniently.
Welcome! The car-dependant locals here in Seattle will complain about our transit system, but those that have given it a real shot can certainly trust it'll get us around without issue. Honestly, using transit here is just about on par with some of America's best transit like NYC and Atlanta's Marta system (in my experience), the only thing holding us back is that we're not as big of a city.
Since moving here from car dependant So Cal, I've met so many people that don't have cars and people who bike to work. The only problem with using bikes here is that bike theft is pretty prevalent, so anytime you leave a bike locked up in a publicly accessible place, it's at risk even with a good lock or 3.
We live in North Seattle, which can be described as matching all the criteria of a streetcar suburb that NotJustBikes talks about. We downsized down to 1 car when moving here, and usually only need it for groceries, trips outside the city, or roadtrips. If we lived closer to downtown, we could go completely car-free.
San Francisco is an even smaller city, but far too dense. The city is historically transit-oriented and the bike infrastructure is decent. Much better than the bare minimum crap we've got in NW Florida.
I think another advantage to living in seattle is that it would be a lot easier to actually make some more improvements to the city's urban planning. Maybe you could make some videos about stuff like getting involved with the local city government to improve the city.
People like you could make a big difference for Reno but you can't do it by yourself. Thanks for trying. You've gotta do what you've gotta do. Best of luck to you in your new life in Seattle.
I used to live in Reno and I had my car stolen while I was there and I was not able to get another one. I remember what it was like trying to get around without a car. There were lots of places that were inaccessible without a car and I can see that hasn't changed a whole lot. I like Reno's climate, Setting and especially its location. Reno is within a day's travel of just about everybody I would like to be able to get to, which Salt Lake City area is not. I have made a decision that I would like to be car light from here on and save use of the car for road trips. Reno is not compatible for that.
Side note from a Seattleite: No one calls the area north of Belltown and south of Queen Anne "Uptown" except city marketing staff. Everyone calls it "Lower Queen Anne."
Congratulations dude! A decade ago I left Seattle for a sprawlville a few hours from Chicago (my hometown), thinking I'd be home within a couple years following that. (Didn't happen for a variety of reasons both in and outside of my control). Thankfully I now for all intents and purposes have one foot out the door.
The moment I am 100% settled in a walkable neighborhood in a major metro area, I am never turning back. Car-centric cities are utter soul-sucking dystopias. Good luck dude!
I live in Cleveland Ohio, and while our cities transit is better than Reno, it's far from ideal. I will continue to live in Cleveland because it's affordable, and I've been a long time commuting cyclist. In 2017 i got an ebike and this has really helped cover more distance more effectively. I would like to live in a better place for car free lifestyle, but the switching costs are too great, and i want to ensure i have enough money and time to enjoy the place i am at and spend time with family and friends. In the USA, our best designed cities are also the most expensive, demanding extra work to be able to live there.
Cleveland is the best - you're lucky to live in a lovely, affordable city
I lived in Reno briefly to live with my partner at the time. It was really stressful getting home from work late at night. Luckily I lived in downtown reno, and my work was on the virginia line so I was lucky to be able to be close to both my home and my work but it was still a pain living there without a car if I wanted to go anywhere outside downtown.
Great news! I look forward to your impressions of my home town. Your high level assessment of Seattle is pretty accurate and I am interested in hearing your take on some of the improvements the city has made to bicycle infrastructure in the downtown core. I hope you're prepared for the price shock coming from Reno, though. I used to live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood and could easily live car free (even though I worked in Redmond), but it's extremely expensive. I now live on the Eastside, which is much more affordable, but it's also much more...suburban. A car is a burdensome necessity. But we're about to get light rail, and there's even a separate bike path I can take to the nearest station!
As someone who lives in the Seattle area, it's not perfect, especially as you get farther from downtown. But I can confirm it's much more possible to live without a car here. Welcome!
East/west can be a bit tricky sometimes, but it's pretty solid still. The biggest issue for me as a woman is actually downtown...some of the lightrail/bus stops are pretty sketch. I avoid it whenever possible. Generally the people there (and throughout the city) are chill and minding their own business, but occasionally I'll get weird vibes and need to get somewhere else quickly. But Northgate to UW are always fine and the others are generally OK when it's busy, they just may not be very clean and will have encampments around them.
Huge congrats on leaving Reno. It’s really unfortunate that that is the only way to escape car centric cities. My hometown was the same and it was considered dangerous to walk places even more so biking places. The city I live in now is really cracking down on including bike lanes which is great but there’s still a long way to go until cars are no longer people’s primary way to travel. I’ve been biking as much as possible to encourage others that see me on the road to do the same. But it’s difficult when drivers consider you a pest on the road essentially. But I won’t let that stop me, hoping car centric cities are something we see die down over time.
Bummer, I’m in carson city and enjoy the local commentary, good luck
I'm gonna miss you man since you were the only urbanist creator I know of who focused on my hometown, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope everything goes well for you!
oh hey
@@clay_geo yo
Welcome! I'm a lifelong resident of south Seattle (aka Tukwila haha), I'm glad to hear you're moving here! There's tons of local activism and ongoing projects, so I'm sure you'll have no end of topics to cover.
Welcome to Seattle! It's no secret there are plenty of issues and things to complain about, but as you pointed out in your video, there's also a lot of (often frustratingly slow, but very real) steps in the right direction. I look forward to seeing your content, there's a lot of interesting projects (primarily the light rail expansion) on the horizon over the next 2-5 years.
Best of luck with the move. I'm currently staying with my grandma in British Columbia, Canada and I can live car-free thanks to the SkyTrain and extensive bus network. I can't comment much on downtown Seattle because I never spent too much time in downtown nor took transit in Seattle, but it would be interesting to hear your experience. Take care and have a great day.
I just found your channel while looking for an explanation of CROW bicycle design manuals. Congrats on moving to Seattle! I grew up in Reno/Carson, moved to an even worse suburbia in SoCal, then moved to Seattle area and it had an immediate positive effect on my mental health and happiness. Seattle isn't perfect of course, but it definitely is making strides in the right direction for non-car transportation. And I agree with you, when I go back to Reno/Carson to visit family, I just don't see that type of change happening anytime soon. Welcome to Washington! I think you'll like it a lot.
As a Coloradoan... I was excited when I learned you were from Denver, hoping you would move back to Colorado and make videos about RTD. I live down in Colorado Springs, I used to Commute to Centennial and downtown to MSU Denver... I would take the E-Line and Bustang. It added so much time to my commute but was better than sitting in I-25 traffic; especially during The Gap construction. I am making the career transition from Aerospace to Urban Planning. I hope soon I can find the time to make videos about urbanism along the Front Range.
But Seattle is cool too. Good luck!
I visited Seattle recently, Seattle and Denver are very similar in terms of transit availability. I was expecting Seattle to be better but I wasn’t able to conclude that at the end. I also visited Pittsburgh and there it’s worse than both. Makes me appreciate the Denver area a bit more than I did before.
@@TimurTripp2 I'm from Pittsburgh originally and it's not that bad if you live in the South Hills. I could walk to a light rail station and be downtown in 15 minutes, or visit a very walkable suburb like Mt. Lebanon where they don't even have school buses because it's so walkable. Ig compared to the sunbelt where I live now, anything is better transportation-wise
Denver and Seattle have a lot of similarities in terms of urbanity, transit, etc. I'd give Seattle the slight edge because they have a slightly larger core, more grade-separated transit, and slightly denser urban nodes outside of the core, but those are relatively small differences. Overall these cities have a lot in common (aside from weather!)
I moved to Omaha from Denver as well and basically everything you explained in this video is exactly how Omaha cares about their public transportation as well. Everything is so car dominate out here and there are no bike lanes or even sidewalks. I never had a car until I moved to Omaha. Even the airport is next to Downtown Omaha. It's only a few miles away and there is no way from you to get from the airport to Downtown Omaha by bus! It is absolutely insane!
So...they actually do have a bus to the airport but it's clearly for intended for staff who work at the airport shops based on the hours. Some of the students used it when I went to Creighton. Also, whatever happened to the protected lane on Harney? I know they extended it until the streetcar construction started after the protest--thanks to the private donor (ridiculous they needed one in the first place...). But Omaha did have at least 2 miles of protected bike lanes last I was there. Awful, and Stothart keeps threatening it but not quite zero...
I am happy for your move and can't wait for your next video. We urbanists definitely want to fix our places where we grew up but at some point... It becomes very futile. You have to try and experiment with what tools you have but Reno/Carson City region is just... Well, that's why you left and that's why NotJustBikes left Canada.
I hope other people who see this video don't see this as running away from the problem and more of an major exodus for you at this point of your life.
Best wishes and can't wait for you to show us how Seattle treats you.
This is going to be great for your channel. There are a lot of things to make videos about here in Seattle- both good and bad.
Seattle's activism and urban+activist media is strong, and has been slowly overcoming WA's overall car-centrism. There are also decent coach/train options to reach WA's different centers. Seattle's car-centrism resembles Boston's in its compactness
There is no perfect place. Seattle average home price is $850K vs Reno $500K. Rents are vastly different as well. Sunny days/year in Seattle 152 vs Reno 300. While transportation in Seattle might be OK, it ain't no Vancouver, BC, which is far superior. There are pluses and minuses and a lot will depend on you, your attitude, and taking advantage of the things you can appreciate wherever you are.
I really enjoy this side by side comparison. Good luck, I hope you enjoy it in Seattle
Happy to discuss this with you as a longtime Seatte resident. Off the top of my head I’d suggest Portland OR. for transportation. West Seatte might be worth a look. Capitol Hill and downtown have lots of crime, drug and homeless issues. Seatte growth is out of control and this means ALL of King County. Rent starts at 2k month. And you better enjoy being wet, waking up in dark and going home after 5 also in the dark. Also the Seatte freeze is real. See all that water? Guess what traffic has to go around that or over it on very limited roads & routes. Seatte voters passed almost every transit referendum but mostly didn’t manage to actually build any of it unless the route goes directly to Microsoft or tech companies. Most Seattle residents are very unhappy with the last decade or two of growth. Homes start at 800. A million buys a fixer. Hate to rain on your parade but most newcomers only last 2-3 years.
Yep. I left after 2.5. It's nearly impossible to lay roots down. The crime and drug problems are dystopian. Bums crapping everywhere. Awful, disgusting place.
Hey, welcome to our awesome city! We have a long way to go in terms of urbanism, but it sure beats most places in the U.S. There's also more energy and support towards more sane policies over here, although it's always a struggle.
Hope you enjoy it here!
Welcome to Seattle! Can’t wait to see the videos you make about living here!
A great decision. I moved to Seattle and have lived a car-light life for first time ever and love it. I liked your videos before, but can't wait for some Seattle content! Looking forward to it
This is really interesting to me since I'm planning on moving out of LA later this year to either Denver or Seattle. My preference is more towards Seattle over Denver, but I'm curious what the tipping point was for you when making a decision between those cities? Also curious what other cities were you considering? I tempted by Portland, but my company mentioned I'd be taking a 15% cut in pay if I moved there.
Congrats on the move. You will LOVE Seattle! Keep in mind that much of Seattles transit is North/South oriented, so I would recommend finding a place close(ish) to a light rail hub.
You're lucky you can get out. I'm stuck in the DFW, and the sprawl here has been destroying my will for everything for years.
I hope you keep making videos. They are great and cant wait to see how it is in Seattle.
love that for you, can't wait to see your future content!
Welcome to Seattle my friend! I look forward to seeing videos of the city I live and grew up near in the upcoming months as you transition over here! Welcome to the Emerald city! =D
Good luck on the move, can't wait for Seattle content.
If you haven't found a place to live yet I would recommend Roosevelt as a possible neighborhood. It's right on the light rail (10 min ride to downtown), multiple high frequency bus lines go through it, there's good bike infrastructure, and good park access. I highly recommend being on the light rail line if possible and as the system grows it will only become more important.
Welcome to Seattle!! I’ve really enjoyed every video you’ve made, and now I’ll be even more interested since you’ll be showing my city. I moved here for similar reasons, albeit only from Bellevue.
Good for you, getting out of a place that sounds like it was sucking the life out of you.
I'm glad you can finally leave to a city that actually does accommodate for people not in a car and is continuing to improve. I know you wanted to leave Reno anyways but it is messed up you had to leave in order to live in any comfort or dignity. It's extremely disheartening that there has been little to no progress in the region as it is not possible or reasonable for everyone who cannot drive to leave Reno.
Glad that you are able to make a move to a more fulfilling place to live!
I started attending UNR last year after moving from Las Vegas and it really seems that the public transportation RTC Washoe has is more convenient to students than anyone else. Considering many students will take the Virginia Line to the Meadowood Mall or to the Sparks Legends Outlet, it's connected-ish... In any case, it's inconvenient and time-consuming if you don't have a car. It simply also isn't easily walkable.
I'm currently studying abroad in South Korea and the public transit system in Yeosu, a smaller in population and more dispersed city, has a better bus system than anywhere I've seen in Nevada. Instead of hourly buses on the Virginia Line, I can take a bus here every 20 minutes, or at most, every 30 on weekends here in Yeosu. Going to Seoul every few weeks too, taking a bus and subway is the go-to way to travel. I've talked to some of my professors and staff here at the university I attend here and they all have said they don't enjoy driving and would rather take the bus - and this is mainly caused by the lack of parking anywhere.
Can't wait to see what other content you decide to put out while in Seattle!
Welcome! Hope to see your content once you make the move, and to see you at a regional urbanist meetup 😊
Im so jelous. I live in small town in BC Canada. It is suburbia and it sucks. I wanted to move to the closest big city (Vancouver) but it is so expensive that I just can't afford it. Since "Not Just Bikes" and your channel, I have begun to understand why do I feel so depressed living here. I hop someday I can scape (just like you). Good luck in Seattle man!
I feel ya. I'm privileged enough to be staying with my grandma who lives in Pitt Meadows and has a frequent bus stop right in front of the house. Once you get pass Maple Ridge it becomes car centric with there being a stroad the moment you enter Maple Ridge from Pitt Meadows.
I really enjoy Vancouver. I am lucky and have a good paying job plus I moved in when the pandemic was holding rents down and am now locked in to those rents with rent control. But it really sucks that walkable cities are so artificially scarce on the West Coast and lock so many out. And yes, it is a completely artificial scarcity, because laws that mandate the building of sprawl make it impossible to legally build another Vancouver. The latter is changing, but not nearly fast enough to keep up with housing demand. And what’s worse is then all the people living out in the sprawl because they can’t afford anything else get counted by proponents of sprawl as “see, that’s where people are moving and voting with their feet to live in.”
I've been living in Tucson and moving to Santa Monica for this same reason. All the reasons you said. Amazing I found this video today 2 weeks before I leave.
Good luck on the move. Just a heads up as I’m sure many have already said here, different city, different challenges. I live in Portland and both Seattle and Portland have great transit systems, but unfortunately they’re plagued more often than not by homeless and those that need mental help. Crime is unfortunately on the rise as well, hopefully things turn around. They’re truly great places barring those recent developments of the last 10 or so years. It’d be great if you highlight your experience once youre settled so others can see for themselves and vote accordingly.
Welcome to Seattle! We're definitely making good progress. We just earned #3 on People for Bike's large city ratings, I believe for bike-friendly cities and we've won #1 for bus transit networks a number of times. The light rail is...coming a long...slowly, but it's nice if you live along it and need to go to the airport at least. (I do wish it were faster like NYC's...)
Oh, and you may have discovered it by now, but Ballard is "Bal-erd" (the "bal" rhymes with "pal" as in friend and the last part sounds like "heard" without the "h") not "Bahl-ard". :)
Im currently choosing between NYC and Seattle. They're my top 2. San fran and portland are my #3 and #4. Do you have a top 5 ? I loved seattle when i visited it. And I'm in nyc often and have friends in both cities. Denver is okay but honestly is quite sprawling in my opinion. Really didnt like it.
Good, one less person in the population. Blame it all on the state/county/city governments, giving away tax credits to businesses who want to build their companies. This brings in more people for which the cities are not prepared to handle. Their solution to population growth is to build wider roads which is supposed to alleviate traffic. Actually it just brings in yet more people. I just wish more people who leave the Truckee Meadows area. When the Wells Av. Overpass, I knew it was the beginning of the end. I moved out of Reno, but only to a nice neighborhood in Sparks. Seattle would not be my first choice to move to, if any, as my son wanted me to move outside of Portland, but I saw that the precipitation there occurs half of the year and I know Seattle would only be worse. I appreciate all four seasons. I would love to move closer to the edge of the city limits, but since I have gotten on in years, I will stick it out til I am gone. I hope your videos others to move out of Reno...Good luck and please don't come back!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I used to live in Boston before and had to move to Reno a little while back. I don't like this place at all primarily because of the practically nonexistent public transportation and the lack of walkability. I am so happy that at least someone in the world feels like I do.
Welcome, hopefully you’ll be here before the smokes. Underrated transit modes here are definitely the ferries, both the foot ferries (i.e. Water Taxis to West Seattle and Vashon, and Kitsap Fast Ferries to, well, Kitsap peninsula) and the car ferries. My favorite bus line is the 118/119 on Vashon which you can stop anywhere on the highway (and it used to have express trips which actually rode onto the ferry), and the 120 to Georgetown (and the Museum of flight; Also Georgetown is my favorite neighborhood). Take it during the Japanese Antique Market and you’ll get to see the inside of an amazing building.
I challenge you to take transit to Tacoma via Vashon (2 ferries and a few busses/streetcars/light rails depending on where you start and whether you take the ferry from West Seattle or the foot ferry from Downtown), but be careful to plan it. Not all ferries have a bus waiting at the dock.
I lived in Colorado Springs for the past 16 years, and just moved to Las Vegas because I got a deal on a place that I couldn't pass up. While there is a lot going on in Vegas, this place is basically impossible to navigate without a car. Fortunately, I'm living close enough to all the amenities I need outside of work, but the moment I have to go to work, it's a 30-minute commute on a good day. I've been looking into Seattle for a long time because I love the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, and this is all the convincing I need to plan a move there in the next couple years.
I live here and agree it is the largest downside.
Codes need to be reformed.
Congrats on your big move! I love Seattle, glad you can afford it. I will say that despite riding my bicycle 20,000km+ in Calgary and Alberta as a whole, I haven't had one single collision with a car. Meanwhile last summer, I flew with my bike to Seattle, and about 8-10km into my ride, a car ran into me. Thankfully it was a Prius with a slanted hood and not a compensator 150 that would have destroyed my shoulder, but still, my ankle was shot the next few months, so I have a gripe with the city, and the locals said Westlake is a dangerous place to ride a bike, which it shouldn't be...being so close to the central business district.
Westlake Station/Street/Park area south of South Lake Union or actual Westlake (western part of Lake Union) north of South Lake Union? (Yes, Seattle is terrible at naming areas...) It sounds like maybe the former, which isn't super surprising since it's mostly tourists and Uber drivers in that area. It definitely should be safer, still, but it doesn't surprise me.
@@emma70707 It was at the intersection of Dexter Ave & Galer St...not quite sure how it relates to anything else, and I have a video of it on my channel if you're curious, titled "Seattle to Tacoma Bike Ride"
Awesome, hope you like the rain out there lol. IMO what they really need is a line connecting Seattle > Olympia > Portland, with more than just a stop in Olympia and Tacoma. Multiple potential stops should exist with decent park-and-ride areas for the little towns surrounding I-5.
I myself am heading to Seattle to attend my graduate school program. I was born there, and spent much of my life in the Pacific Northwest. I am looking forward to seeing videos about the Emerald City on this channel!
As you said, you're absolutely going to love the transit system here in Seattle. Welcome! Make sure to make the most of the summer :D
One commenter said that Seattle transit sucks. I told them that it's a hell of a lot better than what most cities offer.
Congrats on moving to Seattle. I look forward to seeing your new videos. I would consider moving there also but its way to expensive for me.
I too left Reno (Sparks) for Seattle (Kent). Close enough. Love the greenery & mild summers here.
Been car-free about 6.5 years in Seattle. Had my car the first 4 months while my car lease ticked down... was so happy to be free from it. I live in Capitol Hill and I do not miss having a car. The transit is great (I grew up in a Denver suburb starting in 1980) and is certainly better than anywhere else I have lived. I am lucky enough to have worked from home for the last 26 years, but I ride transit nearly every day. Sometimes just for fun... or to go find a new Starbucks to sit at and work! Looking forward to more Seattle content (just watched the video on austerity motives with ST).
Great vid! Happy to hear about you’ll being in a city that respects you as a car free citizen. I’m from the east coast, but did you also consider Portland when making the move? I’ve heard a lot of great things from them
9:30 Where did you find the graph/map?
I went to UNR and now live in Seattle (I can walk to my doctor and stop by the hardware store on the way home!) trust me, you're gonna like it better!
Good for you Man. 🎉 In the last year I moved from suburban Texas to the Netherlands. The quality of life change is astonishing!
That's awesome. You might be lucky enough to run into Not Just Bikes' own Jason Slaughter. I've been a fan since watching his videos.
Congratulations you moved from hell(like) to much better!
I'm moving to east side next month from Phoenix and although it's not Seattle proper, the transit and walkability is still going to be worlds better than what I have now. I'm super stoked to be able to walk to my daily needs. Congrats on the move! Can't wait to see more PNW content from you!
welcome!! i love seattle, and am very proud of it when comparing it to other american cities, but like you said, it probably is about a 6/10 right now on transit. there is so much that could be done, i would be very thankful for more people helping to get something done here :)
I live car free in D.C. & I was very pleased to visit Seattle ( the other Washington) last year. It was very convenient to take their buses & transit & I love the cool weather too!
Seattle is pretty darn good as it goes for North American public transit at least within a radius of downtown. I've taken PT to and from the airport several times when visiting and it was rather painless. But, Seattle is indeed gloomy way more than most people are comfortable with. It will probably be a contrast/adjustment for you coming from Reno.
I feel your pain, especially every time you say "Reno". Moved from Orlando to Baltimore for similar reasons (well, also because Florida).
I've been on the same trajectory moving to better college towns with my degrees after growing up with no car in suburbam Orlando. Also got a remote job after my graduation last December and settled on Portland as the best bikeable and transit oriented city for my preferences.
I liked Seattle, but it felt like it needed another 5 yrs before it fleshed out its light rail network and bike infra. The streetcars not being connected is pretty weird too. Capitol Hill was the best neighborhood from my visits too.
Congrats! I love Seattle and especially Seattle transit.
Really looking forward to Seattle videos. I live in Denver now but have always wanted to move to Seattle's university district.
If you can't afford Seattle, I recommend Indianapolis, San Antonio, or Bloomington/Normal. Out of all the transit systems that I've ridden, San Antonio is by far the best. When it comes to the best place to ride your bicycles, Indianapolis was a great experience, way better than DC. Bloomington/Normal was by far the best even though it lacks a good network of bike lanes but the community felt so friendly especially the Normal area.
I am stuck in Reno, taking my e-bike to work 22 miles round trip. I have people honk at me and yell. I hate the weather here. Summers are basically fire season. It’s a horrible place to live. I want to get out so badly but my interest rate on my house is 2% - and Seattle is so expensive. Are there smaller towns in Washington that are bikeable ?
Welcome to Seattle! You will want fenders and good lighting on your bicycle. After decades of using cheap rainwear, last year I finally splurged on GoreTex (naturally that means we had a lot less rain this winter), but I now wish I had made the change years ago.
Moving from one bad city to another bad city? Makes sense.
I lived in Nevada most of my life. I want to live car free but work prevents that. I’m happy for you and I hope it works out.
Good luck with the move!
these are the same reasons i fled florida to portland oregon. good luck!! sounds like quite the upgrade!
You left Florida to go to Portland. Are you braindead??
@@floridaman318 i mean if i lived in florida, i would rather be almost anywhere else in the us than desantis-land
Congratulations! I, too, ended up living places I did not enjoy for a good chunk of my 20's, before getting the chance to move to Seattle and leaping at it. Have since moved on, but while Seattle has its faults it is certainly a better place to get around without a car than is Reno. Life is to short to piss it away living someplace you hate.
Welcome to Seattle! I’m in a non-walkable area but there are some good spots.
At least in my city's public transit system, it was realized that the growth of the outer area would need to be better served. In May 2017, the system had a transition of sorts. One of those which had more buses running earlier and later. Before May 2017, most buses that only went through downtown Columbus had that length of service. And the last buses would run just before midnight when I had a job in which I usually clocked out at 1130pm. Though the transit system has had challenges related to the pandemic, the improvements for the most part were good.
You're going to fit in here. I have a car but I don't use it much here in Seattle. Everything is super walkable and enjoyably so, because as you said it's the scale of things and how they are built. Everything is pretty dense and close together and the transit system is pretty expansive. I choose to ride a bike and do so all year. I haven't driven to work in like 7 years.
Can't wait for you to settle!
It’s important to vote with our feet - though, that isn’t always feasible! Ideally, people leaving one city for another with better services will show cities what people are looking for. It’d be great if Reno would improve on a mobility front, but no one has to stick around to hope it’ll happen. Glad to hear you’ve moved somewhere that’ll do better for you!
Good Choice!
I am Washingtonian myself, I would say other then the crime and some of the politics, I do like this state, although those are problems bassicly everywhere.