Commute times

20-30 minutes, I'd say

Depends which direction you are coming from via southside road or directly down Raphune Hill. Both take pretty muc the same amount of time. Give yourself 30 - 45 min., minimum as traffic slows both at Havensight intersection and at the bottom of Raphune Hill. I have had it take over 20 min just to get down Raphune Hill in the middle of the day, then you have all the stop lights to contend with as well as finding a place to park.

Thank you!
parking's not going to be an issue, as far as I understand.

I wanted to start this as a reference for other people though.... can we start a list please?
I think it makes a difference when you are starting your search for a place to live.

We are trying to whittle down the options and focus our search before we fly over. I think a list of commute times would help over people when considering a move as well.

The STT public town lots for paid parking are filled by 8AM.
I rarely if, ever shop in town, if I can avoid it as parking can be very hard to come by.

Any estimation of commute times is exactly that - and a very rough one at that. If there's a breakdown or even a minor fender bender our roads don't accommodate places to pull over so traffic can sometimes be held up for an hour or more before things get moving. There are way too many variables. At any time of the day or night it can take you anywhere from 10 minutes to over an hour to go even a short distance. And Alana's right - parking in town is a pain to find and I've sometimes driven around for an hour or more trying to find a space when the main lot is filled and on occasion have simply given up. I go into town as infrequently as possible for exactly that reason.

I was wondering why anyone would want to go to town, too. And, when I do go to town, I just park at Yacht Haven Grande and walk the very beautiful, flat, easy one mile stroll along the Waterfront.

Visiting friends drag me in, usually kicking and screaming.
I do enjoy it once the stress of finding a parking spot is over and we are sitting down to have a nice lunch in a lovely cobble stone, paved alley way with a cold drink in hand, awaiting a delicious meal. There are some nice shops here and there but have noticed many others sell the same t-shirt tourist type stuff made in China unlike years ago when there were some very nice dress shops and other type stores in town.

From 4 Corners/Northside/STT to downtown - 15 -30 min. depnding on traffic.

This is the deal:

I like the south shore road.
Arriving downtown a 9 is though call, especialy when ships are in.
Can you start work before 7:50?
If you leave east end (anywhere west of RedHook (like EK HS) estimate 30 minutes.
Leave HS 7:20. Park at the fort. Shoes on the street before 7:50.
Rain will impact drive time especially up donkey hill.

If you need to stop at the store (kmart costuless et al) on your way home, go Raphune Hill.

By a car with good A/C.

East End in general and Red Hook in particuluar is getting more and more hetic as the years go by. All the visitor/commuters to and from shuttle from the ferry, which is the pretty much the primary method of accessing STJ.

Frenchman's Bay is good choice if punching a clock downtown.

Compared to places I've worked in the states: NYC, suburban SF, San Juan, ect, downtown is eazy peazy. I actually like the energy and vibe. My dad, on the other hand, was know to brag that he didn't set foot on downtown street for 5 years straight. Ask potential employers about parking, flex hours, etc.

Thanks Blu, et al.
Actually my Husband will be working downtown full time and I'm going to be working at the Pistarckle at least part-time to start.
We are bringing our cars over from STX.... both have good AC.

Redhook was just a consideration because there is a great daycare option for us out there.
but - it might not be worth the driving headaches.

I am open to your thoughts and comments - will not be offended.
We are trying to decide the best plan-of-action for apartment hunting... not going to be able to do a full PMV.

And I think you were saying parking is not an issue because it will be provided by your employers?

we are verifying - thanks to this forum. But we are fairly certain that parking is not an issue.

I work 9-5 downtown monday through friday, and here's how it works for me:

I can drive from Hull Bay to downtown in exactly 13 minutes, Hull Bay to East End in 20. Parking is extremely easy to get by 8:20am downtown, after that it gets progressively worse until it maxes out at about 10. After 9:30 or so, you're parking down by Windward Passage.

In my experience, the parking lot at Ft Christian has never been full, I've never had a hard time finding a parking spot there, it just costs you $5 for the day or get a monthly pass for $80. I don't use it because the parking ticket ladies don't generally walk thurs-sun so you can blow through the 2 hour parking limit by wherever you work without worry. If it's raining, you will never get a parking ticket.

If we're in season they walk more, you generally won't get a ticket until about 11:30 - move your car by then and then move it once more around 2, they won't ticket you after 3 so you can just leave it after that. All of that said, don't yell at me if you get a ticket following this advice :).

The way I figure it, a ticket is $50 if you pay it right away, balloons to $100 if you don't, and if you rack up a lot of tickets they get even higher after a certain point. If you get tickets and go ask the court how much you owe, everyone I know has said that they owed less than the tickets they actually had, i.e. not all of the tickets written actually make it into the system. If it's $80/mo to have a parking pass, that's $960/year for the privilege of walking a half mile to work and back every day. If you get a ticket here and there, you're still going to come in way under that. Just depends on whether you want to move your car every now and then on ship days.

I go several months at a time parking right by work and not moving my car at all, I'll wind up with $200 or so in tickets but IMO it beats paying the $80/mo to park in the parking lot.

From Red Hook to CA about 25 - 30 minutes.

From Red Hook to Tillet Gardens about 10 minutes.

Parking will always be a problem until any new parking structure is built. A stat I once heard was that there are about 1200 parking spaces in town and 1600 cars needing them on most days. Everyone has different plans like trainwreck as to how to do it. Enforcement has always been an issue. If they were all enforced with people only parking for the times allowed, those who shudder at going into town will always find a space if cars were ticketed and towed instead of ticketed. Meanwhile we wait for the structures. A no brainer. VI snorkeler has the 'better idea' park in someone's private parking lot and walk to town. Folks did that in Havensight and are now booted. It will only take time for YHG to do it. Folks park in Frenchtown and walk to town. Unfair to the businesses trying to survive there. Hopefully soon we will have at least on parking garage built of the three being bandied around.

CA to STX there are day cares all over the island. The quickest entry into town is from the Northside. Living in town even better. I have lived in town all my life and have always driven against traffic when I worked outside of what I do now. Never a problem being stuck in traffic. If I lived on the East end, I would take the North shore road to Skyline and down into town. Raphune is always a problem coming that way an Havensight another in the AM with cruise ships.

The quickest entry into town is from the Northside.

Agree. I've lived on the South side and East end and since being on the North side for the last year plus, getting into town is a total breeze in comparison.