Is driving around Seattle hard?

Yes, Seattle is a nightmare to drive in - especially for a newly licensed, inexperienced driver who is not familiar with the area. The freeways are very congested and you have to pay really close attention when you get on the city streets - lots of one-way streets, traffic lights, dead ends, bicycles and pedestrians to watch out for.

There is no way the bus will cost you $12 per day. Once you get on the bus you can transfer to other buses for free so if you get the youth/student rate the maximum will be under $2 per day even if you took the bus both ways. If your uncle drops you off, but you come home on the bus it will of course be only half of that. Chances are you will only need a maximum of 2 buses - not 3 and very possibly only one if you are willing to walk a few blocks. Here is a link to the Metro bus website: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/ridertools/

Many of the hospitals have free shuttles that run between the main downtown area and the hospital, making a transfer to another Metro bus in Seattle unneccessary. Many Seattle hospitals don't even give their employees or patients free parking. Most give their employees free or reduced-price bus passes, so I would double-check with the hospital to make sure they will give you a free parking pass.

If you drive into Seattle, your parking could easily cost you $12 per day or more and the traffic is so bad you probably won't get there any faster by driving since the buses can use the carpool (HOV) lane which is usually much faster. If you drive yourself, you can't use the HOV lane.

Good luck!

Driving In Seattle

The real trick to Seattle driving, especially for downtown is to know how to handle the hills. I do not recommend a new driver do any driving on the downtown hills in a stick shift unless they are very comfortable with getting into gear on a hill. Most people will not leave you any space for the car to slip back if you don't get it in gear and moving forward immediately, and it can be intimidating to have a full line of cars behind you and you can't get your car moving.

The other trick to Seattle driving is to be aware that many of the downtown streets are one way and/or have limited left turn possibilities.

Parking downtown and on First hill ("Pill Hill"), where many of the hospitals are is expensive. If you can get to/from the Mercer Island park and ride, it's only one transfer (and all on Metro, so the transfer is at no cost). Youth fares should be .75 each way.

Or consider riding a bike for part of the way - there's a bike lane on the I90 bridge and there are bike racks on the buses if there is a portion that you don't want to be riding.....

It's not like LA or anything. It can get congested and you can be sitting in traffic at times, but it's not too crazy here. If I were you I'd take the bus into the city from Mercer Island. It's not far away and it would save you the hassle of driving into the city and finding parking. Finding park can be a really pain...plus it's expensive. There are garages downtown that'll charge you $20 bucks or more to park all day.

Short answer - YES!

not as long as you have a high tolerance for grunge, bad coffee, and rain.