‘People ain’t working’: Gee’s warning about why Seattle’s commute keeps improving, what it’s costing downtown

Seattle’s average one-way commute dropped by two and a half minutes between 2019 and 2024, tied for the third-biggest improvement among the 50 largest U.S. cities. For someone commuting five days a week, that adds up to more than 20 hours a year no longer spent in traffic. The biggest reason: about a quarter of Seattle’s employed residents still work from home.

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin, co-hosts of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, agreed the improvement is real but disagreed on whether it’s something to celebrate.

“I do notice it on the roads when I’m going back south because that commute is a little bit shorter than it used to be,” Gee said. “But are we still champions of this whole work from home? Like, y’all, are you really?”

Ursula said the answer is clear if you look at downtown Seattle or King County government offices.

“Some businesses, and some county agencies, and some city agencies are having a real hard time getting people back in,” Ursula said.

Gee noted he’s done arguing the point, but he’s not convinced shorter commutes equal good news.

“I argue if the future is more work from home, that’s not a good thing,” Gee said. “The next time Gene Balk does this in two to three years, and he’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, the commute is five minutes shorter,’ that’s because people ain’t working.”

Ursula agreed that remote work combined with another force could shrink commute times even further.

“The work from home plus the rise in AI, the combo there, I think is going to mean even less traffic in the future,” Ursula said. “That’s not an entirely bad thing, but losing all those jobs obviously is.”

Gee, Ursula think downtown Seattle is paying the price

Gee pointed to a pattern of long-established businesses closing downtown and questioned whether the shift away from offices is connected.

“I’m not saying it’s the responsibility of people that are working from home,” Gee said. “But is it not alarming that every time we hear about a business downtown Seattle closing down,  we do hear about some of these businesses that have been around for 20, 30 years closing down.”

Ursula said the evidence is visible on foot.

“You just walk around downtown, and you see a lot of boarded-up shops,” Ursula said. “You look at Westlake Center, and the mall there is a shell of what it used to be, what I remember it to be.”

Ursula added that the census data only runs through 2024 and doesn’t account for current I-5 construction, particularly the Ship Canal Bridge project, which has added significant delays for daily commuters.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.