Never been to Seattle, looking for advice on where to live while attending UW

I’m looking at places in the U-district, which makes things easy, but I was also wondering how feasible it would be to live downtown, in regards to commuting.

As far as public transportation, how much can I expect to pay monthly, and is it a viable option? If I get a car, how bad is traffic?

Any thoughts at all are greatly appreciated, thank you!

There is a light rail from downtown to Husky stadium that is very quick and the fair is included with your UPass/tuition.

Traffic is fairly bad in Seattle and parking near campus is also expensive. Since the UPass covers your public transit cost, I would recommend looking at the METRO king county site and google the light rail path to figure out best places to live that are a short walk from a station.