Question for Bay Area Folks

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 27 2007, 10:50 PM) [snapback]397624[/snapback]</div>

I used to live in Albany and had a commute to the South Bay. It took me about an hour and a half (not rush hour), and of that, a half hour of it was going the five miles from Albany (and I lived pretty near the freeway, too) to the bridge. If I went during rush hour, it would have been much worse.

Which is why I don't live in the Bay Area anymore.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 27 2007, 07:50 PM) [snapback]397624[/snapback]</div>

BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 27 2007, 08:26 PM) [snapback]397645[/snapback]</div>

You'll need wheels for the weekend.

P.S. Parking in downtown San Francisco is quite expensive. Much more so than in L.A.

 

For sure live by a BART station. Traffic and parking are horrible during commute times. Make sure you check out the areas as there are some sketchy areas in Oaktown. Unless you have a carpool stickers, forget commuting on the road.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 27 2007, 10:19 PM) [snapback]397687[/snapback]</div>

Please see one of the earlier postings for BART - From the schedule, you can figure out exactly how long it will take from door-to-door.

I use to work in San Francisco (at a large brokerage firm based in SF). Everybody that lived in the east bay used BART. From the Silicon Valley, I had to use CalTrain.

Like the other posters have stated, you really don't want to drive into SF during the week. (Parking is very costly.)

(I grew-up on southern California and move to the Bay Area many years ago (after college). Weather is a bit cooler here, than southern California, but still very nice.

Keep your car, there is a lot to do around here on the weekends and you really need an automobile...

Keith

 

I've never taken the Bay Bridge from the East Bay into SF on a weekday let alone weekday rush hour, but even on the weekend (the times I've done it), it's usually been awful.

 

I used to commute from Albany to UCSF and it took me in rush hour traffic (its always rush hour now) about an hour and a half and that was 20 years ago. I since moved to Walnut Creek and commute to Cal Berkeley. My advice is not to commute by car if you can help it. As others here have pointed out parking is really high and the toll is now 4 dollars. Bart is OK, way better then commuting by car, but still pretty awful.You will never get a seat. If you must commute by car get a fast pass. They are free(but you have to load them) and they do speed your commute. Thoughts and prayers are with you pal.
-Paul R. Haller-

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 28 2007, 01:19 AM) [snapback]397687[/snapback]</div>

Count on at least a half hour, assuming it's NOT rush hour. If it is during rush hour, don't use a watch to time it, use a calendar.

And unless you have a designated parking area in The City, count on at least a half hour to find a spot, and then count on another half hour to walk from the closest spot you found to where you have to go.

 

Checking the BART schedule, I find that it is $2.95 and 21 minutes from the MacArthur station to Powell Street in downtown San Francisco. From the Rockridge station to Powell Street is $3.10 and 23 minutes. Those are two of the stations you might be close to when you move to North Oakland or Emeryville. There is a free shuttle, the Emery-Go-Round, to the MacArthur station.

I live in Richmond and worked in downtown Oakland for four and a half years. I could count the times I drove rather than taking BART and still have fingers to spare. As others noted, BART is a very common way for people to get into San Francisco. The cost of parking is a big factor. A big advantage for me is that I can read or nap on my train ride.

Driving over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco is much easier in a hybrid with access to the commuter lanes. You don't have any metering lights at the east end of the bridge. However, if you are going to be working in downtown San Francisco, count me among those who recommend BART over driving.

 

Move to SF and take Muni to work. Weather is nicer in the east bay, but SF has lots of events.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 27 2007, 07:50 PM) [snapback]397624[/snapback]</div>

BART is the way to go. I was in SF the last two days commuting from Alameda. I took BART about 20 minutes, $3.10, and took the ferry back home. You can drive but you have to pay toll and then parking, which collectively, I estimate to be about $25 a day total, pretty expensive. BART is a great way to commute.

I was thinking of driving the Prius but the parking in SF would have been too expensive.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 27 2007, 10:50 PM) [snapback]397624[/snapback]</div>

If you work in downtown, bart is the best bet. I cross the bridge every day for the last 18 years.
Depends on your time of day, too. Drving earlier is better.
I catch the casual carpool in at 7am, 30min ride usually in the carpool lane from Orinda. 45-1hr thru the tolls.
Bart coming back is 26min, but driving out of the city is rough most of the time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 28 2007, 10:11 AM) [snapback]397907[/snapback]</div>

You should definitely get FasTrak. It seems like a real no-brainer to me, especially when I see the difference in the lines at the toll plazas of SF Bay area bridges. The FasTrak pass really doesn't cost you anything and it will save you time, weekdays or weekends.

By the way, FasTrak was a requirement for getting the HOV stickers from California DMV for any drivers in ten or eleven SF Bay area counties.

 

My friend uses this:

http://www.ridenow.org/carpool/

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Feb 28 2007, 01:11 PM) [snapback]397907[/snapback]</div>

Montero's in Albany has the best Mexican food in the Bay Area (at least, they did five years ago; I don't know what it's like now).