Commuting in car from Oakland to Palo Alto?
March 15, 2018 8:46 PM Subscribe
I recently accepted an offer of admission for a grad program at Stanford. My wife and I are thinking of living in Oakland and having me commute. Is this a terrible idea? I know there's a fourth year who lives in Berkeley, but he's only on campus two or three days out of the week at this point. Is driving five days a week viable< under best conditions? Worst conditions?
We are interested in living in the East Bay, because we're two queer women. We don't really want to live in Palo Alto for a couple years and then have to move again, because we have a two-bedroom apartment's worth of belongings (beds, kitchen table, sofa, etc.). I originally considered public transit, but there's an existing AskMefi question about Oakland -> Palo Alto on public transit, and the overwhelming majority of people were like, "God, no." What about a car commute? Any and all suggestions welcome.
We are interested in living in the East Bay, because we're two queer women. We don't really want to live in Palo Alto for a couple years and then have to move again, because we have a two-bedroom apartment's worth of belongings (beds, kitchen table, sofa, etc.). I originally considered public transit, but there's an existing AskMefi question about Oakland -> Palo Alto on public transit, and the overwhelming majority of people were like, "God, no." What about a car commute? Any and all suggestions welcome.
Oops, never mind, just saw you don't want to do public transit. Anyway, I think the drive would be awful, unfortunately.
posted by pinochiette at 8:50 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by pinochiette at 8:50 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have to do this every once in a while for work and it's awful. I had a friend also going down there for grad school and he just rented a room and split his time between Oakland & PA when he could.
posted by bradbane at 8:59 PM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by bradbane at 8:59 PM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
I've done this commute before. It was miserable.
posted by asterix at 8:59 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by asterix at 8:59 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yes, I’m afraid that the commute would be absolutely horrendous. I was also a Stanford grad student and even the people who lived in San Jose were miserable.
Palo Alto is indeed ultra boring and pricy but it’s...tolerable enough.
posted by faineg at 9:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Palo Alto is indeed ultra boring and pricy but it’s...tolerable enough.
posted by faineg at 9:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
How do you feel about going 10 miles an hour on a highway for 2 hours each way? Sounds like my personal hell...
posted by Toddles at 9:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Toddles at 9:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
Terribad. Maybe once you're further along in your program and at the point where you only have to be on campus one or two days a week, and were taking public transit -- well, it'd be sort of tolerable. The Caltrain->BART or DB bus from the oval->BART options aren't that bad and definitely beat out driving, especially during rush hour.
posted by un petit cadeau at 9:07 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by un petit cadeau at 9:07 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
no, not realistic, sorry.
Just live at/near Stanford and move when you're done. The area around the university is pleasant. Mountain View is fine too and not too far. What you're thinking about isn't viable and you'd get no benefit from it anyway since you'd never get home with any juice left in you.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:07 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
Just live at/near Stanford and move when you're done. The area around the university is pleasant. Mountain View is fine too and not too far. What you're thinking about isn't viable and you'd get no benefit from it anyway since you'd never get home with any juice left in you.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:07 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I did this commute four days a week for 18 months. It was pretty hellish.
Do you listen to audiobooks? I started because I was afraid I was going to kill someone with my road rage. I found that listening to audiobooks, rather than music, distracted me just enough. And sometimes I got home and was so engrossed in the plot I stayed in my car listening to it until the end of the chapter.
posted by greermahoney at 9:16 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Do you listen to audiobooks? I started because I was afraid I was going to kill someone with my road rage. I found that listening to audiobooks, rather than music, distracted me just enough. And sometimes I got home and was so engrossed in the plot I stayed in my car listening to it until the end of the chapter.
posted by greermahoney at 9:16 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
It’s a shit show during commute hours and not much better off commute.
I Live in Berkeley with clients in Silicon Valley and it’s a mess.
If you are okay with “some” commute you may want to look at Santa Cruz which is fairly queer friendly. I don’t know what the commute is like every day over 17 but the distance is a bit better.
posted by bitdamaged at 9:18 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I Live in Berkeley with clients in Silicon Valley and it’s a mess.
If you are okay with “some” commute you may want to look at Santa Cruz which is fairly queer friendly. I don’t know what the commute is like every day over 17 but the distance is a bit better.
posted by bitdamaged at 9:18 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's a terrible commute. My office used to be in Menlo Park - the 280 side - and I live in SF and the commute was...doable. I have colleagues who live in Berkeley and Oakland and their relief, now that the office has moved to SF and they don't have to make that drive every day, cannot be overstated. They managed it (sort of) by arriving early (like 7) and leaving early (like 3 at the latest). Your program schedule is probably not going to allow for that.
posted by rtha at 9:27 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 9:27 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Every road you need to travel on for that commute has traffic all day every day. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 2hrs each way during rush hours.
Minimizing it while living in Oakland would ideally involve living in such proximity to West Grand Ave. so you can avoid the interchange, but a lot of people probably know that trick already. I don't think it necessarily would involve living in West Oakland, but boy would avoiding the Maze save you time.
posted by rhizome at 9:28 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
Minimizing it while living in Oakland would ideally involve living in such proximity to West Grand Ave. so you can avoid the interchange, but a lot of people probably know that trick already. I don't think it necessarily would involve living in West Oakland, but boy would avoiding the Maze save you time.
posted by rhizome at 9:28 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
This is a bad idea unless you are wild about your car and want to spend more time with it. It is an extremely well trafficked commute and past Hayward it looks like a parking lot. I think from the traffic reports people now swoop out and do a ridiculous roundabout commute to avoid that commute and yet it is still always on the traffic report.
posted by Smearcase at 9:30 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Smearcase at 9:30 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh my God no.
posted by jesourie at 9:34 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jesourie at 9:34 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also from the same thread
tl;dr Fuck that noise.
posted by bendy at 9:49 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
tl;dr Fuck that noise.
posted by bendy at 9:49 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't think that you will have any problems as a queer couple anywhere in the Bay Area.
posted by coberh at 9:51 PM on March 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by coberh at 9:51 PM on March 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
do_not_want.jpg
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Just live in Palo Alto for the years you're studying, or, if the suburbs really kill your soul, Half Moon Bay or something. Do not contemplate this commute unless you never want to see your wife.
posted by Jaclyn at 10:36 PM on March 15, 2018
posted by Jaclyn at 10:36 PM on March 15, 2018
DO NOT. And on top of everything that everyone is saying, please be aware that you have to add another 10-15 minutes to any commute for just getting off the Stanford campus, which is huge, is often under construction and glutted with tourists, and is not particularly well organized for cars and/or parking. (Actually, make that 20-25 minutes depending on your department - 10 minutes to walk to wherever you managed to find parking, and then 10-15 to get off campus.)
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 10:56 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 10:56 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
So, I live in Oakland, near the Coliseum, i.e. past a bunch of the Oakland-specific traffic. As a freelancer, I occasionally take work on the Stanford campus. For an 8a start, I leave my house at 5:45a. If I can carpool with a friend, we leave my house at 6a. If I am riding my motorcycle and lane splitting aggressively the entire way, I leave at 6:30a.
Traffic is worse on the way home.
posted by mollymayhem at 11:15 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Traffic is worse on the way home.
posted by mollymayhem at 11:15 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ask current students how much they are on campus in their first year. Every grad program I've been associated with basically expects first years to be on campus a lot.
And there is a shit ton of work to do that you can't do while driving - reading, writing, and grading.
If you're TAing or just taking classes, people will not tolerate your commute as an excuse. If your TA advisor says you need to run a practicum, you do it. Guest speaker coming? You attend.
posted by k8t at 11:40 PM on March 15, 2018
And there is a shit ton of work to do that you can't do while driving - reading, writing, and grading.
If you're TAing or just taking classes, people will not tolerate your commute as an excuse. If your TA advisor says you need to run a practicum, you do it. Guest speaker coming? You attend.
posted by k8t at 11:40 PM on March 15, 2018
Hi, I've lurked for years and this question has finally made me register for an account to tell you that the commute from anywhere in the East Bay into Palo Alto sucks. And not even in a grit your teeth, but deal kind of way but more like grit your teeth until you have no more teeth left to grit. If you enjoy spending a lot of time in your car and you're the type of person who is chill about traffic, it might be viable as a daily commute.
My commute is through PA into an East Bay city so I can report that while I'm usually moving at the speed limit, the other side is usually stop and go and sometimes just stopped. Also as someone else pointed above, getting to Stanford from anywhere that is not right by Stanford adds an annoying amount of time.
Also if you take the 92 or the 84 bridge, you can add a daily $5 bridge toll to your expenses. I suppose you could go 880
->237->101 but that would take even longer to get to Stanford.
posted by later, paladudes at 12:32 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
My commute is through PA into an East Bay city so I can report that while I'm usually moving at the speed limit, the other side is usually stop and go and sometimes just stopped. Also as someone else pointed above, getting to Stanford from anywhere that is not right by Stanford adds an annoying amount of time.
Also if you take the 92 or the 84 bridge, you can add a daily $5 bridge toll to your expenses. I suppose you could go 880
->237->101 but that would take even longer to get to Stanford.
posted by later, paladudes at 12:32 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
My SO did the opposite of this one day a week for 3 months and it was not pretty. If you must do it, he found BART Oakland -> Union City, then driving across the bridge to be the least painful option, but would never do it again.
posted by asphericalcow at 5:59 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by asphericalcow at 5:59 AM on March 16, 2018
To the other point in your question - paying for someone else to pack and move your 2 bedroom apartment within the Bay Area will likely cost $1500-2000. That’s cheaper than 2 years of bridge tolls, even before you consider gas costs & wear and tear on your car.
posted by asphericalcow at 6:12 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by asphericalcow at 6:12 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks so much, all. I will talk this over with my wife. Your feedback has been very helpful. I hadn't known about the U Shuttle. And I hadn't considered bridge tolls in my thinking about this. Thanks.
posted by lilies.lilies at 6:35 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by lilies.lilies at 6:35 AM on March 16, 2018
If you are okay with “some” commute you may want to look at Santa Cruz which is fairly queer friendly. I don’t know what the commute is like every day over 17 but the distance is a bit better.It's really bad due to both traffic and accident rate. If 17 gets fogged over it's downright terrifying Commuting from SCruz to the southern Silicon Valley is somewhat tolerable, I'm told, if you really like living in Santa Cruz. Commuting over 17 all the way up to Palo Alto and back every weekday is a complete non-starter to me.
posted by 4rtemis at 8:20 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I did 4 years living in Palo Alto commuting to Santa Cruz, and 2 years commuting to Albany from Palo Alto. The Santa Cruz way I was a reverse commuter, so it wasn't so bad, except in bad weather. I would not have wanted to be one of the poor suckers trying to get to Palo Alto from Santa Cruz in the mornings, even then.
The traffic in the Bay Area is exponentially worse than when I did it (2001-2007) and I thus really wouldn't wish that commute on anyone now. I was so tired all the time. So, so tired.
I am not a queer woman, so I hate to try and speak to this, but have you talked to queer women who live closer to Palo Alto about what that might look like for you? Do you have a sense of why Oakland would be enough better for you to consider that commute?
posted by freezer cake at 9:03 AM on March 16, 2018
The traffic in the Bay Area is exponentially worse than when I did it (2001-2007) and I thus really wouldn't wish that commute on anyone now. I was so tired all the time. So, so tired.
I am not a queer woman, so I hate to try and speak to this, but have you talked to queer women who live closer to Palo Alto about what that might look like for you? Do you have a sense of why Oakland would be enough better for you to consider that commute?
posted by freezer cake at 9:03 AM on March 16, 2018
I live in North Oakland and work for a company in Los Altos. I work from home, but on rare occasions go down to the office for a day.
in maybe 10-12 legs, ONCE it took an hour. the other times were all 1:15-1:30. depending on time of day of course. bad weather will increase the time. even one minor accident on the way can be a disaster. there aren't really good pubtrans options to get down there (3 hours one way)
I could not personally do this commute 5 days a week, you are talking 2-3 hours out of your day. re quality of life, health etc.,
consider living some place like San Mateo maybe? much closer to Palo Alto but also not so terribly far from SF/Bay Area.
posted by supermedusa at 9:36 AM on March 16, 2018
in maybe 10-12 legs, ONCE it took an hour. the other times were all 1:15-1:30. depending on time of day of course. bad weather will increase the time. even one minor accident on the way can be a disaster. there aren't really good pubtrans options to get down there (3 hours one way)
I could not personally do this commute 5 days a week, you are talking 2-3 hours out of your day. re quality of life, health etc.,
consider living some place like San Mateo maybe? much closer to Palo Alto but also not so terribly far from SF/Bay Area.
posted by supermedusa at 9:36 AM on March 16, 2018
the entire bay area is queer friendly. Suburbs here does not mean conservative.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:48 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:48 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
Sadly, West Grand beta is obsolete. That on ramp is a complete shit show and I've been stuck in standstill traffic there multiple times for >45 minutes at 6:30a (unless you're okay being one of those people who cut in at the last minute). Not sure what your tolerance is for sitting in traffic but piling onto everyone else who says this is unsustainable for your mental health.
posted by blueberrypuffin at 9:54 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by blueberrypuffin at 9:54 AM on March 16, 2018
Following up on your underlying reasoning - as others have pointed out, everything within like 50 miles of Palo Alto is totally queer friendly. You could live in a cottage in Woodside or a high-rise condo in Redwood City or a regular old apartment anywhere from Mountain View to San Mateo and you would not face any hostility because of your sexuality. In fact now I'm curious how Oakland might have gotten a reputation for being better in that regard, as I've not heard it.
Anyway, yeah - that commute is horrible. Definitely stick closer to PA. I'm not sure if it will be possible to avoid moving after a couple years as the rent around there is quite high, and if your / her next job is in the east bay, then you have the same problem in reverse later (although, again as others point out, it's not as bad that way). Anyway, the most flexible location for commuting to PA plus some as-yet-unknown other location is probably north on the peninsula, between PA and about San Mateo. That would be a decent commute to anywhere between SF and San Jose, plus good bridge, highway, and train access.
Good luck!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:05 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Anyway, yeah - that commute is horrible. Definitely stick closer to PA. I'm not sure if it will be possible to avoid moving after a couple years as the rent around there is quite high, and if your / her next job is in the east bay, then you have the same problem in reverse later (although, again as others point out, it's not as bad that way). Anyway, the most flexible location for commuting to PA plus some as-yet-unknown other location is probably north on the peninsula, between PA and about San Mateo. That would be a decent commute to anywhere between SF and San Jose, plus good bridge, highway, and train access.
Good luck!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:05 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh yes, everyone has said it so well. I did that commute about 8 years ago and it was the 10th gate of hell then. Yes I know that there are only 9 gates but that commute was a manifestation of a pathway to hell created on earth, by us, in cars. At least I had a carpool buddy. At the time I used to try to sneak in between "commute" hours. That was during the magic windows of 9:30 am and 10:00 then 7pm - 8pm. Sadly, those windows have closed. So, forget that idea.
Move down there, somewhere, if you can afford it. It's only for a few years. Don't suffer this drive in order to spend the precious few hours you have left in you after your horrible commute in Oakland. You'll be too tired to do anything anyway.
freezer cake said it so well. "... I was so tired all the time. So, so tired". Yup, so was I, and I screwed up my back sitting in the car for so long. Fortunately, I didn't grind my teeth down.
Like others said, you can totally stroll down the streets in PA holding hands with your love. It'll be fine. :-) Congrats on grad school!!
posted by serenitynow at 11:43 AM on March 16, 2018
Move down there, somewhere, if you can afford it. It's only for a few years. Don't suffer this drive in order to spend the precious few hours you have left in you after your horrible commute in Oakland. You'll be too tired to do anything anyway.
freezer cake said it so well. "... I was so tired all the time. So, so tired". Yup, so was I, and I screwed up my back sitting in the car for so long. Fortunately, I didn't grind my teeth down.
Like others said, you can totally stroll down the streets in PA holding hands with your love. It'll be fine. :-) Congrats on grad school!!
posted by serenitynow at 11:43 AM on March 16, 2018
I lived in Santa Cruz for 3 years while my partner did graduate coursework at UCSC, and found it very hard to be fully employed until I got a job in Berkeley. Then I commuted for about 18 mos, going up Monday and staying two nights with a family member in Marin, of all things, and when my partner finished coursework we moved to the East Bay so I could work full time.
He then had to commute for teaching for the remainder of his PhD program. It put a LOT of miles on us both, mentally.
The Bay Area asks a lot of those of us who are not employed in the tech sector - I have friends and colleagues who commute 50-75 miles each way, daily, and there is no such thing any more as non-rush hour. We all find a way to cope, but it's a lot.
Try to build in as little of this as possible, is my advice! And figure out who is the most flexible in terms of work/hours/commute - if you are going out there for your grad school, it's your needs that should be paramount, at least right now. Once you have a little breathing room in your program, you may need to move or otherwise make your wife's load lighter depending on what she has been doing.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:23 PM on March 16, 2018
He then had to commute for teaching for the remainder of his PhD program. It put a LOT of miles on us both, mentally.
The Bay Area asks a lot of those of us who are not employed in the tech sector - I have friends and colleagues who commute 50-75 miles each way, daily, and there is no such thing any more as non-rush hour. We all find a way to cope, but it's a lot.
Try to build in as little of this as possible, is my advice! And figure out who is the most flexible in terms of work/hours/commute - if you are going out there for your grad school, it's your needs that should be paramount, at least right now. Once you have a little breathing room in your program, you may need to move or otherwise make your wife's load lighter depending on what she has been doing.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:23 PM on March 16, 2018
We are interested in living in the East Bay, because we're two queer women.I'm a gay woman who grew up in Palo Alto so I'll address this bit as well. Oakland and the East Bay definitely have the reputation as being a lesbionic mecca. The Peninsula and Silicon Valley areas aren't a center for queer culture in the same way. Palo Alto in particular attracts families with school-aged children due to the strong reputation of the public school district... so, lots of hetero families with kids living in single-family houses. However, you're no more likely to experience negative attention for being visibly gay on the Peninsula than you are in SF/Oakland/Berkeley. It's also quite feasible to access cultural amenities in SF and the East Bay during evenings and weekends if you have a car to get you partway there. When I lived in Palo Alto I often drove to the Daly City BART station and took the train into the city or over to Berkeley.
posted by 4rtemis at 1:26 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I've had friends who've lived in SF or Berkeley while commuting to Stanford for grad school (including, in one case, in the second year of a program). In the early years of a program, you'll usually want to be at school more and so you'll be making lots of trips which -- depending on when you travel -- can suck a lot. Happiness research seems to say that car commuting is one of the worst things you can do to yourself, hedonically (but take that with a grain of salt).
It's not impossible! But you'll come to hate the traffic, and you might miss out on bonding with your department colleagues on days you decide not to come in.
Palo Alto is super-expensive and a bit of a cultural wasteland.
What you are proposing will come with serious costs but I don't think it's totally insane to do.
posted by grobstein at 2:27 PM on March 16, 2018
It's not impossible! But you'll come to hate the traffic, and you might miss out on bonding with your department colleagues on days you decide not to come in.
Palo Alto is super-expensive and a bit of a cultural wasteland.
What you are proposing will come with serious costs but I don't think it's totally insane to do.
posted by grobstein at 2:27 PM on March 16, 2018
A little more to consider: I live in the South Bay, worked in the East Bay full time for 2 years and currently work there 2-3 days a week. My commute is a REVERSE commute and takes anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours to get home. I have had my car for 6 months and have put 15k miles on it, which means I spent $930 last weekend on a 30k service and new front brakes on a pretty new car.
I commute over the hill to/from Santa Cruz every weekend, but wouldn't recommend it as a daily commute. Especially in the rainy season, because there will be days the highway is just plain blocked in one direction or the other by either a mudslide, fallen tree, or car accident. It's just too unpredictable.
Because we have so much traffic, and commuting is such a normal way of life here, people also commute for recreation. I would consider somewhere like Mountain View, Redwood City, or San Mateo, which have walkable areas with restaurants and shops but aren't THAT exciting, and are near CalTrain. That way you can get to the city or to the East Bay easily on public transportation. Sunnyvale is also an option although it is a little far traffic-wise. Your peers will also likely be going to SF/OAK on weekends, you won't be the only one commuting to the fun stuff.
posted by assenav at 3:50 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I commute over the hill to/from Santa Cruz every weekend, but wouldn't recommend it as a daily commute. Especially in the rainy season, because there will be days the highway is just plain blocked in one direction or the other by either a mudslide, fallen tree, or car accident. It's just too unpredictable.
Because we have so much traffic, and commuting is such a normal way of life here, people also commute for recreation. I would consider somewhere like Mountain View, Redwood City, or San Mateo, which have walkable areas with restaurants and shops but aren't THAT exciting, and are near CalTrain. That way you can get to the city or to the East Bay easily on public transportation. Sunnyvale is also an option although it is a little far traffic-wise. Your peers will also likely be going to SF/OAK on weekends, you won't be the only one commuting to the fun stuff.
posted by assenav at 3:50 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Santa Cruz to PA is a nonstarter. I have to go to Stanford occasionally for meetings and I live in SC. If I need to be there between 8:30-10am I give myself 2.5 hours. A ridiculous amount of that time is just getting from 280 onto campus. That's assuming there's no accident on 17. Friends who commute over regularly often leave at 5 or 6am to avoid the mess on 17 or 85. It wouldn't save you any time over the Oakland/PA route but at least you probably don't feel like the actual highway is meant to kill you.
posted by marylynn at 7:53 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by marylynn at 7:53 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I live in the East Bay and drive to Stanford because I'm a season ticket holder for Stanford women's basketball. (Posting from campus waiting for a game to start!) For weeknight games that start before 7, I have trouble getting there in reverse commute traffic.
The Dumbarton bridge commute is only going to get worse when the new Facebook campus opens on the Newark side of the bridge in about 18 months. I've taken that DB Express bus and it's fine, but in peak commute traffic the trip from campus to the Fremont BART station is unpredictable and that leg is more than an hour itself. Because so many people take company transportation that pick up at Fremont BART, parking at the station is terrible. I ride my bike past there at about 7:15am and the lot is already full.
I'm a married gay lady. I've lived all over the Bay Area and it's basically fine everywhere. Some places are more boring than others, but I also don't get misgendered daily here, so our version of boring suits me and my wife just fine.
Live in Mountain View or San Carlos or some other City on on the peninsula. You'll be close to BART and Caltrain for going to SF or Oakland but you won't spend your whole life in traffic.
My wife and I are leaving the East Bay when our lease is up in the spring. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Probably to go back to the South Bay or peninsula.
posted by komlord at 3:16 PM on March 17, 2018
The Dumbarton bridge commute is only going to get worse when the new Facebook campus opens on the Newark side of the bridge in about 18 months. I've taken that DB Express bus and it's fine, but in peak commute traffic the trip from campus to the Fremont BART station is unpredictable and that leg is more than an hour itself. Because so many people take company transportation that pick up at Fremont BART, parking at the station is terrible. I ride my bike past there at about 7:15am and the lot is already full.
I'm a married gay lady. I've lived all over the Bay Area and it's basically fine everywhere. Some places are more boring than others, but I also don't get misgendered daily here, so our version of boring suits me and my wife just fine.
Live in Mountain View or San Carlos or some other City on on the peninsula. You'll be close to BART and Caltrain for going to SF or Oakland but you won't spend your whole life in traffic.
My wife and I are leaving the East Bay when our lease is up in the spring. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Probably to go back to the South Bay or peninsula.
posted by komlord at 3:16 PM on March 17, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by pinochiette at 8:49 PM on March 15, 2018 [7 favorites]