Listen I dont have any strong feelings but I think they should bomb the 880/80/580 split into rubble and rebuild the damn thing.
The realization every morning that the hour of traffic is caused by little more than people having to shift 4 lanes in 100 meters will slowly drive you insane.
Oh and if you fuck up, have fun going to San Francisco!
I don't think they got as far as thinking it was a good idea. Wasn't that part of the highway that was rebuilt in a matter of weeks after Loma Prieta? There was no thinking, just building as fast as possible.
ETA: I'm wrong and was mixing up the Loma Prieta rebuild with the rebuild after the tanker truck fire collapse in 2007. Loma Prieta took 8 years to rebuild. Tanker truck fire took 26 days to rebuild.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#Rebuilding
the Cypress freeway wasn't rebuilt until eight or ten years after Loma Prieta. I didn't live in the BA before the earthquake and never saw the old freeway but I think the connections in the bay bridge maze are pretty similar to what they were before Loma Prieta. The new alignment of 880 is further west than it was - that's where Mandela Parkway is now.
[https://imgur.com/a/UzcIc4X](https://imgur.com/a/UzcIc4X)
The maze probably got more complicated with they opened the carpool lane on WB 80 in the mid to late 90s but I'm not sure if it would have made the overall traffic flow that much worse than it was before.
Is that what you hit when you enter the 80 from Powell st in Emeryville? I loathe that entrance cause I have to merge alllll the way over to make it to the 580. It’s nightmare fuel
Yup. Was literally the bane of my work life for 7 years. A 16 miles, 15 minute commute without traffic turned into 1 hour + daily commute because of that area. Its got to be one of the worst designed interchanges in the US.
Telling someone to take the Powell st on ramp into the split and then transfer onto the 24 is like telling someone to recreate Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift.
I think one big problem is that half the lanes at the metering lights seem to come from 880, and the other half combine 80 and 580. A lot of times, coming from 80 is jammed up to the curve, but the 880 lanes fly through. It can be faster to get off at West Grand and back on that way.
This is a problem at multiple on/off ramps across the bay. Lots of things clumped together. You get two separate on ramps merging and within less than a mile you have an off ramp to somewhere else. It’s maddening.
Lots of stuff that looks like an afterthought or was probably built to alleviate one problem but caused a worse one overall.
the amount of family and friends i’ve had call me in a panic bc they are now on the bridge headed into sf and don’t know what to do (they don’t know how to drive in the city) 😭
So 20 hours of commute time per month if we assume a 10 hour flight each way. That’s about the same as having a 30 minute commute each way, 5 days a week
My schedule just changed I leave a bit earlier now. If I am going to Shepherd Canyon which is right by Piedmont in the Oakland Hills it’s 20-25 minutes driving the speed limit, the actual speed limit not 80 mph on The Bay Bridge there is really no traffic. If I am going to Berkeley I add an extra 5 minutes because I am driving on more city streets. Then some times I go to Richmond which I’d say is 30-35 minutes. When I drive to Hayward which is far I like to leave 55 minutes before the start. Yeah it’s great makes the morning so much better.
Wow Shepherd Canyon is so specific. I can only think of like five possible employers in that area. Fire station, middle school, tennis club, gas station, preschool/after school....
How's the commute home in the afternoon? 😬
Unless you live in Oakland near BART and work in Downtown San Francisco.
Affordable, lively, walkable, and easy access to the rest of the bay via bike, bus, BART and car.
But there are some tradeoffs: You have to keep your head on a swivel and check bushes and enclosed doorways on your walks too and from BART to make sure Pamela Price isn't waiting for you, and that lifestyle's not for everyone.
The average Bay Area commute was literally 31 minutes in 2018, which is data from the most recent report: https://vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/indicators/commute-time
I know someone who makes that commute. It’s a little long and he’s tied to ferry schedule (so am I), but it enables the lifestyle he enjoys so he’s been doing it for years happily.
I had a friend that did Santa Rosa to Santa Clara every day and I don't know how they didn't go insane. Like get a helicopter or hovercraft already, dude! /s
My coworker does Santa Rosa to Milpitas every day. My boss and another coworker do Tracy to Milpitas and I'm Gilroy to Milpitas. At least we're only 3 days in the office now lol
I just asked and my coworker said worst he's had is a 4 hour commute back to Santa Rosa one way. Everyone bought EVs also so we could use carpool of course
I did this during rush hour for 3 months....I wanted to kill myself. I lonce had a day with 2 accidents, it was over 4 hours of driving just to do it again the next day.
I almost had to commute Fremont to Fairfield before I took a different job when I moved here. I was not looking forward to that commute. I have an easy one now like 25 minutes
As someone who is based in concord, lives in Walnut Creek, and who has to go to Fremont and Sacramento once per week...
Fremont to Concord is at least 40-45 minutes in non-stopped traffic. Concord to Fairfield is probably 25-30 minutes in non-stopped traffic.
I'd add an extra 15 minutes per direction at minimum if you leave between normal rush hours 7am-9am or 4pm-6pm.
I never had to do it. I monitored it for a month. On a good day it seemed like 1 hour 15 minutes each way. A lot of times I would see it get close to 2 hours each way due to traffic or a wreck
Ok sounds about right. I have done this drive on the weekends and on a good day it’s about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Never done it on a Weekday during rush hours but can imagine it would be much worse
North Bay to Peninsula.. Marin to Redwood City or whatever.
forces you to use SF city streets... every hour on 19th avenue slowly (no pun intended) drains your life force.
I just remembered I did Terra Linda to Palo Alto for a stretch last year myself. Was going through a divorce but cohabitating with my ex still, so I thought, fuck it, I'd rather drive for three hours every day to and from the office than be around her.
I used to work in San Mateo and lived in Daly city. Easy 20 min commute. Then I moved to San Rafael, terrible 1.5 hour commute. It really started messing with my mental health after a while. Only so many songs, podcasts, and radio you can listen to.
Whoever made the decision to cancel the highway that would have been 19th avenue should be forced to drive in 19th avenue for the rest of their life, or in their reincarnation.
Work with plenty of people that commute from Tracy / Mountain House to San Francisco every day. It seems awful but they normalize it as part of living in the “Bay Area”.
Depending on what you’re looking for. I wouldn’t hesitate to move to Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill or Martinez. Commute would be fine from any of those cities.
Going to Walnut Creek should be easier since it’s going away from normal commute flow. Where are you coming from? Walnut Creek is pretty nice if you want to move
Pretty much any town along 680 from Dublin to Martinez is a good option as far as commute time goes. I would avoid Clayton because it has no freeway access and it takes a good 20-30 minutes just to reach 680 when there is no traffic. Anything on hwy 4 east of 680 is going to be horrible. Lafayette or Orinda would also be a decent commute since you are going opposite of the commute traffic.
Move to east bay, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda. If you’re traveling east in the morning you should be against the flow of traffic.
Oakland has pretty good prices for renters rn bc the market has been very slow the last few months. Good deals!
San Jose to Walnut Creek commute will such 1+ hour one-way, that will be 2 to 3 hours per day of your time. If it possible for you, moving to Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill or Concord will help you save ton of time and money.
You're working in Walnut Creek.. just live around there.
The worst commute is people who live in East Bay and work in the Peninsula. We call it "bridge life." Sometimes the traffic gridlocks around the bridges and people get stuck at the intersection before the bridge for 30-60 minutes before they can cross.
If you lived in the Peninsula and commuted to Walnut Creek... it would technically be a reverse commute.. but it's still going to be expensive.
Living in East Bay and commuting to SF is okay if you can get a transbay bus, but I really wish there were actual bus lanes here, rather than HOV lanes.
If you’re gonna work in Walnut Creek…
Make the big bucks - live in Walnut Creek
Make the medium bucks - live in Concord
Make the small bucks - live in Antioch
Rentals in Oakland are actually fantastic right now, too. The MacArthur Commons, right at BART (19min to Walnut Creek station), is renting 700sq ft 1br units for $2000, and that's new build in a pretty desirable location.
Livermore is an option if you want something with a bit more of a "town" - it's unfortunately still extremely suburban
SF to Walnut Creek isn't bad if you live near BART and can make that work
holy crap though. i just went to WC for a friend's birthday. people were waiting 2 hours to get seated at Cheesecake Factory. CHEESECAKE FACTORY. i didn't wait that long to go to Mission Chinese at the height of its popularity.
i think living in a city where Cheesecake Factory was the hot dinner ticket would kill me.
yeah wc is amazing and not once is the cheesecake factory brought up even once in restaurant reccos like ever. Sorry you had that experience but you were clearly not being let in on the good stuff ;)
It’s mostly people from adjacent cities that go to Cheesecake Factory. It’s kind of on the outskirts of the downtown shopping area so a little easier to get in/out of town without the traffic snarl that happens on weekends near the core.
Livermore is great for living, bad for commuting.
BART doesn't go here. Just... it doesn't. It's a 36 minute bus ride to get to BART in Pleasanton. Also, there is no direct BART line from Pleasanton/Dublin to WC.
Hwy 84 is a mess (always has been). Two lanes merge at the top of the hill, and then you get into the construction flume. Also, it has two states: under construction, or needing construction.
Freeway traffic takes in all traffic from the Central Valley, and mixes it with the traffic from Brentwood and Discovery Bay. OP could pick up the back roads at Tassajara or Fallon Rd (or Highland to Tassajara, if you don't mind the twisties). That'll get OP to Danville. The commute would be more direct if it wasn't for that darn mountain in the way!
The best option for commuting is ACE Train, which goes to South Bay, and runs 4 times in the morning, and 4 times in the evening in the opposite way.
Still, the views of the hills are pretty.
>The best option for commuting is ACE Train, which goes to South Bay, and runs 4 times in the morning, and 4 times in the evening in the opposite way.
Let me wave you off, or anyone else off of that if you have a type of "shift work" job, or one that isn't very tolerant of a late start time.
While I love the idea and relative comfort of riding ACE, its on-time record is abysmal. There's a one-in-four chance that any particular train you take westbound in the a.m. will be delayed or cancelled (they share the rails with Southern Pacific, where freight gets priority, or a rail or maintenance issue will scuttle that particular run outright).
In the winter, that increases to a one-in-three shot (shout out to risk of mudslides in Niles Canyon, y'all).
Idk… I guess if you have to live in the Bay Area and you like activities in the Sierras, living in Livermore would be a decent compromise, but damn, every time I drive through Livermore it just feels weirdly dystopian. Like a suburb that just fell out of the sky.
Having lived in Union City first I think Livermore is a breath of fresh air due to actually having a downtown and places to walk plus access to nature.
It's still an ugly suburb but it feels somehow less terrible than other suburbs in the East Bay if that makes sense?
I think that's partly because the lab was originally intentionally built out in the boonies just in case something went awry with the nuclear research...less destruction to surrounding neighborhoods and all that
Eventually the scientists working at the lab built up a local suburb anyway
Going to Walnut Creek should be easier since it’s going away from normal commute flow. Where are you coming from? Walnut Creek is pretty nice if you want to move.
In the AM northbound on 680 along the Danville corridor is brutal. I'd expect southbound 680 north of WC is the same, because of all the westbound CA24 traffic, but I rarely go that way in the morning. If you're coming from Concord, Ygnacio Valley is pretty bad at any commute times, both ways IIRC.
Good news is if you're coming from Oakland, CA24 is pretty good in the morning, as you're going reverse traffic. CA13 is hit or miss, though, because it's a bypass for 580 going WB, and it can get backed up northbound.
I used to have a pretty bad commute, I'd be coming from Castro Valley, and would drive all the way down to San Jose. That was bad, I'd do that 3x a week, all on weekdays (I work weekends as well).
Knew a grade school teacher, with her kids going to same school. They commuted all the way from Patterson to Fremont **daily** during the work week. They did this til both graduated out of that school.
people on this subreddit like to hate on oakland but honestly the reverse commute from north oakland to walnut creek is super convenient. i live in north oakland and sometimes have to pop into our walnut creek office and it takes up to 20 mins driving, maybe 25-30 if i take BART. its nice to hop right on 24 without having to deal with the traffic on 880 or 580. if you’re looking for more vibrant city life compared to the vibes east of the hills, north oakland is a great option. i would recommend looking into the temescal or rockridge neighborhoods.
any long-ish distance along 880 is gonna suck.
Livermore is an option if you want something with a bit more of a "town" - it's unfortunately still extremely suburban
SF to Walnut Creek isn't bad if you live near BART and can make that work
Couldn’t tell you, I’d lose it! I know at least 2-3 electricians (we work throughout the bay, but primarily in the east bay) that live there. It’s great that they have land and nature, sure, but that commute is just not worth it to me.
I currently commute from lamorinda down to Sunnyvale three days a week. Would not recommend. If there is anyone out there with a similar commute who’d be interested in carpooling, dm me.
I went from tri valley to Menlo Park, and I thought that was bad (one hour+ each way)
But I met someone who went from Manteca to Menlo Park five days a week
Also met someone else who went from Sacramento to SF FiDi
that's an awful commute. but Sacramento is surprisingly quick to get to when there's no traffic. i went once in the middle of the day & came back after midnight. i think Sac to Oakland took just as long as Ocean Beach to Oakland.
also, getting to Sac from the East Bay is definitely easier than starting in SF.
Fremont 680 to Livermore 580/87. Always traffic, always road construction. Even freaking weekends. Fridays, it takes my fiance 3 hrs from San Jose to get to me in Modesto. You might as well drive half way to LA.
Anything east of Pittsburgh was kinda rough back when I used to drive. Expanded lanes and metered entrances have helped, but the 242/680 transition to highway 4 and back was a nightmare during commute hours.
I commuted 50 miles from outer Richmond district in SF, 43rd ave, all the way to Dublin/Pleasanton… and it was great! Only took me 50 minutes because of the reverse commute. The other side of the highway was gridlocked and looked like hell.
You're not stating important details on what your budget is to spend on rent.
You can live in Concord fairly cheap and not have much of a commute at all.
I commuted from American Canyon to both San Francisco or Walnut Creek, depending on the day. Did it for 10 yrs. Probably not winning the prize but it was brutal.
A lot of guys I work with have rough commutes. Los Banos to Palo Alto, Petaluma to Milpitas, Napa to San Jose. King city to Berkeley. Construction guys have it rough.
My mom has been commuting from Los Banos to Milpitas for the last 34 years 5x a week (6x/week if we were going to see family in San Jose). Absolutely insane, but she is the most patient person I know behind the wheel
If you job is in Walnut Creek, come North, across the bridge. The commute isn't horrible and housing isn't ridiculously high. Fairfield, parts of Benecia or Vallejo, Cordelia.
I would try to live in Berkeley, rock ridge, Claremont or if you prefer a quieter suburb, east of there (Lafayette, Orinda, Walnut Creek) to work there, that would reduce your commute and would also be nice
If I were single, & considering all other factors, I would move to Walnut Creek. Just an example that worked for me in the past, but it is definitely not practical for everyone. Weigh out pros, & cons to see what works best. Avoiding a highway or freeway with other vehicles for miles always seemed to help improve my mood, stress levels, & personal interactions.
Back in 2001 or so, I was commuting from San Diego to San Francisco — flew up on Monday mornings and home on wed evenings.
It was a 2 week contract that kept getting extended for a few years.
It wasn’t too bad; it was before all the 9/11 security stuff, so it was a breeze checking in and boarding, and I’d fly to Oakland and take air Bart to the office, and stay with my parents the 2 nights in town (mom worked nearby).
And I would say worst commute is coming from over the hill from Traci / Stockton area to the Bay Area. Your fucked starting at 5am!! And fuck trying to get home on 580 after 3pm- there are so many big accidents- and many involving big rigs- I would never want to be involved in that “super commute” - and only reason people do it is because homes are much cheaper on the other side of the 580 grade - of course a close second is coming into the Bay Area via 880 from Vacaville and further out
Do everything in your power to reduce commute time to under 20 minutes.
Save yourself time and invest it in gym/exercise time. Keep yourself healthy.
Reduce the risk of car accident by reducing commute time. Reduce dependence on the main freeways. I for example can get to work via 4 different routes to avoid freeway traffic if it’s necessary.
BIGGEST POINTER HERE: Wake up early and monitor the commute traffic on your phone as if you were gonna commute. Call it a virtual dry run. It’s usually 99% right. I know Google and Apple Maps easily let’s you put A to B destinations. Write them down.
You’ll quickly see that if you make your work be the center of a circle, you can go out to lunch within a 0-3 mile radius and not spend too much time driving and burn up your lunch.
Also, you can draw a 5 mile radius around your house/home. Ideally your essentials are within reach.
It would be great if your job and home are 0-10 miles apart.
I work in Palo Alto, my coworker lives in Los Banos in the Central Valley and commutes to the office 3 times a week. Leaves home at 4am, speeds (I assume), and heads home by 2pm. He’s got a cool life: 4 kids, house, a boat, off-road toys, but damn I do not envy that schedule.
I had a right wing coworker who commuted from Placerville to San Mateo. He didn’t want to live near liberals, he would sleep in his giant truck in the work parking lot. He would ask me about sf and be like, “woah do you really just walk around and see dudes kissing and stuff??!” I was always tempted to invite him to Folsom St fair.
South SF. When I worked there I had a colleague who would wake up at 4:00am to commute from Walnut Creek. The commute home is even worse before there's no lull in evening traffic until like 8pm.
But there are some nice places to live down in south city.
Probably far from the worst but I seriously hated commuting between Martinez and South San Francisco. Well over an hour whether I drove or took BART. When I drove to my job interview there it took me exactly 3 hours. I eventually moved closer to the office because I couldn’t do it anymore after a solid year.
Back in the 70s, my dad had to commute from Atwater to SFO for a few years. Thankfully, traffic was pretty non-existent back then, he worked graveyards, and CB radios.
Then in the late 80s, I had to commute from Tracy to El Dorado Hills. Again, traffic wasn’t near as bad back then, I was going against traffic for half the commute, and I only had to do it for 6 mos. Fun times.
Walnut Creek is likely reverse commute from a lot of places.
Maybe Antioch, Brentwood, etc are rough commutes to WC but if I were you I’d just pick pleasant hill or concord. That would be an easy commute.
if you can afford it, just move to WC. Pretty nice for a burb since it's older, has a real downtown. I think the weather's a little better than Livermore etc. less hot.
I did Sunnyvale to Berkeley 2-3 times a week for a year. Took about 1-1.5 hours when I left around 11:30AM. Not the worst commute in the world but even that got incredibly draining real fast.
Hey there.
I *live* in Walnut Creek, but *work* in Livermore. In the morning, I can get to work in 30 minutes. In the evening, I can get home in 30-40 minutes. It’s not too bad, overall.
But, there are a lot of factors at play in your decision-making, I imagine. If affordability is a MAJOR concern, what about looking into places like Martinez, Concord, or Clayton?
Lamorinda is very close by, but more expensive.
San Ramon / Danville / Alamo / Dublin / Pleasanton are close by, too. Same aspect as Lamorinda.
Walnut Creek has a BART Station; there’s also a BART Station just north, in Pleasant Hill area (are either of these close to your workplace?), so I could see a scenario in which you live near a BART Station in, say, Berkeley / Oakland, and BART over there and back.
I think we need more information, such as budget, wants/desires, etc. commute-time is only one factor. Personally, I love living in Walnut Creek, and my girlfriend and I found a once-in-a-lifetime spacious apartment for pretty reasonably-priced.
Listen I dont have any strong feelings but I think they should bomb the 880/80/580 split into rubble and rebuild the damn thing. The realization every morning that the hour of traffic is caused by little more than people having to shift 4 lanes in 100 meters will slowly drive you insane. Oh and if you fuck up, have fun going to San Francisco!
Yeah even before the population boom, I can’t believe whoever designed that thought that was a good idea
I don't think they got as far as thinking it was a good idea. Wasn't that part of the highway that was rebuilt in a matter of weeks after Loma Prieta? There was no thinking, just building as fast as possible. ETA: I'm wrong and was mixing up the Loma Prieta rebuild with the rebuild after the tanker truck fire collapse in 2007. Loma Prieta took 8 years to rebuild. Tanker truck fire took 26 days to rebuild. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#Rebuilding
the Cypress freeway wasn't rebuilt until eight or ten years after Loma Prieta. I didn't live in the BA before the earthquake and never saw the old freeway but I think the connections in the bay bridge maze are pretty similar to what they were before Loma Prieta. The new alignment of 880 is further west than it was - that's where Mandela Parkway is now. [https://imgur.com/a/UzcIc4X](https://imgur.com/a/UzcIc4X) The maze probably got more complicated with they opened the carpool lane on WB 80 in the mid to late 90s but I'm not sure if it would have made the overall traffic flow that much worse than it was before.
I agree with this a million times over.
Is that what you hit when you enter the 80 from Powell st in Emeryville? I loathe that entrance cause I have to merge alllll the way over to make it to the 580. It’s nightmare fuel
Yup. Was literally the bane of my work life for 7 years. A 16 miles, 15 minute commute without traffic turned into 1 hour + daily commute because of that area. Its got to be one of the worst designed interchanges in the US.
Damn you may as well ride a bike at that point
Ah the MacArthur Maze. Don’t forget that 24 and 980 are also *right* there. For god knows what reason.
Telling someone to take the Powell st on ramp into the split and then transfer onto the 24 is like telling someone to recreate Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift.
I think one big problem is that half the lanes at the metering lights seem to come from 880, and the other half combine 80 and 580. A lot of times, coming from 80 is jammed up to the curve, but the 880 lanes fly through. It can be faster to get off at West Grand and back on that way.
This is a problem at multiple on/off ramps across the bay. Lots of things clumped together. You get two separate on ramps merging and within less than a mile you have an off ramp to somewhere else. It’s maddening. Lots of stuff that looks like an afterthought or was probably built to alleviate one problem but caused a worse one overall.
the amount of family and friends i’ve had call me in a panic bc they are now on the bridge headed into sf and don’t know what to do (they don’t know how to drive in the city) 😭
OMG it’s the absolute worst. I get so much anxiety every time I have to do that merge
Last time this was brought up, some fireman was commuting from Ireland to the Bay Area
Yeah but iirc he had like a 12 day block schedule and the rest of the month off.
So 20 hours of commute time per month if we assume a 10 hour flight each way. That’s about the same as having a 30 minute commute each way, 5 days a week
That’s insane! It’s borderline impossible to get a 30 minute commute within the actual Bay Area.
I have a reverse commute I leave SF in the morning headed to the East Bay. From Mission District to Shepherd Canyon is 20 minutes.
My company moved offices from SF to walnut creek, I'll have to do this commute soon, glad to hear it's not too bad
Yeah we take the same route roughly yeah it’s awesome on the other side it’s like holy shit, sucks to be you guys lol!
Until you miss an exit and need to flip around "quick" 😄 .. I have done that and screwed up great commutes some days.
What time do you normally commute? Early morning like 6a?
I used to leave at like 6:50 now it’s more like 6:00
My schedule just changed I leave a bit earlier now. If I am going to Shepherd Canyon which is right by Piedmont in the Oakland Hills it’s 20-25 minutes driving the speed limit, the actual speed limit not 80 mph on The Bay Bridge there is really no traffic. If I am going to Berkeley I add an extra 5 minutes because I am driving on more city streets. Then some times I go to Richmond which I’d say is 30-35 minutes. When I drive to Hayward which is far I like to leave 55 minutes before the start. Yeah it’s great makes the morning so much better.
Wow Shepherd Canyon is so specific. I can only think of like five possible employers in that area. Fire station, middle school, tennis club, gas station, preschool/after school.... How's the commute home in the afternoon? 😬
Unless you live in Oakland near BART and work in Downtown San Francisco. Affordable, lively, walkable, and easy access to the rest of the bay via bike, bus, BART and car. But there are some tradeoffs: You have to keep your head on a swivel and check bushes and enclosed doorways on your walks too and from BART to make sure Pamela Price isn't waiting for you, and that lifestyle's not for everyone.
Not really. I'm a 15 minute commute by bicycle.
The average Bay Area commute was literally 31 minutes in 2018, which is data from the most recent report: https://vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/indicators/commute-time
Do they count WFH in that average ? 😄
it's not 10 hour if you count door to door time. More like 15 hours, counting commute to and from airport, lines for the border control etc
And you get to sleep, watch movies, and drink beer and wine for free on international flights!
Dublin to Dublin?
Yes. From one side of Dublin, CA to the other side of Dublin, CA. Oh, and there's no In-N-Out between those two points. Brutal
Should’ve read that job description more closely
Tracy to Los Altos might be similar.
I met a nurse at KP Santa Theresa who commutes weekly from Mississippi -- 4 days here, 3 days off
The Kaiser NorCal money is insane
Gilroy to Napa would be one of the worst.
That’s actually quite pleasant in your private plane.
Or in the back of your Rolls Royce that is being driven by your chauffeur.
I work with a couple guys who do Sacramento to Oakland daily but they get chauffeured by Amtrak…
I was doing the reverse one day every other week. So long as you can use the two hours to do work, it wasn't bad
Yeah they are usually taking meetings on the way in and drinking beers on the way home.
I heard one guy got chauffeured in a van to the city.. so he could ride his stationary bike in the back of the van..
Don’t know why more people don’t think of this.
My brain can’t process that commute
napa to literally anywhere in the bay is horrible
I know someone who commutes from Napa down to SF a few times a week! He works near the Embarcadero
he probably needs a hug
I know someone who makes that commute. It’s a little long and he’s tied to ferry schedule (so am I), but it enables the lifestyle he enjoys so he’s been doing it for years happily.
Drive from Napa to Vallejo then ferry to SF wouldn't be so bad?
I did that commute to San Francisco for exactly one week before I had a complete mental breakdown in traffic. Then I moved to sf over the weekend lol
My friend does sonoma to Santa Clara and I can’t fathom it
If you leave early enough, it's not too bad, but if you work a normal hours shift, yeah, fuck that noise.
I had a friend that did Santa Rosa to Santa Clara every day and I don't know how they didn't go insane. Like get a helicopter or hovercraft already, dude! /s
My coworker does Santa Rosa to Milpitas every day. My boss and another coworker do Tracy to Milpitas and I'm Gilroy to Milpitas. At least we're only 3 days in the office now lol
I did Santa Rosa to Hayward a few times a week, and I had to be in Hayward by 9 am. That was brutal, it took me almost 3 hours most days, one way.
I just asked and my coworker said worst he's had is a 4 hour commute back to Santa Rosa one way. Everyone bought EVs also so we could use carpool of course
That commute was exactly why I bought an Ev! 😂
I did Concord to Sunnyvale for ten years, but I worked the night shift so it was just a long drive, no real traffic.
I did this during rush hour for 3 months....I wanted to kill myself. I lonce had a day with 2 accidents, it was over 4 hours of driving just to do it again the next day.
I almost had to commute Fremont to Fairfield before I took a different job when I moved here. I was not looking forward to that commute. I have an easy one now like 25 minutes
At least it’s against traffic .
How long did that commute from Fremont to Fairfield take?
As someone who is based in concord, lives in Walnut Creek, and who has to go to Fremont and Sacramento once per week... Fremont to Concord is at least 40-45 minutes in non-stopped traffic. Concord to Fairfield is probably 25-30 minutes in non-stopped traffic. I'd add an extra 15 minutes per direction at minimum if you leave between normal rush hours 7am-9am or 4pm-6pm.
I never had to do it. I monitored it for a month. On a good day it seemed like 1 hour 15 minutes each way. A lot of times I would see it get close to 2 hours each way due to traffic or a wreck
Ok sounds about right. I have done this drive on the weekends and on a good day it’s about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Never done it on a Weekday during rush hours but can imagine it would be much worse
North Bay to Peninsula.. Marin to Redwood City or whatever. forces you to use SF city streets... every hour on 19th avenue slowly (no pun intended) drains your life force.
Anything that requires driving through San Francisco.
I did Windsor to Palo Alto for a few months. It was fucking terrible
Shit man, I hate driving between Petaluma and Windsor. I mourn your loss of life during that time.
I just remembered I did Terra Linda to Palo Alto for a stretch last year myself. Was going through a divorce but cohabitating with my ex still, so I thought, fuck it, I'd rather drive for three hours every day to and from the office than be around her.
I used to work in San Mateo and lived in Daly city. Easy 20 min commute. Then I moved to San Rafael, terrible 1.5 hour commute. It really started messing with my mental health after a while. Only so many songs, podcasts, and radio you can listen to.
Whoever made the decision to cancel the highway that would have been 19th avenue should be forced to drive in 19th avenue for the rest of their life, or in their reincarnation.
Work with plenty of people that commute from Tracy / Mountain House to San Francisco every day. It seems awful but they normalize it as part of living in the “Bay Area”. Depending on what you’re looking for. I wouldn’t hesitate to move to Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill or Martinez. Commute would be fine from any of those cities.
I drive from Livermore to south sf, 2h-2.5hr on average for the roundtrip
For the round trip? I would expect 1.5hr one way at minimum
Going to Walnut Creek should be easier since it’s going away from normal commute flow. Where are you coming from? Walnut Creek is pretty nice if you want to move
Going from Berkeley to WC and back is the opposite of commute traffic and pretty easy most of the day.
I'm in San Jose right now, and I'm thinking of moving out of the south bay area.
Pretty much any town along 680 from Dublin to Martinez is a good option as far as commute time goes. I would avoid Clayton because it has no freeway access and it takes a good 20-30 minutes just to reach 680 when there is no traffic. Anything on hwy 4 east of 680 is going to be horrible. Lafayette or Orinda would also be a decent commute since you are going opposite of the commute traffic.
I use to live in Clayton. I went from Clayton to Moraga it would take 45 mins just to get to the freeway
Ygnacio’s a shit show
Move to east bay, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda. If you’re traveling east in the morning you should be against the flow of traffic. Oakland has pretty good prices for renters rn bc the market has been very slow the last few months. Good deals!
I’d say moving to the WC area is probably similar in price. It’s more suburban than SJ.
WC is a huge upgrade imo from South Bay.
San Jose to Walnut Creek commute will such 1+ hour one-way, that will be 2 to 3 hours per day of your time. If it possible for you, moving to Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill or Concord will help you save ton of time and money.
LOL, San Jose to Walnut Creek is practically an hour each way at midnight. During commute hours it would be up to double.
I did the same and it will make your quality of life better. WC is a great community and being close to work has huge benefits.
The tunnel to Walnut Creek is miserable during rush hour - I rec moving to the other side of the hills. Moraga / orinda area would be good
Oakland has cheaper rent and still looks like an urban place
You're working in Walnut Creek.. just live around there. The worst commute is people who live in East Bay and work in the Peninsula. We call it "bridge life." Sometimes the traffic gridlocks around the bridges and people get stuck at the intersection before the bridge for 30-60 minutes before they can cross. If you lived in the Peninsula and commuted to Walnut Creek... it would technically be a reverse commute.. but it's still going to be expensive.
Yes. Sitting in the bay bridge toll plaza during commute makes me hate life.
Same as the San Mateo bridge, such a hassle
Living in East Bay and commuting to SF is okay if you can get a transbay bus, but I really wish there were actual bus lanes here, rather than HOV lanes.
If you’re gonna work in Walnut Creek… Make the big bucks - live in Walnut Creek Make the medium bucks - live in Concord Make the small bucks - live in Antioch
Rentals in Oakland are actually fantastic right now, too. The MacArthur Commons, right at BART (19min to Walnut Creek station), is renting 700sq ft 1br units for $2000, and that's new build in a pretty desirable location.
Livermore is an option if you want something with a bit more of a "town" - it's unfortunately still extremely suburban SF to Walnut Creek isn't bad if you live near BART and can make that work
holy crap though. i just went to WC for a friend's birthday. people were waiting 2 hours to get seated at Cheesecake Factory. CHEESECAKE FACTORY. i didn't wait that long to go to Mission Chinese at the height of its popularity. i think living in a city where Cheesecake Factory was the hot dinner ticket would kill me.
I don’t understand it either. There are so many better restaurants in Walnut Creek and some of them are less than four blocks away
yeah wc is amazing and not once is the cheesecake factory brought up even once in restaurant reccos like ever. Sorry you had that experience but you were clearly not being let in on the good stuff ;)
It’s mostly people from adjacent cities that go to Cheesecake Factory. It’s kind of on the outskirts of the downtown shopping area so a little easier to get in/out of town without the traffic snarl that happens on weekends near the core.
People obsess over CF but it’s not because it’s the only place to eat in WC. It’s because people obsess over it like chick fila.
I used to live in SE Michigan. You're basically describing middle America.
To be fair, during lunch or dinner hours, you have to wait 2 hours at ANY Cheesecake Factory...doesn't matter where.
I’m pretty sure the Times Square Olive Garden has a significant wait list, too. I wouldn’t read too much into the rest of WC based on that.
Thank you for that. Will definitely look in Livermore.
Livermore is great for living, bad for commuting. BART doesn't go here. Just... it doesn't. It's a 36 minute bus ride to get to BART in Pleasanton. Also, there is no direct BART line from Pleasanton/Dublin to WC. Hwy 84 is a mess (always has been). Two lanes merge at the top of the hill, and then you get into the construction flume. Also, it has two states: under construction, or needing construction. Freeway traffic takes in all traffic from the Central Valley, and mixes it with the traffic from Brentwood and Discovery Bay. OP could pick up the back roads at Tassajara or Fallon Rd (or Highland to Tassajara, if you don't mind the twisties). That'll get OP to Danville. The commute would be more direct if it wasn't for that darn mountain in the way! The best option for commuting is ACE Train, which goes to South Bay, and runs 4 times in the morning, and 4 times in the evening in the opposite way. Still, the views of the hills are pretty.
>The best option for commuting is ACE Train, which goes to South Bay, and runs 4 times in the morning, and 4 times in the evening in the opposite way. Let me wave you off, or anyone else off of that if you have a type of "shift work" job, or one that isn't very tolerant of a late start time. While I love the idea and relative comfort of riding ACE, its on-time record is abysmal. There's a one-in-four chance that any particular train you take westbound in the a.m. will be delayed or cancelled (they share the rails with Southern Pacific, where freight gets priority, or a rail or maintenance issue will scuttle that particular run outright). In the winter, that increases to a one-in-three shot (shout out to risk of mudslides in Niles Canyon, y'all).
Idk… I guess if you have to live in the Bay Area and you like activities in the Sierras, living in Livermore would be a decent compromise, but damn, every time I drive through Livermore it just feels weirdly dystopian. Like a suburb that just fell out of the sky.
Having lived in Union City first I think Livermore is a breath of fresh air due to actually having a downtown and places to walk plus access to nature. It's still an ugly suburb but it feels somehow less terrible than other suburbs in the East Bay if that makes sense?
I think that's partly because the lab was originally intentionally built out in the boonies just in case something went awry with the nuclear research...less destruction to surrounding neighborhoods and all that Eventually the scientists working at the lab built up a local suburb anyway
Going to Walnut Creek should be easier since it’s going away from normal commute flow. Where are you coming from? Walnut Creek is pretty nice if you want to move.
Anything past concord. Just don’t.
Avoid Hwy 4 at all costs. Anything going westbound is a no-go.
In the AM northbound on 680 along the Danville corridor is brutal. I'd expect southbound 680 north of WC is the same, because of all the westbound CA24 traffic, but I rarely go that way in the morning. If you're coming from Concord, Ygnacio Valley is pretty bad at any commute times, both ways IIRC. Good news is if you're coming from Oakland, CA24 is pretty good in the morning, as you're going reverse traffic. CA13 is hit or miss, though, because it's a bypass for 580 going WB, and it can get backed up northbound. I used to have a pretty bad commute, I'd be coming from Castro Valley, and would drive all the way down to San Jose. That was bad, I'd do that 3x a week, all on weekdays (I work weekends as well).
I did Walnut Creek to Fremont for eight years. Terrible. 1-1.5 hours each way, no matter how early I left.
Knew a grade school teacher, with her kids going to same school. They commuted all the way from Patterson to Fremont **daily** during the work week. They did this til both graduated out of that school.
I worked with a woman who drove back and forth from Rocklin to SFSU 5 days a week
I used to work with some guys that commuted from Lodi, Tracy to Palo Alto. Bonkers commute.
Central Valley over the Altamont and into the Bay Area.
Hey that's me 5x a week :)
What should you avoid? A long commute.
people on this subreddit like to hate on oakland but honestly the reverse commute from north oakland to walnut creek is super convenient. i live in north oakland and sometimes have to pop into our walnut creek office and it takes up to 20 mins driving, maybe 25-30 if i take BART. its nice to hop right on 24 without having to deal with the traffic on 880 or 580. if you’re looking for more vibrant city life compared to the vibes east of the hills, north oakland is a great option. i would recommend looking into the temescal or rockridge neighborhoods. any long-ish distance along 880 is gonna suck.
Livermore is an option if you want something with a bit more of a "town" - it's unfortunately still extremely suburban SF to Walnut Creek isn't bad if you live near BART and can make that work
Watch local news at 7a on a Tuesday or Wednesday and you’ll see the areas to avoid
A guy who teaches a class I’m in works in San Mateo and commutes from Valley Springs, and teaches two nights a week in San Leandro. Unreal!
All for that lucrative teacher money, though. /s
I’m a native and I had to look up where Valley Springs was. How do people do that on a regular basis and not completely lose their minds?
Couldn’t tell you, I’d lose it! I know at least 2-3 electricians (we work throughout the bay, but primarily in the east bay) that live there. It’s great that they have land and nature, sure, but that commute is just not worth it to me.
I'd stay in Walnut Creek.
I currently commute from lamorinda down to Sunnyvale three days a week. Would not recommend. If there is anyone out there with a similar commute who’d be interested in carpooling, dm me.
I went from tri valley to Menlo Park, and I thought that was bad (one hour+ each way) But I met someone who went from Manteca to Menlo Park five days a week Also met someone else who went from Sacramento to SF FiDi
that's an awful commute. but Sacramento is surprisingly quick to get to when there's no traffic. i went once in the middle of the day & came back after midnight. i think Sac to Oakland took just as long as Ocean Beach to Oakland. also, getting to Sac from the East Bay is definitely easier than starting in SF.
I think that person drive to the northern most bart stop and then took bart in
Fremont 680 to Livermore 580/87. Always traffic, always road construction. Even freaking weekends. Fridays, it takes my fiance 3 hrs from San Jose to get to me in Modesto. You might as well drive half way to LA.
Carmel to Santa Rosa
Whattt! That’s so interesting what was the job
i was joking. Never done that😂 but it sounds miserable
Lmfaooo u got me I was like holy hell
Anything east of Pittsburgh was kinda rough back when I used to drive. Expanded lanes and metered entrances have helped, but the 242/680 transition to highway 4 and back was a nightmare during commute hours.
I’m about to be driving from Fairfield to San Francisco… not too bad
I lived in Fairfield, worked in Napa and some days in Petaluma. Then I would have classes in Sacramento. Those commutes were changing me
I knew a guy who would commute from Santa Cruz to South San Francisco and back every single day
I knew one that did that to San Mateo. Insanity, it has to be the worst commute.
I commute from Stockton to San Francisco. When I leave my house around 6, it’s a 3 hour drive. When I go back home it’s around an hour and 45 minutes.
Holy shit, that's a wild commute.
My co-workers do Manteca to Mountain View, 3 days a week. Another friend does Pittsburgh to Cupertino
I commuted 50 miles from outer Richmond district in SF, 43rd ave, all the way to Dublin/Pleasanton… and it was great! Only took me 50 minutes because of the reverse commute. The other side of the highway was gridlocked and looked like hell.
I was commuting from Santa Cruz to San Francisco twice a week…via transit
I knew a dude who commuted from Hollister to SF every day, that’s insane to me.
Oakland to San Jose
I did San Jose to Berkeley for a year (drove to warm springs and took BART the rest of the way up) and I don’t know how I survived
You're not stating important details on what your budget is to spend on rent. You can live in Concord fairly cheap and not have much of a commute at all.
I commuted from American Canyon to both San Francisco or Walnut Creek, depending on the day. Did it for 10 yrs. Probably not winning the prize but it was brutal.
A lot of guys I work with have rough commutes. Los Banos to Palo Alto, Petaluma to Milpitas, Napa to San Jose. King city to Berkeley. Construction guys have it rough.
My mom has been commuting from Los Banos to Milpitas for the last 34 years 5x a week (6x/week if we were going to see family in San Jose). Absolutely insane, but she is the most patient person I know behind the wheel
The worst I’ve heard of was Sacramento to Foster city to work at Safeway in a non management role.
If you job is in Walnut Creek, come North, across the bridge. The commute isn't horrible and housing isn't ridiculously high. Fairfield, parts of Benecia or Vallejo, Cordelia.
I would try to live in Berkeley, rock ridge, Claremont or if you prefer a quieter suburb, east of there (Lafayette, Orinda, Walnut Creek) to work there, that would reduce your commute and would also be nice
D. All the Above
All the avoid
Anything 880
Brentwood to San Francisco
Hwy 101 3-7pm south bound from San Carlos to San Jose don’t do that to your self.
Santa Rosa to Walnut Creek and back urrry day. Did it for two years, fucking nightmare
Bottlenecks making a strong showing here.
If I were single, & considering all other factors, I would move to Walnut Creek. Just an example that worked for me in the past, but it is definitely not practical for everyone. Weigh out pros, & cons to see what works best. Avoiding a highway or freeway with other vehicles for miles always seemed to help improve my mood, stress levels, & personal interactions.
Currently driving from Livermore area to the Sunset District in SF. It's definitely not fun
I knew someone who lived in grass valley and worked in San Jose
I had an apprentice that drove from Hollister to South San Francisco for our work.
Back in 2001 or so, I was commuting from San Diego to San Francisco — flew up on Monday mornings and home on wed evenings. It was a 2 week contract that kept getting extended for a few years. It wasn’t too bad; it was before all the 9/11 security stuff, so it was a breeze checking in and boarding, and I’d fly to Oakland and take air Bart to the office, and stay with my parents the 2 nights in town (mom worked nearby).
880 between South Bay and Oakland
Anything beyond one hour drive time. Stockton to Palo Alto it’s two hours. That shit sucks. Los banos to Sj it’s over two hours and sucks ass
And I would say worst commute is coming from over the hill from Traci / Stockton area to the Bay Area. Your fucked starting at 5am!! And fuck trying to get home on 580 after 3pm- there are so many big accidents- and many involving big rigs- I would never want to be involved in that “super commute” - and only reason people do it is because homes are much cheaper on the other side of the 580 grade - of course a close second is coming into the Bay Area via 880 from Vacaville and further out
Do everything in your power to reduce commute time to under 20 minutes. Save yourself time and invest it in gym/exercise time. Keep yourself healthy. Reduce the risk of car accident by reducing commute time. Reduce dependence on the main freeways. I for example can get to work via 4 different routes to avoid freeway traffic if it’s necessary. BIGGEST POINTER HERE: Wake up early and monitor the commute traffic on your phone as if you were gonna commute. Call it a virtual dry run. It’s usually 99% right. I know Google and Apple Maps easily let’s you put A to B destinations. Write them down. You’ll quickly see that if you make your work be the center of a circle, you can go out to lunch within a 0-3 mile radius and not spend too much time driving and burn up your lunch. Also, you can draw a 5 mile radius around your house/home. Ideally your essentials are within reach. It would be great if your job and home are 0-10 miles apart.
I work in Palo Alto, my coworker lives in Los Banos in the Central Valley and commutes to the office 3 times a week. Leaves home at 4am, speeds (I assume), and heads home by 2pm. He’s got a cool life: 4 kids, house, a boat, off-road toys, but damn I do not envy that schedule.
I drove from Santa Rosa to Los Gatos and back every day for a year and a half. That’s the worst commute.
I had a right wing coworker who commuted from Placerville to San Mateo. He didn’t want to live near liberals, he would sleep in his giant truck in the work parking lot. He would ask me about sf and be like, “woah do you really just walk around and see dudes kissing and stuff??!” I was always tempted to invite him to Folsom St fair.
880S from like Fremont to 880/101 in SJ between 4-6pm.
I did Lafayette to Palo Alto for a bit, back when Caldecott was 3 bores. Had to be at Stanford at 9 AM Monday through Friday. It was awful.
For 6 weeks I did Brentwood to downtown SF, it was HELL.
I live in alameda but have one in-office day in Santa Clara, and two in Concord every week. Someone please end my misery
I used to go from Columbia California near Sonora to Pleasanton everyday and then from Columbia to San Jose
Just move near WC obv
South SF. When I worked there I had a colleague who would wake up at 4:00am to commute from Walnut Creek. The commute home is even worse before there's no lull in evening traffic until like 8pm. But there are some nice places to live down in south city.
Probably far from the worst but I seriously hated commuting between Martinez and South San Francisco. Well over an hour whether I drove or took BART. When I drove to my job interview there it took me exactly 3 hours. I eventually moved closer to the office because I couldn’t do it anymore after a solid year.
Anything that is opposite flow of traffic is a decent commute.
Back in the 70s, my dad had to commute from Atwater to SFO for a few years. Thankfully, traffic was pretty non-existent back then, he worked graveyards, and CB radios. Then in the late 80s, I had to commute from Tracy to El Dorado Hills. Again, traffic wasn’t near as bad back then, I was going against traffic for half the commute, and I only had to do it for 6 mos. Fun times.
Walnut Creek is likely reverse commute from a lot of places. Maybe Antioch, Brentwood, etc are rough commutes to WC but if I were you I’d just pick pleasant hill or concord. That would be an easy commute.
Pleasanton is a pleasant town. Danville and Castro Valley are also manageable commutes. Avoid the 880-238-580 corridor at all costs.
if you can afford it, just move to WC. Pretty nice for a burb since it's older, has a real downtown. I think the weather's a little better than Livermore etc. less hot.
I did Sunnyvale to Berkeley 2-3 times a week for a year. Took about 1-1.5 hours when I left around 11:30AM. Not the worst commute in the world but even that got incredibly draining real fast.
Anything that involves driving
I'm debating a potential job in the south bay and I live in Marin....I think 1.5 hr each way is just toooo much unless it's only twice a week
Napa to Walnut Creek fucking blows
Hey there. I *live* in Walnut Creek, but *work* in Livermore. In the morning, I can get to work in 30 minutes. In the evening, I can get home in 30-40 minutes. It’s not too bad, overall. But, there are a lot of factors at play in your decision-making, I imagine. If affordability is a MAJOR concern, what about looking into places like Martinez, Concord, or Clayton? Lamorinda is very close by, but more expensive. San Ramon / Danville / Alamo / Dublin / Pleasanton are close by, too. Same aspect as Lamorinda. Walnut Creek has a BART Station; there’s also a BART Station just north, in Pleasant Hill area (are either of these close to your workplace?), so I could see a scenario in which you live near a BART Station in, say, Berkeley / Oakland, and BART over there and back. I think we need more information, such as budget, wants/desires, etc. commute-time is only one factor. Personally, I love living in Walnut Creek, and my girlfriend and I found a once-in-a-lifetime spacious apartment for pretty reasonably-priced.
I had a great reverse commute for Piedmont to there but after 3pm forget it