Public Transit in Sacramento (San Francisco, Rancho Cordova: rentals, insurance, home)

[ComicalMoodyDan]

I have a question, although sadly I think I know the answer and it's going to be one that I will most likely not care for. I'm currently living near Kingsport, TN and well I'm not happy here. I have a couple of friends in the Sacramento area and I visited there in January of 2007. I fell in LOVE with the area and ever since I came back to East TN I just feel oddly "home" sick. Sacramento for some reason just seemed like home to me and I actually went through a depression when I had to come back to my area.

Anyways my question is. I'm in a horrible spot financially right now but if somehow I can make the move to Sacramento I will not have a car. From what I recall I saw little public transit in the Sacramento area and I read in an online article that Sacramento has one of the worst public transit systems for a city. So is there anyway a person can rely on public transit and live in Sacramento? At least for a while.

[Mr. Ozo]

Public transportation is bad, however if you live in the central city you can get around pretty well on foot or bike. We have a light rail which gets you to the jobs in Rancho Cordova. Lot's of people get around Midtown without a car, so if you have a close job or work from home you'll be cool. I really only use my car to get to my job and back, when I'm in town I'll take light rail, walk or bike.

Also you can go to San Francisco by public transportation pretty easy and there's an hourly bus to the airport, so it's not all bad. The main problem is Sacramento's lack of density, a lot of the light rail stops are basically nowhere or still a 1 mile or 2 from where you want to be. Again, a bike will help a lot.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Thanks, Mr. Ozo. I remember checking out my friends address in Natomas and was looking at this one place to work. The light rail would have dropped me off a bit over a mile from work! I also think I had to make one transfer as well so that just seemed like a bit of a pain.

I did visit San Fran while I was briefly in Nor Cal two years ago. I LOVED it but it just felt a bit too crowded for me to live there and the cost of living is just too high for me. Although I think if money was no object I would prefer San Fran. While I was briefly there all I did was walk, take the BART, or a short cab ride and that's one thing I loved about that area. Still I think Sacramento may be a better personal fit as it felt like a decent sized city but still enough room for me to "Breathe" and if I ever wanted somewhere bigger with more to do, San Francisco isn't too far away.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by ComicalMoodyDan

Anyways my question is. I'm in a horrible spot financially right now but if somehow I can make the move to Sacramento I will not have a car. From what I recall I saw little public transit in the Sacramento area and I read in an online article that Sacramento has one of the worst public transit systems for a city. So is there anyway a person can rely on public transit and live in Sacramento? At least for a while.

When I divorced a number of years ago I was without a car and lived and worked downtown without a problem. Some years later I remarried and our car was totalled by a red light runner. We lived downtown which is where both my wife and I worked. We easily lived without a car for about four years. Three-day weekend rentals about every two weeks were far cheaper than owning a car (payments, insurance, maintenance, etc.) and took care of major shopping and getting out of town. We walked to and from work, most shopping and plenty of restaurants and cultural activities, supplemented by handily available buses and light rail.

It's easily doable!

[wburg]

As we can see here, it depends on the neighborhood--if you happen to live and work in neighborhoods with light rail or a good bus line, you can probably get by without a car, but many neighborhoods don't. If you live in the central city and work downtown, no, you don't really need a car for much.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Thanks for the information guys. I can't move at this time but maybe in the future I hopefully can and the information I received here will help me out a bit.

[Rob98LS1]

I think the best thing to do if you did move would be to just plan out a place to live that is centralized around a good public transit area and then rent a car to go elsewhere if needed. And then, in time with the money you have saved from using public transportation, you can purchase a car/truck and you'll be set!