Considering a move from Los Angeles to San Francisco (San Jose: apartment, rentals)

[ColinC02]

Hi everyone, I moved to Los Angeles nearly two years ago. While I love the weather and outdoor activities, the traffic is making me want to shoot myself. My girlfriend and I are considering a move to the bay area. We currently pay $2k a month for a 1,200 sq. ft. 1 bedroom apartment in Marina Del Rey, CA. We would like to pay the same or less (this is not likely) for a one-two bedroom in the bay area. The square footage isn't a huge concern, we just lucked out with our current place. We are looking for a more quiet family friendly type of neighborhood to come home to, but would love to be able to use public transportation to commute to the city and ditch our cars. This doesn't have to be in the city. Are there any neighborhoods that we could afford while keeping a commute with public transportation to downtown around 40 minutes or less?

Additionally, is there some type of monthly or annual subway or lightrail pass? I had one of these when I lived in Chicago a few years ago.

I appreciate your help.
Thanks!

[mayorhaggar]

Check out these areas, they all have BART stations and are at most a 35 minute ride to downtown SF where most office jobs are, and they're generally cheaper than SF.

- Rockridge (Oakland)
- North Berkeley
- Walnut Creek
- Lafayette
- Orinda

Rockridge and Berkeley are fairly urban but you'll be limited in what you can do without a car--but they're good for biking. The other towns are really suburban and you'll want a car. Really SF is the main place you can live without a car, though I got by in Rockridge with just a bike for a year and a half.

If you do want to check out SF then maybe check on these areas:
- Noe Valley
- Dolores Park area/Duboce Park area
- Hayes Valley
- Cole Valley
- Inner Sunset
- Inner Richmond
- Lower Pacific Heights
- Glen Park

Just keep in mind that the Bay Area has a lot of traffic too, especially at rush hour--80, 24 and 101 are all really busy. In the middle of the day and on weekends it's usually alright but can be unpredictable, 511.org is like sigalert.com for the Bay Area if you want to check traffic severity. The bridges are usually bottlenecks too. And traffic can really crawl in San Francisco, which makes the buses and light rail slow, but it's a small city.

[ColinC02]

I'm going to look into all of these areas. Thanks!

[humboldtrat]

Check out San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos and Redwood City. Commuter train runs to San Francisco or to San Jose caltrain.com No bridges to cross to get to San Francisco.

You can get a 1 bed apt easy for less than $2000.

[Jonathan_]

I'd check out Millbrae, there is a big BART station right there and the area is nice and close to SF and SJ.

[AlpinaB7]

I second Millbrae.

[skyway31]

I personally think you could find a good neighborhood in SF proper. Noe Valley, the Marina, Russian Hill and Pac Heights all fit the bill and are desirable. You might even like North Beach/Telegraph Hill (just not too close to Broadway). I'd search for places in your price range in all of those 'hoods first. I just think some of these suggestions outside of the city will be very disappointing if it's the SF vibe you're looking for.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

Check out San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos and Redwood City. Commuter train runs to San Francisco or to San Jose caltrain.com No bridges to cross to get to San Francisco.

You can get a 1 bed apt easy for less than $2000.

OP should check them out but should keep in mind that the Caltrain terminus is about a mile or so from where most office buildings in downtown SF. If their jobs are near the ballpark and the 4th and King terminus station then Caltrain and the Peninsula are awesome (Caltrain is fast, reliable, and way cleaner than BART) but if they work closer to Market where BART runs and where most office buildings are, it wouldn't be as good of an option and taking BART would be the better choice. Rentals in the East Bay are way cheaper usually too. BART from Millbrae is good too, but transferring from Caltrain to BART at Millbrae is a pain.

[ColinC02]

Wow. Thanks for all of the responses so quickly! I appreciate it. Do you think that I could literally just sell my car when moving to SF? Or am I better off keeping it? I used to live in Chicago which had great public transportation. LA definitely lacks in that area. Does SF's BART and Caltrain system cover most of the city? <br>

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by ColinC02

Wow. Thanks for all of the responses so quickly! I appreciate it. Do you think that I could literally just sell my car when moving to SF?

I never had a car nor a driver's license in SF or Oakland. If you're in most of SF (basically anywhere but out by the beach) it's hard to find street parking and you really have to be careful about the street sweeping schedules and parking rules, which can be totally different on every block. Public transit is pretty comprehensive in SF but it's far from perfect. The Muni buses really get bogged down in traffic and are run down and super crowded and are unpredictable, making them unpleasant to ride--CTA buses in Chicago move through the streets faster, are way less crowded, and more reliable (usually). The Muni Metro light rail is a bit better because some parts run through tunnels, but they made a mistake by having all the lines run through one set of tunnels so if one train breaks down (which happens all the damn time) the entire system shuts down and you can easily be an hour late for work. And when they're running above ground they also get stuck in traffic and take forever to move down the block.

Does SF's BART and Caltrain system cover most of the city?

No, each only has one line within SF. BART is basically like a subway line within SF and runs really frequently because it has several lines running through one tunnel, but outside of SF it's more of a commuter rail system. Caltrain is a traditional commuter rail service like Metra so it doesn't run very often especially outside of rush hour or on the weekend--it's ok to take it to work at 7AM but it's not useful at all for going to the grocery store.

Having said all that, SF is easy to live in without a car because it's very small and dense. If you're in a good typical SF neighborhood like Noe Valley you can walk to whatever you want--restaurants, bars, the corner store, etc, and if you need to take public transit to go further it's there and you won't have very far to travel. Getting to work on Muni can be a pain in the ass but usually it's ok. BART is way easier for commuting but there's not many parts of SF near BART stations that are cool to live in--basically only Glen Park and the areas west of the Mission stations.

Oakland is more spread out and its public transit options are a lot more limited. AC Transit is the local bus service and its lines don't run very often--maybe every 15 minutes if you're lucky. BART in Oakland is fairly frequent but the stations are far apart. Oakland is great for biking though and if you're near a major commercial street like Piedmont Ave you can walk to whatever you need. Oakland is way easier to park in than SF so having a car isn't as much of a pain, it might be worth keeping one around for grocery trips and for daytrips out of town.