High traffic times in the Bay Area? (San Francisco, Sacramento: lease, month to)

[felinius]

Hey-lo all,

I have a new job that's going to have me driving from Sacramento to around Berkeley for the next few months on a daily basis.

What are the usual high traffic times for the Bay Area?


(We're stuck in a lease til July and I got a lucky break. I'm happy my car has good MPG. )

[18Montclair]

Uh, coming from Sacramento on 80 the traffic will be heavy around Fairfield, then clear up a little until you get to Vallejo and it will be slow until you get to the Carquinez Bridge and then it will clear up a little until you get to around Hercules, and usually from there its heavy all the way to Berkeley. This is the norm for the AM commute.

If you take 680, then it might be busy in Benicia, will definitely get slow once you get to the 680/242 junction and could possibly be busy from there all the way to 24 and remain busy all the way to and thru the Caldecott Tunnel and remain busy to Berkeley.

Generally the earlier you leave the better. If you leave Sacramento around 6am you should be fine.

The return commute is worse imo. I used to commute from Granite Bay to Downtown San Francisco and grew to hate my commute intensely.

But its really a hit and miss, sometimes traffic will be much lighter, other times it will be much heavier.

[evergraystate]

Thats a rough commute. I hope you have good AC in the car. If its just a temporary work commute I would seriously consider renting a room in berkeley month to month.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by evergraystate

Thats a rough commute. I hope you have good AC in the car. If its just a temporary work commute I would seriously consider renting a room in berkeley month to month.

Agreed. At least you don't have to cross the Bay Bridge, but it's still a long and tough ride. The peak hours are 2-7 pm.

[felinius]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Generally the earlier you leave the better. If you leave Sacramento around 6am you should be fine.

The return commute is worse imo. I used to commute from Granite Bay to Downtown San Francisco and grew to hate my commute intensely.

Yeah, I was told previously to leave around 5:30-6AM to avoid traffic. When does the traffic back get the heaviest?

I'm expecting to hate it ... I have no problems with 10 hour straight drives, but it's not usually with traffic nor on a daily basis.

Originally Posted by evergraystate

Thats a rough commute. I hope you have good AC in the car. If its just a temporary work commute I would seriously consider renting a room in berkeley month to month.

Yeap, the car has good AC. Could use a working window for drive-thrus, but I'll take what I can get.

Problem is that I'm not 100% sure where my assignment(s) will be. It's based out of Berkeley area, but I'll be traveling around the Bay. Hoping for North Bay, but preparing for the worst with long traffic.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

I used to commute from Granite Bay to Downtown San Francisco and grew to hate my commute intensely.

A literal hell on wheels. Which is too bad, since Granite Bay is a nice place one would like to enjoy after work.

[NorCal Dude]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

A literal hell on wheels. Which is too bad, since Granite Bay is a nice place one would like to enjoy after work.

I grew up in Granite Bay. No one from there commutes from the bay. Hell a good amount of the residents don't even commute into Sac. They go over to Intel at Folsom or HP+ Kaiser in Roseville and such.

I'd take the capitol corridor train personally, if in that situation. The 7 am train gets you into the Berkeley station around 8:30.

[contourer]

Fridays! I think especially as we get into summer, heading toward Sacramento on Hwy80 out of Berkeley will be a big drag... possibly starting before 2pm.

That was my experience a few years ago, maybe others here can give you a better idea and update.

Hopefully, you'll get paid for your driving time around the Bay Area. You would do well to contact a CPA and get some advice on two jobs, or a job and a business, so your first stop is a short drive starting out from home base.

[NorCal Dude]

Originally Posted by contourer

Fridays! I think especially as we get into summer, heading toward Sacramento on Hwy80 out of Berkeley will be a big drag... possibly starting before 2pm.

That would be all the bay area week end warrior people heading to Tahoe. It is even worse in the winter. They are all "keeping lake tahoe blue", with their jumbo SUV's.

[Jarkatmu]

Originally Posted by felinius

Hey-lo all,

I have a new job that's going to have me driving from Sacramento to around Berkeley for the next few months on a daily basis.

What are the usual high traffic times for the Bay Area?


(We're stuck in a lease til July and I got a lucky break. I'm happy my car has good MPG. )

Consider taking the Capitol Corridor train. It probably won't save any time, but at least someone else is doing the driving and the trains are really comfortable. They have big, reclining seats, on board wi fi, a cafe car, and a quiet car so you can get some Z's without people blaring music or yaking into their phones.

The train stops at University Ave in Berkeley, next to the 4th street area, but there's a cross platform transfer with BART in Richmond which will whisk you into Downtown Berkeley. Transfers to BART aren't free, but if you want to switch to AC transit, you get a free transfer, just ask the conductor for one.

Capitol Corridor Trains ::