commute time from San Mateo to Redwood Shores? (Redwood City, Burlingame: work, traffic)

[canrane]

Hi,

I'm new to the Bay area and am looking for some info/advice about commute times. I'll be working right downtown and my fiance will be working in Redwood shores. In the interests of fairness, we've kind of zeroed in on San Mateo as a place with comparable commutes for both of us.

Would you say that's accurate?

I'd be taking the calTrain downtown and Muni to market st. And he'd be driving. So how bad is this drive? Is the proximity to the airport problematic? What's the worst-case drive-times we're looking at during peak hours?

Thanks,

Canrane

[libbykt]

It really depends on where in San Mateo you live. We live close to Burlingame, and my husband's commute to RWS can be 10 minutes on a good day with no traffic and 45 minutes on a horrible Friday night in the rain. So I guess that's your worst case scenario.

[gizmo980]

Your commute will almost definitely be longer, especially since you're taking CalTrain... worst case scenario, I'd say 40 minutes to RWC & 50-60 minutes to downtown SF. But on a typical day, I would estimate around 15 minutes for your husband, and 30-40 for you. He's the lucky one in this situation, LOL.

[sonarrat]

Redwood Shores meaning the Ralston/Marine Parkway exit? That's not far at all. 40 minutes is a sky-high estimate, I think, because I've never seen 101 that bad. It takes me less than 20 minutes to go the opposite way from western Redwood City to San Mateo, and that's the more congested direction.

[icazares]

You should look at Millbrae. BART and Caltrain for you and still a short 10-12 miles commute for your spouse driving in the opposite direction of the main traffic.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Redwood Shores meaning the Ralston/Marine Parkway exit? That's not far at all. 40 minutes is a sky-high estimate, I think, because I've never seen 101 that bad. It takes me less than 20 minutes to go the opposite way from western Redwood City to San Mateo, and that's the more congested direction.

Yeah, I've never seen it take that long either, but I was giving a WORST case scenario... typically it's more like 15 minutes between SM & RWC, especially if you're getting off at Redwood Shores. Easy commute most of the time! And hey, if 101 is particularly awful one day, there are lots of back-routes you can take - like Old County Road, which starts in San Mateo (called Pacific Ave. at the SM end, I think), and then you can switch to Industrial Rd. from Ralston.