What's up with Fairfield? (San Francisco, Oakland: apartment, rental, job)

[kindafedup]

Can you tell me about fairfield? How far is it from the city? Would I need a car to get around there? Would I need to take the Bart from there? Or...

Is it more suburban, residential, farmland? what? clean area?

Looking into vistiing that area.

[humboldtrat]

Fairfield is about 60 miles from San Francisco and yes you would need a car to get around. BART doesn't go to Fairfield and the commute between SF and Fairfield would be horrible (and gas is almost $4/gallon making it an expensive commute )

[gizmo980]

I almost moved to Fairfield last year (was offered a job in Suisun), and I was far from impressed... it's not a horrible place, but it's very blah & pseudo-suburban, yet feels kinda "ghetto" at the same time. Does that make sense? You would definitely need a car there, since it's fairly spread-out & probably doesn't have a great bus system - and it's around 1 hour from San Francisco without traffic, 1.5-2 hours + with traffic. On the upside, it's very affordable by CA standards, and has plenty of shopping nearby. If you were interested in living around that area, I'd suggest Vacaville before Fairfield... it's a much smaller, almost rural town, but I thought it was really cute, clean & quiet.

[kindafedup]

thank you both for the replys. You are always very helpful.
I was actually surprised to find out that I know someone in that area and they told me not to go to the city because...

They suggested I consider Fairfiled instead. I didn't think it would be my cup of tea and from what you two said, I was right about that.

I don't want to use a car and I don't want to be so far from the city especially not with a commute like that with the gas and all.

Basically I wanted to be a part of the city. So thanks a bunch.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by kindafedup

Can you tell me about fairfield? How far is it from the city? Would I need a car to get around there? Would I need to take the Bart from there? Or...

Is it more suburban, residential, farmland? what? clean area?

Looking into vistiing that area.

I have friends in Fairfield -- there is a increasing gang presence there. It's sort of run down and the downtown area is trying to revitalize, but there doesn't seem to be a reason to. I think the town built up around Travis Air Force base.

[sonarrat]

There is a commuter bus from Suisun City and Fairfield to SF.. I see it almost every time I go downtown.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by kindafedup

I don't want to use a car and I don't want to be so far from the city especially not with a commute like that with the gas and all.

Basically I wanted to be a part of the city.

Let me make a suggestion. Check out San Carlos, about 25 miles south of San Francisco. It's a middle to upper middle class suburban town and is very SAFE. It has a nice downtown area with everything you need and within walking distance, there are many apartment buildings in the area. The rent will probably be a little cheaper than what you could find in SF.

Also, within walking distance, in the downtown area is a Caltrain station caltrain.com - home and it's about a 40 minute ride to SF. They also sell monthly train passes which will soon be cheaper than driving to SF.

[Crazykasim]

The sky.........

[Alisande]

Originally Posted by kindafedup

Can you tell me about fairfield? How far is it from the city? Would I need a car to get around there? Would I need to take the Bart from there? Or...

Is it more suburban, residential, farmland? what? clean area?

Looking into vistiing that area.

Fairfield has a big gang population. Crime/drugs etc. You DO need a car. California's mass transit (what little there is) sucks. By city do you mean San Fran?

[Linenoise]

I grew up in Fairfield. Driving from there to SF would suck (my dad used to do it). You have to cross the Bay Bridge and go through the Maze, which is horrible during rush hour. It's 1.5-2 hours each way, easy. The closest Bart station is in Richmond, I believe. You'd do better driving down to Vallejo and taking the Ferry over, but that's still ~1 hour (although its a nice trip!)


In terms of crime, yeah, it's not a nice place. We're not talking Richmond/Oakland type stuff, but it's definately deteriorating. Suisun (pronounced "sue-soon") borders Fairfield and is nicer, but all the shopping (ie, the mall) is in fairfield, or over in Vacaville. During the housing boom, houses in the area went up quite a bit ($500K for a 3 bedroom in fairfield? really??) but now alot are being turned into rentals. The neighborhood around my parent's house in Suisun (over by Travis Air Force Base) is starting to look kinda run down.