Commute between Emeryville and Palo Alto (San Jose, Fremont: home, to live in, bus)

[yuut]

My husband is working at Palo Alto (Stanford), and I will be taking a job at Emeryville. To split the time on commuting, we plan to live somewhere in between, so that he could take CalTrain, and I could take the Bart.

Any towns you would recommend?
Or are there any other commuting strategies that you would recommend?


Thanks.

[sonarrat]

Union City would be my suggestion. You wouldn't be able to take Caltrain (yet), but you would be able to take an AC Transit bus or the Dumbarton Express to Palo Alto, and he could take BART.

[humboldtrat]

Go for Millbrae which has both Caltrain and BART at the same station.

[artemis78]

Millbrae seems like a good bet, especially if you need to drive to the station---one car to park (and pay for) simplifies things a lot. The other thing to consider is that Emeryville has an Amtrak station with a city shuttle (Emery-Go-Round) that runs you to pretty much everywhere from there. The Amtrak commute line, Capitol Corridor, goes down to San Jose and Santa Clara, so those could also be options. The train runs less frequently than BART but it's quicker. I have a friend who's done that commute in the opposite direction for years, and doesn't encounter problems too often.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Union City would be my suggestion. You wouldn't be able to take Caltrain (yet), but you would be able to take an AC Transit bus or the Dumbarton Express to Palo Alto, and he could take BART.

In terms of public transportation it wouldn't be a bad idea to live in Fremont, the husband could take the line U which stops directly on campus (vs the DB which goes to Palo Alto), and the wife could take the Capitol Corridor to Emeryville. BART would be another option, but it doesn't go to Emeryville itself.

::: The Capitol Corridor: home :::
AC Transit | Rider Info | Maps and Schedules

But I would mention that would give them limited options as to when to go, the driving from Fremont all the way to Emeryville will probably not be good.

Other people have mentioned Millbrae, Caltrain from Millbrae to Palo Alto would be quick, but BART on the other hand doesn't go to Emeryville, the closest stations are Ashby and MacArthur, the OP would have to find out if there is an AC-transit bus to Emeryville, and connect with that, total time would probably be significantly more than an hour, but at least there would be a lot more frequent service to both East Bay and Palo Alto from there, than from Fremont or Union City.

BART: BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit
Caltrain caltrain.com - home

[artemis78]

Emery-Go-Round, the Emeryville shuttle, does go to MacArthur BART every ten minutes or so, FYI. However, remember that while BART does go direct from Millbrae to MacArthur, it's still pretty long.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by artemis78

Emery-Go-Round, the Emeryville shuttle, does go to MacArthur BART every ten minutes or so, FYI. However, remember that while BART does go direct from Millbrae to MacArthur, it's still pretty long.

It's also expensive to go from Millbrae, because you have to go through the Transbay Tube (surcharge) and San Mateo County (another surcharge), both things that you avoid if you're coming from the East Bay already.