live in SF -- work in either Palo Alto or Pleasanton? (San Francisco: home, quality of life)

[ljb]

Hi,

I know the old "how long is the commute..." questions must get old, but I'm new here and just trying to figure some things out about a potential upcoming move to the Bay area.

I have the possibility of working in either Palo Alto or Pleasanton...neither is my first choice, cause I'd like to be in SF, but that doesn't seem to be happening. My question are then, is it feasible to live in the city and commute to either of the places in a reasonable time (how long?). OR...should I just live in my workplace town and spend free time in SF? The thing is, I'm single, no kids...so I thought this could be very...un-fun?

(My situation is that I'm looking for a travel nursing job in the area, and so far am unable to get a position in SF proper, leaving me with the outlying areas)

thanks for any helpful ideas (other locale suggestions?), info.

[humboldtrat]

You would be better off living near where you work. Traffic is terrible in the Bay Area . I would guess almost an hour to travel between SF and Pleasanton and about 45 min to travel between SF and Palo Alto. But it could be longer depending on traffic. Question is: do you want to spend that much time every day on the road - stuck in traffic? It doesn't add much to the quality of life. Gas is running about $3.30/gal here. There is also a $4 bridge toll (one-way) if you travel between SF and Pleasanton.

[ljb]

I hear what you're saying. I don't think i would want to spend that much time in my car, or on gas. Not fun. thanks for your input

[humboldtrat]

I forgot to mention public transportation. BART trains do run between SF and Pleasanton and Caltrain has train service between SF and Palo Alto. Either of these trains take about same amount of time as it would to travel by car - maybe a little longer since the trains stop at a station every 2 miles. Tickets cost about $9 - $10 round trip. Live where you work and visit SF. Or get a job in SF.

[gizmo980]

Sadly, I have to agree with Humboldt. I work in San Francisco, and when I first got this job, I commuted from East Palo Alto... took about 45-55 minutes, half of which was SLOW moving (10-20 MPH). Plus, I was filling my gas tank once a week @ nearly $50 a pop - I drive a Honda Accord, but use premium gas. Commuting the other direction might actually be worse, since many people work in Silicon Valley & live in SF, so you're looking at 2 hours a day. And this is precisely why I move to the city, despite the fact that I actually liked EPA (considered the "ghetto") and its cheap rent. But it wasn't tooo hard of a decision to make, since SF is such a terrific city!

Working in Pleasanton might be more do-able, since as Humboldt mentioned, you can take BART back & forth... might not save much time, but it would save a lot of stress. BART is usually a nice relaxing ride, where you could just sit back and read a book. For me, it would still be hard to give up that extra 2 hours a day, mainly because I have a dog waiting at home - who I can now visit at lunch, seeing as I live only 0.5 miles from work. But if you're willing to spend that extra time commuting, I'd say go with the Pleasanton option instead. Anyway, that's my 2 cents, but maybe you could compromise... live somewhere like San Mateo, which is halfway between the two, and kind of a cool city on its own. Good luck!