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I'll be starting a job with Google in MV this summer. My girlfriend and I are moving from the east coast, combined income of 90k, and will be renting together. Her job will also most likely be in downtown MV, on Castro street.
In trying to make MV affordable for us, I'm wondering about the feasibility of living without a car there. Should I not even consider it, or can it be done if we live in the right area (close to downtown, groceries, etc)?
A couple of related questions:
- How bike-friendly is MV? Are there actual paths that I could ride on to get to/from work, or do I have to ride with traffic?
- In the event my girlfriend's job ended up being in Palo Alto or Sunnyvale, can those downtown areas be accessed easily via public transit (plus a little walking) from downtown MV?
I'll be starting a job with Google in MV this summer. My girlfriend and I are moving from the east coast, combined income of 90k, and will be renting together. Her job will also most likely be in downtown MV, on Castro street.
In trying to make MV affordable for us, I'm wondering about the feasibility of living without a car there. Should I not even consider it, or can it be done if we live in the right area (close to downtown, groceries, etc)?
A couple of related questions:
- How bike-friendly is MV? Are there actual paths that I could ride on to get to/from work, or do I have to ride with traffic?
- In the event my girlfriend's job ended up being in Palo Alto or Sunnyvale, can those downtown areas be accessed easily via public transit (plus a little walking) from downtown MV?
Thanks for the help!
Yes it's possible. But your lifestyle might sucks because you won't be able to go to Santa Cruz or some other areas. You can always rent car from time to time. If I am on your position. I would definitely try without car at least for while.
I'll be starting a job with Google in MV this summer. My girlfriend and I are moving from the east coast, combined income of 90k, and will be renting together. Her job will also most likely be in downtown MV, on Castro street.
In trying to make MV affordable for us, I'm wondering about the feasibility of living without a car there. Should I not even consider it, or can it be done if we live in the right area (close to downtown, groceries, etc)?
A couple of related questions:
- How bike-friendly is MV? Are there actual paths that I could ride on to get to/from work, or do I have to ride with traffic?
- In the event my girlfriend's job ended up being in Palo Alto or Sunnyvale, can those downtown areas be accessed easily via public transit (plus a little walking) from downtown MV?
Thanks for the help!
My honest opinion, living in MTV myself, is no. Yes it is conceivable if you live in walking distance to Castro St, but the problem is the rent premium for living in walking distance to Castro St is far more than a car. My rent for a 2br about 1.5mi (if that) from Castro is around 2500; the same type of place walking distance to Castro is easily $1000 more per month.
As far as biking, aside from the Stevens Creek Trail, mostly it will be on road (though with bike lanes - watch those right turners though). It's more than doable, and biking is a great option to have, I just question biking as a sole mode of transit. For example, the weather is pretty good here, but most winters are a lot wetter than this last one - will you really want to bike to work in a driving rainstorm?
Further, daily chores will be major chores. Even if you figure a good way to work -- what about grocery shopping? Clothes shopping? Other day to day stuff? Castro St is great but it's mostly a bar and restaurant district. It's wonderful for going out at night, but aside from a few boutiques / book stores and a tiny grocery store that I doubt meets 100% of needs, it meets very little of your "day to day" needs. So now you are looking at either biking or taking exceptionally shoddy public transport to do your regular shopping.
I won't say it's impossible, and I do like Mountain View, but the fact is Mountain View is a car culture suburb with a "cute" downtown - it is no way a functional urban center.
I do have a friend who lives without a car but he lives in Santana Row. There's bars, shopping, restaurants right there, and a Safeway across the street, along with a mall and a drug store. So he's got all he needs right there. And his company offers a company shuttle from Santana Row to his job in Mountain View, so that takes care of his commute. He just rents a car on the weekend if he wants to go somewhere.
I'd almost think living somewhere like Downtown San Jose, and utilizing a combination of CalTrain and company shuttles to get to Mountain View might be a better option. DTSJ is more "functional" than Mountain View, having a grocery store, gyms, and so forth in addition to the usual night spots. And it is cheaper than Castro St to boot. The only negative would be the commute to Google is probably on the order of 45min to an hour before all is said and done (walk to train, ride train, wait for shuttle in Mountain View, shuttle to office).
Really though - I might just consider Sunnyvale or Santa Clara and see if you can get by with one car and you and your gf can carpool to Mountain View (most tech companies also have carpool lists). You'll probably save on rent vs. a trendy walkable downtown, and have a much easier life in what is at the end of the day a giant suburb .
You're making too much sense Azmordean. Let these "urbanist-till-I-die" hipster kids ride it out in MV Castro for a year, they'll learn
OP, aside from the sarcastic remark above, the "no-car" lifestyle can only be realized by living in SF, Downtown Oakland, and Downtown San Jose. Those are the only 3 places that you can have a normal life without a car. Other than them, every other "downtowns" are just outdoor malls that you need to drive to in order to "walk" them
You're making too much sense Azmordean. Let these "urbanist-till-I-die" hipster kids ride it out in MV Castro for a year, they'll learn
Yes, I see this come up all the time and I don't get it. What's the big appeal of having no way to get around on your own and being completely reliant on our sub-par public transit system? It requires structuring your whole life around it, living by trail/bus schedules and costs more in the end anyways if you factor in the premium to live right in a hub like that. I understand if you're living in SF where parking is at a premium and you're walking or taking transit all the time anyways. But in a place like Mtn View, or even most of San Jose, you're hard pressed to find a housing complex, company building or a store that doesn't have a big, free parking lot around it or very nearby.
Yes, I see this come up all the time and I don't get it. What's the big appeal of having no way to get around on your own and being completely reliant on our sub-par public transit system? It requires structuring your whole life around it, living by trail/bus schedules and costs more in the end anyways if you factor in the premium to live right in a hub like that. I understand if you're living in SF where parking is at a premium and you're walking or taking transit all the time anyways. But in a place like Mtn View, or even most of San Jose, you're hard pressed to find a housing complex, company building or a store that doesn't have a big, free parking lot around it or very nearby.
I agree with this. I don't even think that Downtown SJ, Downtown Oakland, or SF are practical without a car (so basically anywhere in the Bay Area), although I'll concede that these places do make a bit more sense if one must be carless than DT Mountain View. I'm downtown SJ-ish and love being able to walk to places but there are times where I need to go grocery shopping for things I can't get at Safeway or Nijiya, or get good non-overrated Korean food (meaning not Omogari), or browse Barnes & Noble, or catch a movie that isn't playing at Camera 12, etc.
The Bay Area has better public transit than most elsewhere in the western US but it's still not good enough to be able to structure your life around it IMO.
My honest opinion, living in MTV myself, is no. Yes it is conceivable if you live in walking distance to Castro St, but the problem is the rent premium for living in walking distance to Castro St is far more than a car. My rent for a 2br about 1.5mi (if that) from Castro is around 2500; the same type of place walking distance to Castro is easily $1000 more per month.
As far as biking, aside from the Stevens Creek Trail, mostly it will be on road (though with bike lanes - watch those right turners though). It's more than doable, and biking is a great option to have, I just question biking as a sole mode of transit. For example, the weather is pretty good here, but most winters are a lot wetter than this last one - will you really want to bike to work in a driving rainstorm?
Further, daily chores will be major chores. Even if you figure a good way to work -- what about grocery shopping? Clothes shopping? Other day to day stuff? Castro St is great but it's mostly a bar and restaurant district. It's wonderful for going out at night, but aside from a few boutiques / book stores and a tiny grocery store that I doubt meets 100% of needs, it meets very little of your "day to day" needs. So now you are looking at either biking or taking exceptionally shoddy public transport to do your regular shopping.
I won't say it's impossible, and I do like Mountain View, but the fact is Mountain View is a car culture suburb with a "cute" downtown - it is no way a functional urban center.
I do have a friend who lives without a car but he lives in Santana Row. There's bars, shopping, restaurants right there, and a Safeway across the street, along with a mall and a drug store. So he's got all he needs right there. And his company offers a company shuttle from Santana Row to his job in Mountain View, so that takes care of his commute. He just rents a car on the weekend if he wants to go somewhere.
I'd almost think living somewhere like Downtown San Jose, and utilizing a combination of CalTrain and company shuttles to get to Mountain View might be a better option. DTSJ is more "functional" than Mountain View, having a grocery store, gyms, and so forth in addition to the usual night spots. And it is cheaper than Castro St to boot. The only negative would be the commute to Google is probably on the order of 45min to an hour before all is said and done (walk to train, ride train, wait for shuttle in Mountain View, shuttle to office).
Really though - I might just consider Sunnyvale or Santa Clara and see if you can get by with one car and you and your gf can carpool to Mountain View (most tech companies also have carpool lists). You'll probably save on rent vs. a trendy walkable downtown, and have a much easier life in what is at the end of the day a giant suburb .
This is an excellent post and covers all the viable options
The only thing I'd add is that Santana Row is awfully expensive from what I hear, so I don't know if it would be worth it to live somewhere that expensive and then have to commute besides.
You're making too much sense Azmordean. Let these "urbanist-till-I-die" hipster kids ride it out in MV Castro for a year, they'll learn
OP, aside from the sarcastic remark above, the "no-car" lifestyle can only be realized by living in SF, Downtown Oakland, and Downtown San Jose. Those are the only 3 places that you can have a normal life without a car. Other than them, every other "downtowns" are just outdoor malls that you need to drive to in order to "walk" them
Yep, and even San Jose's downtown can feel a bit claustrophobic after a while. I live & work downtown and crashed my car a few years ago and was without it for several months. I got by ok, but by the end of 2.5 months I was really glad to have my car back! Of course, there are services such as Zipcar, but I didn't look into it at the time (not sure if we had it in downtown SJ at that point).
Yes, I see this come up all the time and I don't get it. What's the big appeal of having no way to get around on your own and being completely reliant on our sub-par public transit system? It requires structuring your whole life around it, living by trail/bus schedules and costs more in the end anyways if you factor in the premium to live right in a hub like that. I understand if you're living in SF where parking is at a premium and you're walking or taking transit all the time anyways. But in a place like Mtn View, or even most of San Jose, you're hard pressed to find a housing complex, company building or a store that doesn't have a big, free parking lot around it or very nearby.
Actually, I have to stick up for the OP and say I sympathize with the desire to live car free. I think it really sucks that you have to drive everywhere in a fairly densely populated area like SV.
I remember visiting Innsbruck, Austria a few years ago. It's less densely populated than SV, but has much better mass transit, at least partly because of much better planning (i.e. high density housing near train stations & on busy streets, not plunked down randomly anywhere & everywhere like here in SV and most of America).
But I do agree, you have to deal with an area as it currently exists. The problem with our current transportation paradigm, though, is that it sucks.
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