Commuting from SF to milpitas? (San Jose, San Francisco: neighborhoods, buy, living)

[nabla]

Hi there,

I'm a 23 years old European guy, and just got a job in a tech company in Milpitas, CA.

Right now I have to find the place where I'm gonna live, and I was wondering if it would be possible to live in SF, and commute everyday to work, using the BART for example to get to Fremont, and then my car to Milpitas (yeah...).

I know it's quite far, and I won't drive the whole way from SF to Milpitas, but one hour of train seems allright. You can do stuff during that time.
So I was thinking to live somewhere really close to a bart station in SF and just take the train. Do you think it's doable or just crazy ?
The reason why I wanna live in SF is that the south bay area looks kinda lame... especially for a European guy that is not used to quiet, boring american suburbs.
So far I've seen Santa Clara, San Jose and Milpitas. SF looks pretty awesome...

So, thanks for any insight! I'm especially interested by someone that is already doing this.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by nabla

I was wondering if it would be possible to live in SF, and commute everyday to work, using the BART for example to get to Fremont, and then my car to Milpitas (yeah...).

So, do you plan to leave your car in Fremont for the remaining commute to Milpitas after you have taken BART from SF to Fremont???. This really sounds like the commute from hell.

You'll be better off living near Milpitas (try downtown San Jose) and visiting SF on the weekends.

If you really want to do this, check out the area around the Glen Park BART station in SF.

[mstnghu2]

I know people who have worse commutes than this, but I personally would never consider doing this commute. The SF Bay Area is a huge place (9 counties with over 7 million people) and many people who move here from other places think SF is the center of everything. However, there is life outside of the city of SF in the Bay Area. I would consider living somewhere much closer. There are so many other nice places to live in the Bay Area where you could be happy. That's not to say that SF isn't a great city, but just that it's close enough that you could visit often, but not have to live there and suffer a hellish daily commute. You don't have to live in SF to experience the benefits of living close to it. Most Bay Area residents like to take advantage of all the great things the region has to offer, without having to actually live in The City. The San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland Metropolitan area has many different neighborhoods/suburbs and I don't think you should just limit yourself to the city of San Francisco itself. SF is typically only about an hour from Milpitas and the San Jose area in general, so it's easy to visit. I wouldn't want to commute everyday to and from SF though. I used to commute from south San Jose to Fremont (the only city in between San Jose and Fremont is Milpitas) and I used to hate that commute. I'd explore other options if I were you.

[sonarrat]

Actually, it is possible to do this.. BART won't let you park in their lots for more than 24 hours at a time normally, but they make an exception for weekends, so it would be possible to leave your car in Fremont just so you could hop off a train and get on 880.

[nabla]

Thanks for the answers.

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Actually, it is possible to do this.. BART won't let you park in their lots for more than 24 hours at a time normally, but they make an exception for weekends, so it would be possible to leave your car in Fremont just so you could hop off a train and get on 880.

That's what I was thinking. but also, I can drive back to SF on Friday to have my car with me during the week-ends.

[blofeld9999]

Don't do it. I originally thought I'd do SF <-> Cupertino and I gave up after a month. SF <-> Milpitas is significantly worse. Do you really want to waste 2 hours of every day commuting?

If you can afford it, Palo Alto is nice and has a lot to do. Downtown San Mateo is also decent, but you have no easy way of getting to Milpitas from there.

[18Montclair]

That's at least an hour each way.

I say do what many other people do, buy a cheap car that you can park overnight at the Fremont BART station, then take BART to fremont and drive from there to Milpitas.

[nabla]

Yes, that's the best plan I could think of... As I said I'm fine with one hour of train. But then it's more like 1hour and half total, and that's a lot. Is anyone really doing this ?

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by nabla

Hi there,

I'm a 23 years old European guy, and just got a job in a tech company in Milpitas, CA.

Right now I have to find the place where I'm gonna live, and I was wondering if it would be possible to live in SF, and commute everyday to work, using the BART for example to get to Fremont, and then my car to Milpitas (yeah...).

I know it's quite far, and I won't drive the whole way from SF to Milpitas, but one hour of train seems allright. You can do stuff during that time.
So I was thinking to live somewhere really close to a bart station in SF and just take the train. Do you think it's doable or just crazy ?
The reason why I wanna live in SF is that the south bay area looks kinda lame... especially for a European guy that is not used to quiet, boring american suburbs.
So far I've seen Santa Clara, San Jose and Milpitas. SF looks pretty awesome...

So, thanks for any insight! I'm especially interested by someone that is already doing this.

I think you're crazy to take on such a long commute, even if most of it is by train. Long commutes make most people miserable. And yes, your total commute time probably would be 1.5 hours. So that's adding 3 hours to your work day...every day! Some people do this, but I would not reccomend it. Most people who do this end up hating it and it gets worse with time.

Better alternatives:

Downtown San Jose has a decent singles scene and offers an urban lifestyle--albeit on a small scale.

Another alternative: Live in Mountain View or Palo Alto where there is also a decent singles scene for young people (much more commutable---like 1/2 hour or so). MV or PA are reasonably close to San Francisco as well. Mountain View is slightly cheaper (but less trendy) than PA and a little closer to work.

One final alternative: Live in Fremont and take BART to SF on weekends. Fremont is pleasant but kinda bland. But it would be close to work and it's main asset is that it has a BART station. I believe the rents there are a little cheaper than MV or PA as well. Given your tastes, this might not be that appealing, but would still be better than that 1.5 hour commute, in my opinion.