Public transport from Berkeley to University of San Francisco (San Rafael: job market, buy)

[Olive.green]

Hello, I was recently offered a position at USF, but will not be able to afford living in the city as my husband will not have a job when we get here. Can anyone tell me approx how long this would take and the expense per day to commute from Berkeley? I currently live in Seattle and take the bus. It seems like it's a lot cheaper here.

Also I understand that tech is a big job market there, but overall is the market good?

Thanks for any responses!

[bmw335xi]

I would give yourself around 1 hour 30 mins to be safe and it will cost around $6 (each way).

[wooliemonster]

Berkeley to SF is about 30 minutes on BART, but USF is a ways from the nearest stop, and would require a Muni (bus) trip of 20-30 minutes. Or you could finish the trip on your bike, if you're adventurous, in about the same time. But I'd generally say budget 1 hour round trip. I actually made a trip from a similar area to downtown Berkeley yesterday and it took a little less than an hour. The BART trip is about $4, and another $2 if you take the bus.

Note that you can use pre-tax income to pay up to $130 per month of transit commuting expenses. USF may also have additional transit benefits available.

[Ruth4Truth]

Aren't there monthly BART and MUNI passes that would bring the cost of the daily trip down a bit?

[wooliemonster]

You can buy a monthly Muni pass from about $70 per month. There is no BART pass, but there is a 6.25% discount if you buy value in $45 or $60 blocks.

Clipper on BART - Fares
https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around...monthly-passes

The Bay Area has a wonderful proliferation of transit agencies. However, the "Clipper Card" is an RFID-based card that has brought some sanity to the system. You associate the card with an online account, and you can add value to the card, have money automatically added on a monthly or low-balance basis, purchase monthly passes, add pre-tax commuter benefits (see your HR), etc. You tap the card on a reader to use the transit service. It's not a bad system.

Commuting anywhere in the Bay Area by car is an exercise in madness. But if you can use transit, IMHO it's fairly pleasant. The transit agencies publish real-time location (AVL data and GTFS route information) information which is used by Google Maps, NextBus, etc., that takes much of the pain out of making connections and finding the most efficient route at any given moment.

[jade408]

Here you go:
transit.511.org

Easiest way to plan a route across multiple agencies.

[wooliemonster]

And to answer your other question, the overall unemployment rate in SF is below 5%. Tech jobs in particular are actively recruiting.

[Nineties Flava]

It's 50 minutes from when you get on BART in Berkeley to when you get to USF, the 5 or the 31 take you directly there and they pick you up from powell street BART right on Market. Its generally 15 minutes from Market to Fulton/Clayton or to Turk/Roselyn, the buses come very often so there's very little wait. There's a 5L now so if you can take that one.

[Olive.green]

Thanks for all your answers, this has been very helpful. Another place I was considering moving was San Rafael. Is there decent public transport from there? It looks to be a bit closer to USF, but I have no idea what traffic would be like. I imagine pretty crazy.

[wooliemonster]

My understanding is that commutes from Marin county can be very difficult. There's no rail, so you're at the mercy of busses and bridge traffic. Although, the ferry might be an option.