Is the SF Bay Area overrated? (San Jose, San Francisco: centers, pollution, trains)

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

The rest of the Bay Area is just overpriced cities/towns that can be found anywhere in the country

Except for the weather. I consider the Bay Area - talking about the whole Bay, Silicon Valley, the Peninsuala, East Bay - overpriced, I don't consider it overrated. The weather and climate are fantastic.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

Except for the weather. I consider the Bay Area - talking about the whole Bay, Silicon Valley, the Peninsuala, East Bay - overpriced, I don't consider it overrated. The weather and climate are fantastic.

This comes down to personal taste I know. I personally think it's okay. Not bad, not great. It's brown too much of the year. Winter stills gets pretty darn cold too. Not worth paying 3x more for the same house imo.

[Oakformonday]

Is the Bay Area overrated? Answer: Depends on your perspective. One can disagree with the assessment of another but are there really any wrong answers here??? Personally, I like the weather better than the NYC so it is better for me in that regard. I don't care if others disagree and neither should any of you! Cheers.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Do you think SF mass transit is overrated? Does anyone actually enjoy traveling at ten miles per hour on the Muni Metro?

There are multiple dimensions to transit quality -- e.g. coverage, frequency, quality of the vehicles, dependability, quality of information.

By most criteria (and my anecdotal comparisons), I think in general the SF Muni is the best urban system I've seen in the western US.

Coverage is very good.... I think it's an SFMTA policy that any place in town should have a Muni line within a few blocks... I suspect that's not true of many other western cities.
Frequency can be great, depending on where you live. I'm a block from the 1-California, one of the best bus lines in town. And the even-more-frequent 38-Geary is a few blocks away.
Of course, the frequency won't be as good in outlying neighborhoods or away from the major lines.

The vehicles have gotten much better in the time I've lived in SF. When I got here in 1989, the Muni Metro was served by the dreadful Boeing light-rail cars,
which had constant mechanical problems. But they were replaced long ago, and now there's a third generation of rail cars coming into the system.
The creaky old buses are gone too, replaced by newer models. And Muni seems to have finally overcome the graffiti problem.

The Next Bus signs are a valuable addition... they're not perfect; sometimes they stop working or don't display accurate info. But usually they're dependable.
I think they're supposed to be upgraded soon.

There's certainly room for improvement... some stops do not have bus shelters, and some busy locations ought to have larger-than-standard shelters.
Weekend service isn't always adequate -- my 1-California can get atrociously crowded on Saturday mornings... there's no excuse for Muni letting that happen;
Muni needs to run more buses at those hours.

And of course the Central Subway is a foolish idea and a very deep money pit... but it was foisted on Muni by the politicians, at the behest of Rose Pak.

But, on the whole, Muni is the best urban bus/rail system I know of in the western states
(however, I'm not especially well-traveled, so if someone knows of a better one, I'd like to hear about it!)

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by AntiColdWeather

Snip

Out of curiosity, how many times have we done this thread? Can we just make it a sticky at this point?

[leon_foonman]

The only thing over-rated in the Bay Area are the people who have moved here since the 60's, people have gotten more whiney complainey every decade, until now, when they complain Before They Even Get to the Bay Area.

A major recession, great quake and a massive urban wildfire might get rid of the 'plants, send 'em all back to FartLouderdale and the rest of Trumplandia.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by leon_foonman

A major recession, great quake and a massive urban wildfire might get rid of the 'plants, send 'em all back to FartLouderdale and the rest of Trumplandia.

I don't think all the people who moved to San Francisco are Conservative Republicans LOL. I'm pretty sure if you ask the average Trumplander where do you want to move to, San Francisco would be one of the last major cities, if not the last choice.

[Natural510]

I moved away ten years ago and while I do miss the incredible food and the intelligent population, it's nowhere near worth the cost of living demand to move back. There are plenty of other cities which offer a better work/life/COL balance which have the same amenities. Plus the counterculture vibe which caused a lot of people to move there in previous decades is diminishing thanks to gentrification.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by NW4me

There are multiple dimensions to transit quality -- e.g. coverage, frequency, quality of the vehicles, dependability, quality of information.

By most criteria (and my anecdotal comparisons), I think in general the SF Muni is the best urban system I've seen in the western US.

Coverage is very good.... I think it's an SFMTA policy that any place in town should have a Muni line within a few blocks... I suspect that's not true of many other western cities.
Frequency can be great, depending on where you live. I'm a block from the 1-California, one of the best bus lines in town. And the even-more-frequent 38-Geary is a few blocks away.
Of course, the frequency won't be as good in outlying neighborhoods or away from the major lines.

The vehicles have gotten much better in the time I've lived in SF. When I got here in 1989, the Muni Metro was served by the dreadful Boeing light-rail cars,
which had constant mechanical problems. But they were replaced long ago, and now there's a third generation of rail cars coming into the system.
The creaky old buses are gone too, replaced by newer models. And Muni seems to have finally overcome the graffiti problem.

The Next Bus signs are a valuable addition... they're not perfect; sometimes they stop working or don't display accurate info. But usually they're dependable.
I think they're supposed to be upgraded soon.

There's certainly room for improvement... some stops do not have bus shelters, and some busy locations ought to have larger-than-standard shelters.
Weekend service isn't always adequate -- my 1-California can get atrociously crowded on Saturday mornings... there's no excuse for Muni letting that happen;
Muni needs to run more buses at those hours.

And of course the Central Subway is a foolish idea and a very deep money pit... but it was foisted on Muni by the politicians, at the behest of Rose Pak.

But, on the whole, Muni is the best urban bus/rail system I know of in the western states
(however, I'm not especially well-traveled, so if someone knows of a better one, I'd like to hear about it!)

Bottom line is, they should have built another BART line from Downtown, all the way to the Sunset District. It should've been easy enough, with the relatively flat terrain. I'll take the 30 mile per hour BART over your 10 mile per hour Muni.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

Except for the weather. I consider the Bay Area - talking about the whole Bay, Silicon Valley, the Peninsuala, East Bay - overpriced, I don't consider it overrated. The weather and climate are fantastic.

But doesn’t being overpriced mean its overrated?
“Yeah it’s great. Wait it costs how much? Well maybe not so great after all.”