Commute from San Francisco to Walnut/Antioch? (Walnut Creek: rent, crime)

[NoCAbound]

My husband and I are relocating to the Bay Area from the East Coast. His job is in Walnut Creek although he will be spending 1-2 days a week at Antioch. We would greatly prefer to live in San Francisco to fully experience the city, but am worried about his commute. Although it's a reverse commute, is it doable?

[sonarrat]

As someone who lives in the area and knows the roads, I can't see any advantage to living in SF over Walnut Creek in that situation. By the second day of sitting in traffic for ten miles on Highway 4 and still having 35 miles plus a toll bridge to go to get home, your husband will be questioning his sanity. Please, for your own sake, consider Walnut Creek instead.

[humboldtrat]

Sonarrat is right on! It's a horrible commute with crossing the bridge and going through the Caldicott tunnel. Stay in the Walnut Creek area. The weather is warmer (not so much fog and wind as in SF) and it's a very nice area. Parking in SF is also very difficult and expensive.

Another option is riding a BART train BART - Stations & Schedules, Maps & Directions between WC and SF but that costs about $10 roundtrip each day.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by NoCAbound

My husband and I are relocating to the Bay Area from the East Coast. His job is in Walnut Creek although he will be spending 1-2 days a week at Antioch. We would greatly prefer to live in San Francisco to fully experience the city, but am worried about his commute. Although it's a reverse commute, is it doable?

If you can commute to his job in WC by BART then that will be much less of a hassle than driving. That depends on where he works in WC, many offices are located next to the BART station. But there is a big office park down YV Rd, Shadelands, that will require a bus transfer.

Antioch will most likely require driving and that is even farther than WC, but since its only 1-2 days/wk then he might not mine.

But one thing to note about the reverse commute is the Caldecott Tunnel. There are only 3 tunnels, two of which are open for the commute direction. So only one will be open when your husband commutes since he's going the opposite direction and there is a bottleneck b/c of that.

If you can't deal with the commute then look to living in or very close to downtown WC, it's becoming more "urban" and developed every year and is very compact and walkable.

[RandalR]

Originally Posted by NoCAbound

We would greatly prefer to live in San Francisco to fully experience the city...

You don't need to - it's only a half hour BART ride away and you can reduce your crime risk by 95% by not living in the City. I lived in Walnut Creek for 3 1/2 years - it's much nicer and you can have the best of both worlds.

[nicolegrumpybear]

Your talking like a 30 min drive against traffic. I do it everyday.

[user376]

SF to WC wouldn't be horrible. But once you add on the trip to Antioch it would get long. Another thing: It will depend on where in San Francisco you live, because it can take a while just to get to the Bay Bridge. I think it makes way more sense to live in WC.

[NoCAbound]

Thanks everyone. Your responses as well as the advice we get from people working in Walnut Creek all seem to recommend living in Walnut Creek. We tell ourselves that if we buy a home, we'll buy first in SF (and rent in Walnut Creek) to enjoy our weekends there. Don't know if it's financially feasible, but worth looking into. A girl can dream, right?