Moving to San francisco from Chicago..HELP!! (Pleasanton, Folsom: transplants, apartment complex)

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by skhann2

They only have daily rates? They dont have any long term discounted passes?

You get a 6% discount if you buy the $48 dollar ticket for $45.

BART - Tickets / Smart Cards

Also it is unlikely you can walk to work from the Dublin/Pleasanton Bart station. Therefore add in another $60/month for the local Dublin area bus pass.

WHEELS - Fares and Sales (http://www.lavta.org/fares/index.html - broken link)

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by skhann2

They only have daily rates? They dont have any long term discounted passes?

BART does not have any unlimited ride passes (though you can get the $70/month version of the Muni pass that gives you free rides within the city stops only). You can get discounted tickets, but you will always pay per ride (the cost will depend on distance travelled).

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by skhann2

They only have daily rates? They dont have any long term discounted passes?

BART doesn't have monthly passes or anything like that. It would be about $10 or $11 a day round trip (about $200+ a month) just for commuting. Maybe you should rethink this whole thing. It's going to cost a lot more to live in SF and commute than to live in Dublin and go into SF once in a while to party.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by skhann2

ok wow thanks a lot guys your info is extremely helpful. When you say 'a short rail to the bart' what do you mean exactly? How long of a travel time is that? Also, how is the financial district area?

"A short (light) rail to BART" is about 10-15 minutes. There are no places to live in the financial district. It's all office buildings, banks and retail.

[skhann2]

I am only going to be there for a year and have always wanted to live in a big city..right now I am in a small town and absolutely hate it so I am willing to take a financial hit for a year to experience the city. I guess one of the main questions I have is the areas like glen park, noe valley, diamond heights..even though they are more residential as opposed to city-like..do you still get the feel of living in the city b/c it is so close? or is it not as close as I think? For example, in chicago if you live in the south loop, it is more of a suburban feel, much quieter, less city/traffic noise, much easier parking...but you are still a simple cab ride away from downtown which is great. Is that what it's like when living at any of those locations?

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by skhann2

I am only going to be there for a year and have always wanted to live in a big city..right now I am in a small town and absolutely hate it so I am willing to take a financial hit for a year to experience the city. I guess one of the main questions I have is the areas like glen park, noe valley, diamond heights..even though they are more residential as opposed to city-like..do you still get the feel of living in the city b/c it is so close? or is it not as close as I think? For example, in chicago if you live in the south loop, it is more of a suburban feel, much quieter, less city/traffic noise, much easier parking...but you are still a simple cab ride away from downtown which is great. Is that what it's like when living at any of those locations?

Those neighborhoods are definitely going to have a more suburban feel to it. If you really want to experience the city, I don't think that you'll get so much of it there. When my wife and I were talking about living in the city, neither of us wanted to live in an area that did not have things to do and places to go out within walking distance. I suspect that you would want to be located in a such a neighborhood.

Keep in mind that the neighborhoods you listed above are 5+ miles by road to the downtown area. Taking a cab will starts at $3.10 and costs $0.45 per 1/5 mile so you are looking at $14 or more (before tip) each way to and from the downtown area.

[mdwstrnkid]

If you want to get a feel of what those neighborhoods look like, you might want to check them out using Mapjack:

MapJack (Beta) - Your City Online

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by skhann2

I guess one of the main questions I have is the areas like glen park, noe valley, diamond heights..even though they are more residential as opposed to city-like..do you still get the feel of living in the city b/c it is so close? or is it not as close as I think?

Glen Park has about 3 blocks of stores. The newer places like Canyon Market or Ossa Thai have the trendy yuppie feel. Glen Park has a Bart Station so you can get downtown quickly from there. The only action in Diamond Heights are the Safeway and Walgreens stores with a big parking lot. You won't find any cabs to easily hail in either of these areas. Noe Valley is active during the day. The J Car on Church goes downtown and Noe Valley is easily walkable to the 24th & Mission Bart station. I go to the new Whole Foods in Noe Valley at night and the rest of the area seems pretty quiet with most of the stores closed.

Check out downtown Burlingame. You will have an easier reverse commute east on the 92 and can still drive or take the train to SF at night or on the weekends.

[Archan]

They do offer a BART Blue High Value Ticket which would give you only a 6.25% discount. That would be a $48 ticket for $45 or a $64 ticket for $60. It's not that great but it's something.

[rah]

Originally Posted by mdwstrnkid

Those neighborhoods are definitely going to have a more suburban feel to it. If you really want to experience the city, I don't think that you'll get so much of it there. When my wife and I were talking about living in the city, neither of us wanted to live in an area that did not have things to do and places to go out within walking distance.

Those neighborhoods are far from Suburban.

Noe Valley has a population density of around 20,000 people per square mile, and Glen Park and Diamond heights have to be in that same range as well. Noe Valley is centrally located, is near the Castro and Mission, and has it's own vibrant commercial strip: 24th street, not to mention Church street which has some retail, and a Muni light rail line that runs down it too. Glen Park is a little more isolated, but has it's own commercial area too as well as a BART station so it's actually easier to get downtown from Glen Park than some closer in hoods. Diamond heights is the most isolated and "suburban" of the bunch, just because it's on top of a huge hill (one of the largest in the city), is largely comprised of apartment complexes from the 60's/70's (that to me seem a bit more suburban in style than your average SF apartment buildings), and it's commercial area is a strip mall that consists of a Safeway, Walgreens, and a Chinese restaurant. But, Diamond heights lies right in between Noe Valley and Glen park, so more amenities aren't far away as long as you don't mind waiting for some slightly less frequent Muni lines (35, 52...though i guess the advent of GPS on buses means that you don't really have to wait anymore...just look it up online and get to the stop in time), or tackling the hill.

Anyways, the only truly suburban feeling parts of SF (and this is suburban relative to the rest of the city, remember) are some of the most affluent neighborhoods, and a couple small middle class areas in the southern part of the city, all of which have detached homes, winding streets, front lawns, etc...but even then amenities are never more than a few blocks away, as most hoods have their own commercial strips...remember, this is the second densest city in the nation. I think the least densely populated neighborhoods are still in the 10,000+ per square mile range (except for maybe a couple of the most affluent hoods, such as St. Francis Wood, which contains huge mansions on big lots, with lawns, etc).