Santa Cruz to San Francisco: making the commute suck less (San Jose: home, bus)

[KMG00]

My husband and I are moving to Santa Cruz from Berkeley. His job is in San Francisco's Financial District, but he is working at home in Santa Cruz most days. However, he'll still have to go into the office a few times per month.

We know that's a blessedly infrequent but still crappy commute, so we're trying to develop a "Make the Commute Suck Less" strategy. He's willing to getting up crazy early to avoid the worst of the traffic. Can anyone tell me:

a) general timing of rush hour (standard 6-9?) along that route
b) what the bottleneck areas are, and when they tend to start and clear up.
c) if some days have lighter traffic than others

I'm talking about the highway commute, since some days all of SF is one giant bottleneck.

I'm wondering if it would make sense to do a combination of driving and public transportation, like driving to San Jose to catch the Caltrain. I haven't found any kind of private bus transportation like Bauers or anything, and I'm looking into various carpool/vanpool sites.

Some well-meaning soul is bound to tell me not to do it or to move somewhere else. However, we have personal reasons for needing to be in the Santa Cruz area specifically and we are very fortunate that his employer is being so flexible.

[sonarrat]

I've never commuted over 17, so I can't really speak about that part of the commute. Other than the length, the rest of it is not that bad. Take 85 and 280, and try to get through Palo Alto by 8 am or so. That's when it starts to get really heavy. The rest should be smooth sailing until you get into the city.

[KMG00]

Thanks, sonarrat, that's really helpful to know! Any thoughts about making the return commute more bearable?

[gemstone1]

I feel your pain, I used to commute from Boulder Creek to Sunnyvale, via Hiway 9...in the 70's...I couldn't imagine what it must be like today... What is commute time from SC to SF via Hiway 1 ? Driving thru fog is no picnic, but neither is the other choice.

Regards
Gemstone1

[KMG00]

Gemstone, I've driven that route in thick, can't-see-two-feet-in-front-of-you morning fog and traffic goes so slow that it probably wouldn't be worth it. But maybe he could try it coming home on a sunny day if he wasn't in a hurry. It would certainly be beautiful scenery.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by KMG00

Thanks, sonarrat, that's really helpful to know! Any thoughts about making the return commute more bearable?

What's to say? It's going to be bad at some points even if you're coming through at 3:00. But the longer you wait, the worse it will be. I drive from Los Altos to Belmont via 280 only once a week, but I always see backups to Page Mill Road, even as late as 7:30.

[never-more]

Perhaps the best option is to drive to Dirdion Station and take the Caltrain Baby Bullet (express) to San Francisco. Granted, driving over Highway 17 isn't exactly pleasant, so another option would be to take the Highway 17 Express Bus from the Santa Cruz Metro Center to Diridon, and then get on the train.

[KMG00]

We've been considering that, Never-more. Thanks for the confirmation.