commute to Palo Alto downtown (San Jose, Mountain View: home, bus, moving)

[quizzer25]

We are trying to move to Almadden or Evergreen areas of San Jose.

Can you tell me how bad is the commute from Almadden and Evergreen, specifically in the mornings ~ 8 AM.

I will have flexibility on the evening return commute, can start early.

[silverkris]

It will be ugly no matter what highway you use.

On 101, it's pretty much a long parking lot from Mountain View - Ellis Street through the Oregon Expressway/Embarcadero Road interchanges. You probably will see slowdowns even further south

85 Northbound is also congested if you choose to take that to 280 Northbound (there is a long line of cars from 85 S to 280 N on the interchange). You will also experience congestion around the Page Mill Road interchange as well.

[sonarrat]

Between the two, Evergreen is definitely worse. Just getting to the freeway takes an awfully long time. By comparison, it's fairly quick starting from Almaden, but there is still significant freeway congestion and it lingers until pretty late in the morning.

There are express bus options in both cases, and they use the carpool lanes to shave some time off the drive. Evergreen is served by the VTA 103 (starting at Eastridge), and Almaden is served by the 101 (starting at a VTA parking lot on Camden at Hwy 85).

[mstnghu2]

I used to commute to the southern end of Palo Alto on the border of Mountain View (so not even quite as far as downtown) from the Blossom Valley area of San Jose. Distance-wise, Blossom Valley is roughly the same as from Almaden Valley or Evergreen and the commute was very long. It took me 45-60 minutes to get to work in the morning and usually an hour to get home.

I learned to take city streets the entire way home just to avoid the freeway gridlock. Whether you take 85 or 101, they are both parking lots during commute times. City streets took a long time, but at least I was moving at the speed limit most of the time.

Leaving before 8am in the mornings won't really do much to help your situation, and the only way to avoid a really bad commute in the evenings is to leave work before 4pm or after 7pm. For commute purposes, I'd prefer commuting to Palo Alto from Almaden though. Like Sonarrat said, in Evergreen it takes forever to just get to the freeway.

[kdog]

The commute from Almaden to Palo Alto isn't that bad. Two sure-fire ways to make the commute a breeze are to stagger your hours or commute by motorcycle. If you want to be to work at 7 AM, you will encounter no traffic backups at all on your way to work. Starting at 10 AM is almost as good.

Traveling by motorcycle isn't for everyone, but it's a pretty fantastic way to commute. Get a bike with ABS and a full fairing and a decent waterproof riding suit and you can commute all year around, rain or shine. Between using the HOV lanes and lane-splitting, you never need to stop and are immune to backups. Plus you save a ton on gas.

Otherwise, get books on CD and try to make the best of the time.

[quizzer25]

Thanks to all of you.

Looks like Almadden is the better option than evergreen for Palo Alto.

How is the commute to North San Jose from these 2 cities? Is Almadden better again?

[kdog]

Originally Posted by quizzer25

How is the commute to North San Jose from these 2 cities? Is Almadden better again?

I don't know since I never commuted from Evergreen, but I imagine you have the same issue. North San Jose is an intensely busy place to get to from all directions. From Almaden you have a couple of choices. You can take the Almaden Expressway into downtown San Jose and take Coleman Rd/Dela Cruz or North First St. Or you can get on 87 and take that the whole way. Or you can take Camden or 85 to 17/880 and take that into north San Jose. Maybe the best bet is just to take the light rail which does run between Almaden and N. San Jose.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by quizzer25

Thanks to all of you.

Looks like Almadden is the better option than evergreen for Palo Alto.

How is the commute to North San Jose from these 2 cities? Is Almadden better again?

The commute would be much better than to Palo Alto for sure. You'd probably be looking at about a 35 minute commute each way from either Almaden or Evergreen. It's pretty much a toss up as to which is further from North SJ.

Almaden Valley and Evergreen are areas within the city of San Jose, FYI, and not cities to themselves.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by quizzer25

Thanks to all of you.

Looks like Almadden is the better option than evergreen for Palo Alto.

How is the commute to North San Jose from these 2 cities? Is Almadden better again?

Have commuted to north SJ from both Evergreen and Almaden. 101 is a lot crazier than 87, and the traffic on the surface streets in Evergreen is CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY. But the average time will probably be pretty similar.

[texasdreamin]

Depending on traffic, from Almaden, it would be about an hours drive via 85 to 280 N connect, during that time of morning.