Carpool Lane? How long from Willow Glen to Redwood City? (San Jose: home, live)

[Bubble Tea]

I'm hope you all can give me a realistic picture of what the commute time is IN THE CARPOOL LANE during rush hour.

I need to go from Willow Glen (280) to the Redwood City Costco (not quite Downtown, but close).

Google Maps says it could take anywhere from 35 minutes to 1hr10 minutes to get to Redwood City at 8 a.m.
Google Maps says it could take anywhere from 35 min to 1 hour40 minutes to get from Redwood City at 5 p.m.

That is such a large range (and I can't select a carpool lane option on Google Maps) which is accurate? I am open to driving 280 all the way to Woodside Road OR going 280 to 85 to 101 north.

Thanks for your help!

[cardinal2007]

At least with regards to the first part of the 280-85-101 strategy, the carpool lane starts and ends before the Meridian exit, so you will have to deal with that traffic, the carpool lane is generally free flowing in the morning all the way to 101, but to get from 280 to 85, one has to merge into the rest of traffic all the way to the exit, line up to the metering light, and then merge left all the at to the carpool lane at 85, 85 to 101 does not have that issue, and 85 will generally be free flowing, but then slow down when one gets to 101, the 2nd carpool lane has helped though.

That is where my knowledge drops off, as I have only gone as far as Mountain View carpooling.

The return expect slow does at 280, especially when you get closer to 17, where the carpool lane ends.

Sorry can't be of more help.

[ksb12]

I lived in Willow Glen (near Bird and Minnesota) and commuted to Redwood City for several years. It really depends on whether you need to go during rush hour. I always took Guadalupe Parkway to the 101, because 280N was always so backed up until you got out of San Jose. I could usually make it to work in about an hour, without the carpool lane. Going home always took longer. I left work around 4:00 or 4:30 and it usually took me at least 1.5 hours (but again, no carpool lane). Sometimes I dropped off and picked up my husband in Mountain View at Google, but any time I gained by using the carpool lane part of the way was lost on the time it took to drive to Google and get back on the 101.