nthach

I've been on trains from Del Norte and Civic Center/Powell/Montgomery/Embarcadero where the train operator scolded people that brought bikes onto the first car. And it sucks that Muni has a no bike on the train(F/J/K/L/M/N/S/T) policy on the Metro.

nashvillwill

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all of the responses.

Trust me, i know that commuting sucks, but i've always been a reverse commuter with an hour+ timeframe. It's just the nature of my work.

Before i commit to any commute or residence, i will definitely check out the locker and Fremont road situation. I might not need to bike on the S.F. leg of the trip, depending upon where i might live and what transit options i have, but i would simply enjoy a bike ride on each end.

I did forget about how BART uses "zone pricing". I'm so used to transit systems that charge a flat rate to board, so i will have to look into that.

annc

Since you have the reverse commute, you're allowed in Embarcadero station with your bike during rush hour.

ro-monster

If at all possible, avoid a commute that requires you to take Muni to the BART station. The underground portions of Muni metro are not bad, aside from being insanely crowded during rush hours, but the buses are legendarily awful. When I lived in San Francisco my rule of thumb was that for any distance less than 2 miles, walking would be quicker than the bus, and that was pretty accurate. I walked 1.75 miles each way to the Caltrain station every day (I'd broken my shoulder and could not ride a bike for many months) because it was slightly faster and far less aggravating than riding the bus.

ROJA

That would make sense, but unfortunately that isn't the rule (at least according to the BART website, which is usually kept very current). If you are going from 16th/Mission to Fremont with a bike, you would need to leave 16th/Mission by 7:09 a.m. or else wait until 9:09 a.m. That is a pretty big window during which bikes are not allowed.

For example: https://www.bart.gov/schedules/quickp...time=7%3a54+AM

AH, one correction --and now I think I see what annc meant-- is that apparently you can't ride BART anywhere within SF during those hours, but if you are willing to ride your bike to Embarcadero, you can get on there and then ride to Fremont. You would need to do the same thing in the evening (exit at Embarcadero and cycle home from there). There aren't many places where I'd want to live near Embarcadero, so this would add yet more to the commute...

DG Going Uphill

MUNI has been a real roller coaster this year with service cuts and restorations, and the usually unreliable service. I wouldn't count on the trains any more than the buses. The iPhone app Routesy is a big help with real time information about where trains and buses are, but MUNI often doesn't supply accurate info to them. BART has also had it's share of degradation due to budget cuts, but not as bad as MUNI. Every transit agency in the region is in a planning phase, and some of the options they are all talking about are insane service cuts. It's best to rely on your own feet or wheels to get around San Francisco these days.

brentley

Not much more I can add to this other than I think that commuting to Fremont from SF is just totally out of the tree nuts when there are many other places that would cut literally hours off of a commute that are close to the City. I would really try to re-visit that non-negotiable SF thing if it all possible (and I understand what non-negotiable means, my wife is a lawyer) because commuting in the bay area can be a nightmare and SF is often challenging, but Fremont to SF has so many choke points (when not using transit) that you will wish you had at least thought about it.

uspspro

If you moved to Menlo Park or Palo Alto, you could just ride across the Dumbarton Bridge to work everyday with no car or transit. Just throwing that out there.

If you live in SF, then another option is a Caltrain express or bullet to Menlo Park and then ride your bike across the bridge. Getting on at downtown SF, there will be no issues with getting your bike on the train.

The ride to Fremont from Menlo Caltrain is around 13 miles +/- a couple depending on where you work, and has no climbing (except the hump over the bridge).

sauerwald

Another set of possibilities involving Caltrain, and avoiding BART altogether.

Take Caltrain from SF down to San Jose, then transfer to the 181 express bus which will take you to the Fremont BART station. Both Caltrain and 181 accomodate bicycles.

Take Caltrain from SF to Sunnyvale, and ride from there (about a 20 mile bike ride)

Take Caltrain from SF to San Jose, transfer to light rail, and go to the Great Mall in Milpitas, and ride from there.

nashvillwill

Folks,

Thanks again for your help. However i feel like there might be a disconnect from what you all are telling me and what i am expecting. I just got back from the bay area. I made the morning drive via auto from Fremont to S.F. (opposite of my potential commute) and it was indeed a stinker. However, i staked out my transit route. The Fremont Bart to my job is only 4.5-5 miles. So yes, i concur that the drive would be unreasonable, but according to the BART timetable Embarcadero to Fremont is 45 min. So if i add about 20 minutes to each end, thats only 1:25. I would consider that to be reasonable. If i can manage to live with in 5 min of BART in SF, that would cut it down to 1:10. Yes, ideally i could walk to work in 5 minutes, but that is just not the nature of my career.

Also, i keep hearing people telling me how badly the commute sucks via auto. This is a bike forum, right? That is why i am here asking questions about the transit/bike commute.

From what i gather and research, the average bay area commute is over 1:00 anyways, so what is the difference? I know enough to see that BART is not exactly a comprehensive system. I don't want to have to use MUNI as a transfer, as that would add extra time and expense, so i would need to live near BART which i know has limited service in the city.

So, is it really a matter of bad neighborhoods? Everyone is telling me that i need to move to the suburbs in the bay, but i have always enjoyed the city. I can deal with bums/hippies. Crackheads might make my lady a little uncomfortable, but there has to be a decent place near Market St. Right?

I'm reaching out for help here! But don't tell me that i need to live in Mountain View, i realize that is a very nice place, it's just not what i enjoy. I love the diversity of the city, as long as it is safe.

Thank you for your honest answers.

gpelpel

Even if you find a place near BART in SF you still have the issue that bikes won't be allowed on the train at commute hours time. Unless you have a folder... and yet, from what I saw on my way back home from the airport Thursday night, it won't necessarily be a piece of cake. It was late evening commute time at around 7:30pm, a guy had a folder, believe me if must not have felt welcomed. Many dark eyes toward him as people were trying to go around him when wanting to leave the train. The folder width was about the same as the aisle width. He ended up pushed all the way to the end of the train, guess what happened when he had to exit while the train was still packed.

ro-monster

Your estimate of the commute is about right, so long as things go smoothly. I'm thinking the reason people are saying to live closer to work is that transit in the Bay Area often does not go smoothly. There were quite a few times I was 30-60 minutes late for work due to delays on transit. You can minimize that by making sure your commute doesn't involve transferring from one system to another.

You can find many nice places to live near Market Street. In part this depends on what your idea of nice is, though. Near Embarcadero and the Financial District are areas that are attractive, clean, and safe by anyone's standards. The downside is that you'll spend a fortune on rent there, and since it's the Financial District, there's not much night life.

A lot of people love the Mission (near 16th St. Mission and 24th St. Mission stations). That area is very diverse, with lots of entertaining things to do, and not quite as expensive as the Financial District. You don't have to worry too much about violence, but you will have to worry about theft. Don't leave anything unattended or unlocked. The same is true of SOMA (South of Market), with the exception of the area immediately adjacent to 6th St., which is to be avoided.

You'll notice many people are terrified of the Tenderloin/Civic Center. While the area right around Market is pretty sketchy at night, I lived on the northwestern edge of the Tenderloin for three years and never had a bad incident. True, the streets are populated with drunks, addicts, the mentally ill and the homeless, but for the most part they aren't out to do you harm. I'm a petite woman, and I walked alone after dark plenty of times. There were a couple of streets I avoided but there was always an acceptable route a block or two away.

If you're willing to spend three hours a day commuting, then by all means, live in SF, there's nothing like it. I've been away from it a year and still miss it. One more tip -- when I moved here from back east, I came out a month in advance to look for an apartment. I discovered there's no need to do that. Normal procedure here is not to put apartments on the market until they are vacant and ready to move into immediately, so when you find a place you can move in the next day.

GoSharks

It does rain and storm here from time to time...

SesameCrunch

Why not drive in to enjoy the City on weekends when there's no traffic? So instead of thinking about communting 3 hours everyday (so you can get home all tired at night and not enjoy the City life anyway), just think about driving into the City from the 'burbs on Saturday and Sunday when traffic is not bad. Heck, you could take Bart or ride into the City from most points in the 'burbs.

nashvillwill

ro-monster,

Your comments are very helpful, thank you much. I'll definitely look at the Mission. From the little time i spent there, it seems like a great place. It's also good to hear a woman's perspective on the Tenderloin. I looked into that area, but you hear nothing but terrible things. Perhaps it's not so bad away from 6th. I mainly just want a reasonable affordable place near BART that my girlfriend can safely walk our dog at night.

I want to try to live close enough so that i don't have to carry my bike onto BART. The Fremont station has those permanent bike lockers you can rent on an annual basis, so ideally i could just leave my bike there as long as i can walk home in the city. Although i understand getting one of those often involves a waiting list that never moves, so i might not be so lucky. But since Fremont is the end of the line, i might have a chance.

The commute time doesn't bother me so much. I've been doing a similar commute for years. I'm just a city boy, I'm willing to commute to live where i want to live.

Thanks for the input guys, it gives me alot to think about. Hopefully i'll be riding around the streets of the bay area with you all very soon.

Cheers!

ro-monster

Hope you can get a bike locker! If you do decide that a folding bike will work out better for you, check out Warm Planet Bikes at the SF Caltrain station. They specialize in folders.

Also, try to get letters of reference for your dog from landlords, vet, etc. Many landlords in SF are extremely reluctant to accept dogs, and that can help.

Dchiefransom

Were there a lot of nice roads to ride on between BART and your place of work?

Bernard

Don't leave a bike locked up overnight in the Bay Area--it's only a matter of time before it's stolen.
Don't do that commute... your life will suck, daily.
Often you can leave bikes in lockers at certain BART stations.

Sir Bikesalot

This is a very clever alternative. As someone who has done the SF-to-South Bay 4hr+ round trip commute for 3+ years, you can imagine I had quite a lot of time to think about all the bike+mass transit combinations I could use to get to work. Do not be tempted by BART's seemingly perfect SF to Fremont route. In reality BART sucks when it comes to anything more than getting over (or rather under) the Bay Bridge (SF to Oakland/Berkeley). Beyond that, it's just way too slow and expensive.

On the other hand, Caltrain from SF to Menlo Park/Palo Alto only takes 35 minutes. Figure in 10-15min to get to Caltrain and 20-25min to get over Dumbarton and to work (guestimating here since I've never done this ride myself) and you're looking at a one-way commute at little over 1hr! Pretty phenomenal I would say, relatively cheaper and no problems bringing your bike onboard (if you're on a reverse commute).

Do it!

valygrl

Would you consider living in Oakland or Berkeley?

I used to commute to Fremont from Walnut Creek, and tried to get one of those bike lockers - I think it was like a year long waiting list. Don't discount this as an obstacle.

BmoreDrew

Not sure what a couple of these people are talking about the streets in Fremont. I live in Fremont and have been more than pleased with the streets and bike lanes...

I also just moved here from Baltimore, so perhaps there are nicer bike lanes than Fremont, but I think it's more than fine.

FogVilleLad

If the City is where you must live - I love it, but would hate the commute - you could check Craigslist for apartments/houses and use the viewing process to decide on livable neighborhoods. If you click on apts/housing for rent, you'll see "all neighborhoods selected." Clicking on that gives you a drop-down menu. SOMA, Potrero Hill, and lower Haight locations should all let you get to Cal Train within 15 minutes. If you look at Potrero Hill, try to focus on the East side. (The projects are on the West side.) Housing there would be c.five minutes from the train station. If you look at SOMA, the less expensive locations should be between fifth and elveventh streets.

starvingdavid

I commute into the city via Caltrain, it takes a very long time to get where I need to go, two hours one way, and I imagine it will take you close to the same amount of time via BART or Caltrain.

I would not want to take the train to either SJ or PA to transfer on the 84 express to ride...to me any option regarding Caltrain to get to Fremont sounds miserable. Too many transit links, and I can imagine taking the baby bullet with a train full of Giants fans when you just want to get home could get old quick. The other serious drawback with Caltrain that BART doesn't really seem to have are suicides, which really slow down the trains. While it sucks to talk about, it's very frustrating losing an 1 1/2-2 hours while the track is cleared. Last year there were 19 incidents, not sure how many on BART.

I would live in the city too...maybe Oakland, but who knows. If you were going to ride to BART in the city, there are apparently Bikelink lockers at the Embarcadero station. I use Bikelink occasionally on VTA and love it.

Another option for Fremont is to buy a cheap car and keep it parked at the Fremont BART station. I know a few people in the city who commute to Mountain View and do something similar. It seems to work well for them.

jobob

I just came across this thread, and wading through the responses I was wondering the same thing.

- Jo, longtime Union City resident who rides in Fremont a lot.

antiguru

BART cops would probably shoot your bike - late to the party but yeah, find a job closer to the city or move closer to work, that's a killer commute.