Commuting from Berkeley to Santa Clara: Insanity or doable?

There are many people doing this commute, and apparently they've all found a way to make it work, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.  Please save your family the stress and consider moving to the South Bay instead.  Berkeley isn't worth 3 hours of day commuting. 

Amtrak is great, the wifi works fine, but it gets expensive. Much nicer than driving.  From Berkeley to Santa Clara it's $17 or $18 each way. 

Hi there, 

I've been commuting from Oakland to San Jose for the past three years, working one day from home and frequently using the Amtrak and a bicycle to get to the office. The first two years I carpooled, but eventually felt the drive was unmanageable (even in the carpool lane), so I started taking Amtrak. The train is great because they have big desks where you can work, but I frequently have to rely on my hotspot because their internet often fails. In all honesty, the commute is horrendous. No matter what you do, your husband should expect a two hour one way trip door to door (unless he works and lives extremely close to both Amtrak stations). It may often take longer because few Berkeley residences are right near the freeway. Another challenge with the trains is that they only come every hour and a half. 

Anyways - I would highly advise against moving to Berkeley. If your husband isn't already used to commuting, it will likely be maddening and not worth it. 

Only you can know what your family can tolerate, bit it sounds like a horrible commute. 

Expect the commute to be over 1.5 hours one way.... I commuted by car to redwood city from oakland for almost 4 years, which is a shorter distance but same direction, and it was brutal.if I took public trans. It would have been 2 hours plus one way.

Dear Melissa -- traffic in the Bay Area is terrible.  If you are not now dealing with a major commute, I can't recommend taking this one on.  My family has only a minor commute; it would be more helpful for you to hear from people here who have ones similar to what you are considering, but I would have to go with insanity.  The time you have to spend together as a family will be greatly reduced, and your stress levels will rise.  A long commute creates a lot of uncertainties -- it's impossible to promise to be somewhere at a particular time, since over a long distance you can't predict heavier-than-usual traffic, accidents, etc.  Sorry.

Our family dealt with a similar commute for almost five years, when my husband went from Berkeley to San Jose. It was not fun. He took BART to Fremont, then a bus, and then biked the rest of the way. He'd leave at 5:30am and get home at 8:00pm (on a good day). Driving didn't save much time, because if he left any later in the morning, he'd be stuck in traffic for two hours (though he'd have more office time). He tried Amtrak but it was too expensive for us and too far from our house. The main problems with the commute were (1) he didn't feel like he had enough time at work or at home, (2) his kids didn't see him all week, (3) he almost never got to participate in community/school events during the week, so I often felt like a single parent, (4) I had a difficult time having any flexibility with my work or schedule because I had to be in Berkeley in case of kid emergencies (he was too far away), (5) both of us had a hard time squeezing in exercise. I almost didn't make it through the first year. Then he started telecommuting two days a week, and that helped for a few years (but it took a while to get those days set, and if they weren't set, it was hard for me to plan). The third year I took a pretty intense job, and his ability to do his job well suffered because his flexibility and availability were so limited (we also paid for a lot for childcare). In the forth year we decided my job wasn't worth it, but by then my husband was so burned out by the commute, even with two days telecommuting. In total we suffered through the commute for almost five years, but that was all we could take. We stuck with it so long because he loved his job and we all loved Berkeley. Our kids had community in Berkeley, and it was much more our sort of place than the Peninsula or SV (we'd live in Palo Alto before Berkeley, so we knew). The problem with "seeing if it will work" is that then you are sort of stuck, because you and your kids will love Berkeley and build community, and won't want to move, but your husband probably won't be able to work closer to home. One possibility on the horizon is that BART is working on extending their line from Fremont all the way to San Jose and that may be finished in the next few years. Another possibility are the (controversial) shuttles that some companies run from SF or Berkeley to SV. You might see if his company offers shuttle service. Anyway, it is doable, but very hard on your family life and your husband may not feel as plugged in at work as he wants to be. In the end, we moved out of the Bay Area in order to escape that commute, and are happier than we've been in almost five years. If I had to do it over again... I don't know. Everyone always said "I don't know how you do it!" and I really don't know how we did. I hope this helps. 

I am writing this on Amtrak right now, while I commute from Berkeley to Santa Clara! So I know from which I speak. I love my commute; I have time every morning to think and plan my day, and every evening to catch up on email that I didn't get to. I arrive home at a predictable time and definitely try not to work in the evenings.  I have been doing this for about 9 months. However, I leave the house at 6:45 to catch the 7:03 train and walk back in the door around 6:10 each evening. That means I am working 11 1/2 hour days and yet I am "only" in the office from 8:30-4:15. I slink out early while my team still works -- and I don't know if they resent that. They know I'm working on the train, but .... Amtrak has a very limited schedule, so if you miss a train you lose 1 to 1 1/2 hours (it happens).  Wifi is mostly fine but occasionally bad, though you can tether your phone or get a service if that's important to you. If you can work at home a couple of days, that might make it all fine. I would also ask yourself how close you are to the train in Santa Clara. My office is right near the train, so no trouble. Those in other areas of the Valley have to bike from the train -- doable but you may have heard about our rain this year.  I'm of two minds: This commute is doable and can be good but it comes at a cost. You might look around Willow Glen in San Jose, Mountain View, Campbell, Los Gatos. None of them are Berkeley, but if i wasn't already living there when I took this job, and I didn't have kids in school, no way I would do this commute.

That is an insane commute! I do that commute from just south of Walnut Creek 2x a week and it is horrible. I used to do it 3x a week and I just couldn't handle it.  The issue is not only is it a long time in the car and/or train, but it means that he will have to leave early in the morning and won't get home until late. This can make things very difficult on you.  It is also stressful to know that if there was any emergency he is so far away. That said, if he truly can limit his time in the office to only 3 days, and the train is workable (I can't comment on this), then perhaps it is feasible depending on how you guys work together for house stuff.  However, I would assume at least 1 1/2 hours there (if he leaves by 6:30 am) or more and a minimum of 2 hours coming home.  I drive and it takes me 1 hour 15 min if I'm lucky to get there and up to 2 hours or more to get home and I'm probably 20 minutes at least south of you.  

Have you considered Alamo/Danville/Walnut Creek/San Ramon? These are great communities with good schools at least a bit closer.  Granted, they are not as hip and culturally diverse (and don't have the great restaurants), but they have amazing schools, great community feeling, and are wonderful places to raise children - think big backyards, the Iron Horse trail (for riding bikes, jogging, etc).

Good luck! 

I can't comment on this commute, but I used to take Amtrak in the other direction (the capital corridor towards Sac) and found it to be mostly reliable in terms of timing - there were occasional delays, but probably less than the traffic delays I would have encountered driving. And the ride is nice and comfortable, WAY better than being in the car! The wifi was not very fast though - I could usually do email but downloading files was tough. I always tried to plan ahead with offline work I could do on the train and was able to get a good amount of work done during my commute. Hope that helps!

Hello,

My husband commutes from San Leandro to Santa Clara and San Leandro is probably 8-10 miles closer to SC than Berkeley and yes its a tough! Most days 1 1/2 hours morning and evening rush hours. He works from home once a week and once a week he comes after lunch, but its still a slog.

That being said....living in Berkeley might be worth it. Love Berkeley (we had to choose San Leandro for lower housing prices, but spend a lot of time Berkeley) 

I don't know a lot about Cal Train/bike option...maybe others do and will answer. Good luck.  

Thanks so much for the replies. Really appreciate all the honesty and we're definitely rethinking our impulse to settle in Berkeley...though may do it anyhow! 

Look at the Willow Glen area of San Jose.