3 ms·

With regards to Boston Pros, pt # 3 vs. Silicon Valley, you can always live in San Francisco even if you work in Mountain View. You can commute via Caltrain.

by kqr2 18y ago

neilc 18y ago
Although that's still a moderate pain in the ass, and might be infeasible, depending on where you live in SF and how close your job is to Caltrain. Depending on public transit in the Bay Area (outside SF proper) is pretty rough.
mechanical_fish 18y ago
Be sure to scope this commute out very carefully before banking on it, though. In my experience the Caltrain station was always at least one mile farther away from any endpoint than I was willing to cope with. I guess there are local buses at either end. Emphasis on guess, however, since everyone I know in the Valley commutes by car, except for the truly diehard fifteen-mile-a-day bicycle commuter I used to know. Obviously she wasn't commuting from SF.
- SwellJoe 18y ago
  Nothing good in Mountain View is more than a mile from Caltrain, though almost all of SF is far away from the Caltrain station. I exaggerate slightly, but pretty much all of Mountain View is within a few blocks of the two stations. Both Palo Alto and Mountain View are extremely friendly to commuters. SF is, too, but it's quite a long way away. That's not to say I don't know a lot of people that make the SF to MV or PA commute. A huge percentage of Google and Facebook employees live in the city. Though Googlers have a shuttle service, with WiFi, so they don't generally take Caltrain. But, I agree. Commuting sucks the life out of you...even with a train, spending two hours each day in transit just wouldn't be worth it, to me.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    I find that people generally underestimate how much more annoying things become with repetition. People say "I'm going live there/date her because it's only 45 minutes away". You think about 45 minutes, and it's not that much. And then it's cool for a short period of time, but pretty soon days fade into weeks and every time you dread it, especially when you realize its 45 minutes each way. Suddenly you're spending 10% of your waking time (which is like 40% of your free time) commuting and before you know it you're looking on Monster.com/eHarmony again. Just a cycle I've observed many times that seems to occur with 100% frequency, though oddly I've never had either a job or girlfriend who was over 15 minutes away.
    - SwellJoe 18y ago
      I had a long commute in Austin, and before that, in Houston. I'll never do it again. No amount of money can make up for the time lost, or the impact on mental well-being. Now that I'm transitioning myself out of "gotta work every waking minute" startup mode, and into "sustainable life that includes building a company, but also has time for friends and hobbies", I've realized I'm spending an awful lot of time on the Caltrain going up to the city to meet up with friends and do things (the kind of thing I like to do is see and take part in great live music, comedy, theatre, etc. in small venues, and pretty much none of that happens in Mountain View). Since I don't have an office to go to every day down here on the peninsula, it's kinda dumb for me to stay here.
dangrover 18y ago
I'm thinking about this too. I'm moving from Boston to go work at a startup in Palo Alto. Their offices are right by the Caltrain, but it seems even then, living in SF (which would otherwise appeal to me) makes the commute kinda suck.
- gruseom 18y ago
  I commuted between SF and Stanford by motorcycle for a few years and loved it. Cheap and fast. Caltrain was not in my vocabulary.

With regards to Boston Pros, pt # 3 vs. Silicon Valley, you can always live in San Francisco even if you work in Mountain View. You can commute via Caltrain.

by kqr2 18y ago

With regards to Boston Pros, pt # 3 vs. Silicon Valley, you can always live in San Francisco even if you work in Mountain View. You can commute via Caltrain.

neilc 18y ago

Although that's still a moderate pain in the ass, and might be infeasible, depending on where you live in SF and how close your job is to Caltrain. Depending on public transit in the Bay Area (outside SF proper) is pretty rough.

mechanical_fish 18y ago

Be sure to scope this commute out very carefully before banking on it, though. In my experience the Caltrain station was always at least one mile farther away from any endpoint than I was willing to cope with. I guess there are local buses at either end. Emphasis on guess, however, since everyone I know in the Valley commutes by car, except for the truly diehard fifteen-mile-a-day bicycle commuter I used to know. Obviously she wasn't commuting from SF.

SwellJoe 18y ago
Nothing good in Mountain View is more than a mile from Caltrain, though almost all of SF is far away from the Caltrain station. I exaggerate slightly, but pretty much all of Mountain View is within a few blocks of the two stations. Both Palo Alto and Mountain View are extremely friendly to commuters. SF is, too, but it's quite a long way away. That's not to say I don't know a lot of people that make the SF to MV or PA commute. A huge percentage of Google and Facebook employees live in the city. Though Googlers have a shuttle service, with WiFi, so they don't generally take Caltrain. But, I agree. Commuting sucks the life out of you...even with a train, spending two hours each day in transit just wouldn't be worth it, to me.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  I find that people generally underestimate how much more annoying things become with repetition. People say "I'm going live there/date her because it's only 45 minutes away". You think about 45 minutes, and it's not that much. And then it's cool for a short period of time, but pretty soon days fade into weeks and every time you dread it, especially when you realize its 45 minutes each way. Suddenly you're spending 10% of your waking time (which is like 40% of your free time) commuting and before you know it you're looking on Monster.com/eHarmony again. Just a cycle I've observed many times that seems to occur with 100% frequency, though oddly I've never had either a job or girlfriend who was over 15 minutes away.
  - SwellJoe 18y ago
    I had a long commute in Austin, and before that, in Houston. I'll never do it again. No amount of money can make up for the time lost, or the impact on mental well-being. Now that I'm transitioning myself out of "gotta work every waking minute" startup mode, and into "sustainable life that includes building a company, but also has time for friends and hobbies", I've realized I'm spending an awful lot of time on the Caltrain going up to the city to meet up with friends and do things (the kind of thing I like to do is see and take part in great live music, comedy, theatre, etc. in small venues, and pretty much none of that happens in Mountain View). Since I don't have an office to go to every day down here on the peninsula, it's kinda dumb for me to stay here.

dangrover 18y ago

I'm thinking about this too. I'm moving from Boston to go work at a startup in Palo Alto. Their offices are right by the Caltrain, but it seems even then, living in SF (which would otherwise appeal to me) makes the commute kinda suck.

gruseom 18y ago
I commuted between SF and Stanford by motorcycle for a few years and loved it. Cheap and fast. Caltrain was not in my vocabulary.