Hey guys, I’m going to be a junior this coming year, and I didn’t receive the on-campus housing that I wanted. I’m looking for apartments, but as a backup, I’m thinking about commuting from the south bay. Is this possible? I really like living at home, and I like driving, but I was wondering if anyone had done this before? Is there anything I should be aware of before making the decision to commute?
I wouldn’t recommend driving all the way from the south bay to Cal, but driving up to Fremont BART and taking it directly to campus is something a lot of students do. I did it myself many, many, many years ago when I was an undergrad at Cal and was living in Hayward for a while. It was very convenient given that the BART station is a couple blocks from the western gate of Cal, could be a bit of a hike uphill from there to your first class though. Plus, getting on the BART at Fremont, you’ll get a seat, perfect time for studying.
Now my D is considering Cal for herself, wow, that ages me…
Thanks for the input. But yeah, housing prices here are insane. I really need a single because I had a double last year and had a lot of sleep issues, and so I was thinking maybe I could just go from home. Do you know anyone who has gone to Cal from south of Fremont? What was their experience?
Yes, you can commute from south of Fremont, but during rush hour (6 - 9:30 am, 3 - 7:00 pm), don’t count on 1 hour. 880/238/980/24 is a PITA, then you have to deal with traffic on College Ave.
There is also issue of parking around campus. You may need to circle for a while…
It’s doable, but is a drain on time and energy.
BART, as suggested, is better, much better.
You’ll need to get BART into the mix to some degree. 1 hour isn’t realistic.
I’m hopefully transferring and I live in Napa and the 48 miles my drive takes an hour in low traffic times … and coming from South Bay is a totally different animal.
I’m even trying to figure out some way I can use BART, so I don’t have to worry about parking, the mess on 80, etc.