<p>Should freshmen at Stanford bring cars, or is it better to walk, use a bike, and ride the bus?</p>
<p>When I visited Stanford (during the school year), most people rode bikes. Some walked and even less drove. This was on campus, however. The Bay Area does have fairly good public transportation, though.</p>
<p>BART's legit. idk if it stops near stanford though.</p>
<p>Guys, the closest BART gets to Stanford is Millbrae, which is north by the Airport. Cal Train goes into San Francisco. A car can be useful to get into San Francisco and to get to various places in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. You can certainly get to the Stanford Shopping Center by bike--we always used to do that. You should check what the parking regulations are and whether or not freshmen are allowed to have cars.</p>
<p>I believe freshmen aren't allowed to have cars, but they often get permits from older students. It would be a hassle--parking has been a problem at Stanford--but many think it would be advantageous since Stanford is in a "bubble." Transportation isn't the best in the area, in comparison to other parts of the Bay Area. You can take a shuttle to Palo Alto, then get on the Cal Train, etc. I personally would just stick with a bike, unless I decide I want a car later on.</p>
<p>For day to day academic commute, a car is completely useless and will only hinder you. For off campus travel, there are economic bus lines that connect at the Palo Alto transit centers all the way to downtown SF and SJ for a buck or so. Or the caltrain for 4 bucks or so (which goes as south as Gilroy). For grocery shopping, the stanford shuttle runs everyday to shopping centers in Mountain View (safeway, albertsons, walmart, target).
And honestly, once the quarter gets going, very few people have the time to go off campus anyways.
Oh, for freshmen, you're not allowed to have a car anyways.</p>
<p>Ok thank you, that helps a lot.</p>
<p>Freshmen are not allowed to have cars. And you don't really need one, though it's nice to have a friend with a car.</p>
<p>You will want a bike. The first few days of school are crazy at Palo Alto bike shops, so if you can bring one from home, it would be easier. (Otherwise, wait a week and then buy one).
Do not get an expensive bike...there is a huge bike theft problem on campus.</p>
<p>I was about to ask this question myself. Can more people that attend stanford shed more light on this?</p>
<p>I was thinking about using most of the money I had saved up to by a car for next year, but it might be unnecessary.
To those that have a car, does it come in handy in some situations, as in not everyday, but for instance if you want to go up to SF/oakland or shopping places in palo alto.</p>
<p>If you got one, you'll find a use for it. But you should take into account that it will be expensive to keep a car at Stanford (both insurance and parking). And you can't have it freshman year.</p>
<p>The bike, on the other hand, is essential. It's best to get one at Target for ~$100 or so, and get a U-lock for it (and use it!).</p>
<p>I'm a freshman right now and I wish we were allowed to bring cars.</p>
<p>There is not much to do on campus or in Palo Alto, aside from watching sporting events and drinking on the weekends, which all get old pretty fast. Sure there is the cal train and all to go somewhere if you REALLY want to, but it's such a hassle and frankly it's a pain to bike all the way over there with my friends to do something. If I had a car, weekends here would be much more interesting since I could drive to SF or San Jose, or ANYTHING besides doing nothing on campus.</p>
<p>@lwk1005 I would definitely try to bring a car to campus, unless you want to do nothing on the weekends.</p>
<p>About bikes: You definitely need one, and I would try to get something that's not too too cheap. My friends that bought the wal mart bikes have had tons of problems with them and have had to go to the bike shop for repairs at least twice this quarter. If possible, I think it would be best to invest in something somewhat decent. Costco and Sam's club have some pretty good sturdy bikes for not much more than those cheap wal mart bikes. </p>
<p>About bike thefts: I wouldn't worry about buying a cheap bike based solely on the possibility of your bike being stolen. As long as you have a U-Lock and you lock it somewhere, it's probably not going to get stolen. I have yet to hear of anyone's bikes being stolen, but maybe thats just the people I know, so don't take me too seriously.</p>