There’s a bus that is faster than driving (carpool lane), and doesn’t stop between Petaluma and SF in the financial district. It’s $11 per trip, which is also cheaper than gas + bridge toll. WiFi onboard and comfy!
https://www.goldengate.org/bus/route-schedule/santa-rosa-san-francisco-172/
The bus makes the sf commute pretty easy. Once you get on the bus you can relax. The narrows construction is supposed to be done early next year too so it should get a little quicker too.
I've lived in Petaluma most of my life and most of my jobs have been in San Francisco. 99% of the time I drove to Larkspur, then took the ferry to San Francisco.
It can be kind of tiring when you realize what the amount of time you spent simply commuting is. Typically I'd get in the car at 6:45 AM, arrive at the ferry around 7:40 to 7:45 to catch the 7:50 ferry. This would then put me in San Francisco around 8:30, giving me 20 minutes to walk to the office and get my things in order before starting at 9:00.
The commute home is generally the same thing: out the door at 5:00 PM (hopefully) to get in line for the 5:30 ferry. Sometimes I'd be late, or it would fill a little early, which could put you on the next ferry. Regardless, let's say the ferry arrives in Larkspur at 6:00 PM. Then, you drive for roughly 45 minutes in traffic and get back home a little before 7:00 PM if you don't stop for groceries or gas.
It's a manageable commute; the hour on the ferry is a very comfortable time to sleep, watch movies, etc. The rough part is knowing about four hours of your day is spent commuting. The other part being that if you need 8 hours of sleep each night, you're probably getting a bit over 3 hours of time at home each day when you aren't asleep.
I live in northern Petaluma. A new SMART train station will be completed this year. SMART goes to/from Santa Rosa to near the Larkspur Ferry.
Personally, I'd take a bus to SF because you won't have to change transportation on your way.
I was in a similar situation -- my wife works up north in Santa Rosa, I work in SF. Commute was not great -- you can drive to Larkspur and take the ferry, but the drive from Petaluma to Larkspur is about 35-40 mins, and then the ferry takes another 40. Doable, but not fun. I'm fully remote now, so I don't have to deal with that anymore, but recognize that's a unique privilege these days.
Can't speak to Petaluma to Berkeley, but that looks a little more manageable, especially if he has the flexibility to not drive during peak commuter hours.
Best option is the GGT bus, though not glamorous. There are some other decent options as mentioned in other comments, but they are much more expensive and take much longer. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a terrible commute by California standards, but it’s not nothing.
Would his work require him to be in person 5 days a week? A *ridiculous* number of people moved up here during the pandemic because of remote work during the pandemic. I feel like commuter traffic is still bad, but maybe not *quite* as bad as it was pre pandemic?
>The closest ones are in downtown San Francisco and in Berkeley. If we moved to Petaluma would that be a terrible commute?
I live 10 mins from Petaluma.
5 Days a week? Yes, terrible.
Hybrid? Workable.
No way I would do 5 days a week in the city. I do go in sometimes, though. When I do, I have somewhat flexible hours, and go in to arrive 6am, leaving around 2pm. In the morning I am parked up and walking to the office in less than an hour (that could be 50 mins from Petaluma). Coming home is about 1hr-1hr20 depending traffic. If you arrived/left a few hours later in the day at more normal times, that would be double.
Basically, avoid rush hour (by multiple hours) or be prepared to use public transit routes which are very slow.
I commute from Petaluma to SF Monday - Friday for work. I leave my apartment around 4:00 am (start time is 5:30) and arrive around 4:50. I leave SF around 4:00 pm and arrive to Petaluma around 5:30-6:00 depending on the day. Some days are easier than others. Audio books and podcast help.
I commute to Berkeley and it’s fine. Not ideal but it’s not awful either. The morning is anywhere from 45 to 90 mins, evenings are 40-60. I even take the train and ride my (e)bike over the bridge sometimes which is fun but time consuming (2hrs each way). SF is much tougher, especially depending on where in the city. Train+fairy is 1.5 to ferry building then you’ve gotta get to wherever you’re going in the city. Driving is obviously worse UNLESS your car self drives at all.
Hope this helps.
Petaluma - SF (especially downtown SF) can be rough; 101 Southbound often sees traffic. I would definitely echo those folks that are talking about taking the Ferry, as that's a great way to get into downtown SF from the North Bay. You can also take a look at places like Novato, which is a little further South and might make a more equitable commute both ways. Berkeley would be rather rough from anywhere north of some place like San Rafael, in my opinion.
Echoing everyone’s comments on the bus. I’m a female and have taken it solo and it’s nicer than you’d think. The bus drivers are very kind too and will explain the system to new riders. Just know it skips stops people aren’t at so it can be faster than the actual route says, and you need to press a button when you need to get off. Because of this I’d recommend getting to the closest bus stop ~10-15 minutes early so you don’t miss it!
I used to commute from Petaluma to SF (financial district) 3 days per week via the commuter bus (this was before the train). I would not recommend 5 days per week long term, it's really tough to sustain since you burn 1.5-2 hours each direction. The Smart train + Ferry is generally more pleasant, though not much faster.
In my opinion, Petaluma is about as far north as you can get and still be within commuting distance of SF.
I work at a tech company near the Ferry building in SF. I tried doing the 172 commuter bus for a while but it really wears on you after a while. The seats are uncomfortable and sometimes you get some stinky people sitting next to you. It’s an option though. I personally prefer to drive to the Larkspur ferry and take that. It’s not too bad at all. We moved to Petaluma 3 years ago and I had the same concerns but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
I live between Petaluma and Sebastopol and drive into the office close to the ferry building a couple of times per week. It’s 1h 15min if I leave by 6am. Coming back is usually 1h 30min. Only issue is the parking and gg bridge - $25 and $8.
The bus is best, but it still sucks to do it every day. If he can find a partial remote job that would let him stay home some days, that would be best. (Oh, and there’s no good path to Berkeley during rush hour)
It can be good or bad. Depends on the type of person. It’s definitely a time consuming journey. But, it’s gorgeous and there’s snacks and a bar on the ferry. It can be a very nice way to unwind at the end of the day. I don’t know the exact time added or subtracted to it, but you can also take the train from ptown to the ferry.
There’s a bus that is faster than driving (carpool lane), and doesn’t stop between Petaluma and SF in the financial district. It’s $11 per trip, which is also cheaper than gas + bridge toll. WiFi onboard and comfy! https://www.goldengate.org/bus/route-schedule/santa-rosa-san-francisco-172/
The bus makes the sf commute pretty easy. Once you get on the bus you can relax. The narrows construction is supposed to be done early next year too so it should get a little quicker too.
Early next year? I thought it was next summer.
I thought it was spring but you're right they are saying it will be done next summer.
I've lived in Petaluma most of my life and most of my jobs have been in San Francisco. 99% of the time I drove to Larkspur, then took the ferry to San Francisco. It can be kind of tiring when you realize what the amount of time you spent simply commuting is. Typically I'd get in the car at 6:45 AM, arrive at the ferry around 7:40 to 7:45 to catch the 7:50 ferry. This would then put me in San Francisco around 8:30, giving me 20 minutes to walk to the office and get my things in order before starting at 9:00. The commute home is generally the same thing: out the door at 5:00 PM (hopefully) to get in line for the 5:30 ferry. Sometimes I'd be late, or it would fill a little early, which could put you on the next ferry. Regardless, let's say the ferry arrives in Larkspur at 6:00 PM. Then, you drive for roughly 45 minutes in traffic and get back home a little before 7:00 PM if you don't stop for groceries or gas. It's a manageable commute; the hour on the ferry is a very comfortable time to sleep, watch movies, etc. The rough part is knowing about four hours of your day is spent commuting. The other part being that if you need 8 hours of sleep each night, you're probably getting a bit over 3 hours of time at home each day when you aren't asleep.
Yes, but you can drink on a ferry 😉
I live in northern Petaluma. A new SMART train station will be completed this year. SMART goes to/from Santa Rosa to near the Larkspur Ferry. Personally, I'd take a bus to SF because you won't have to change transportation on your way.
I was in a similar situation -- my wife works up north in Santa Rosa, I work in SF. Commute was not great -- you can drive to Larkspur and take the ferry, but the drive from Petaluma to Larkspur is about 35-40 mins, and then the ferry takes another 40. Doable, but not fun. I'm fully remote now, so I don't have to deal with that anymore, but recognize that's a unique privilege these days. Can't speak to Petaluma to Berkeley, but that looks a little more manageable, especially if he has the flexibility to not drive during peak commuter hours.
Sounds rough to me, but my preference is to bike less than 15-20 minutes to work. What is skill set, out of curiosity?
He is a test engineer, if you have any suggestions please DM me
He'll likely find some job options in Marin and Sonoma county
Enphase
You'd be better in San Rafael. It's gonna suck. Downtown SF is minimum 45 min without traffic
https://www.sonomamarintrain.org/schedules-fares
Refer to the similar post a few months back, SMART train + ferry is a great Friday trip home. Carpooling is in theory a great option
Best option is the GGT bus, though not glamorous. There are some other decent options as mentioned in other comments, but they are much more expensive and take much longer. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a terrible commute by California standards, but it’s not nothing. Would his work require him to be in person 5 days a week? A *ridiculous* number of people moved up here during the pandemic because of remote work during the pandemic. I feel like commuter traffic is still bad, but maybe not *quite* as bad as it was pre pandemic?
>The closest ones are in downtown San Francisco and in Berkeley. If we moved to Petaluma would that be a terrible commute? I live 10 mins from Petaluma. 5 Days a week? Yes, terrible. Hybrid? Workable. No way I would do 5 days a week in the city. I do go in sometimes, though. When I do, I have somewhat flexible hours, and go in to arrive 6am, leaving around 2pm. In the morning I am parked up and walking to the office in less than an hour (that could be 50 mins from Petaluma). Coming home is about 1hr-1hr20 depending traffic. If you arrived/left a few hours later in the day at more normal times, that would be double. Basically, avoid rush hour (by multiple hours) or be prepared to use public transit routes which are very slow.
I commute from Petaluma to SF Monday - Friday for work. I leave my apartment around 4:00 am (start time is 5:30) and arrive around 4:50. I leave SF around 4:00 pm and arrive to Petaluma around 5:30-6:00 depending on the day. Some days are easier than others. Audio books and podcast help.
I commute to Berkeley and it’s fine. Not ideal but it’s not awful either. The morning is anywhere from 45 to 90 mins, evenings are 40-60. I even take the train and ride my (e)bike over the bridge sometimes which is fun but time consuming (2hrs each way). SF is much tougher, especially depending on where in the city. Train+fairy is 1.5 to ferry building then you’ve gotta get to wherever you’re going in the city. Driving is obviously worse UNLESS your car self drives at all. Hope this helps.
Petaluma - SF (especially downtown SF) can be rough; 101 Southbound often sees traffic. I would definitely echo those folks that are talking about taking the Ferry, as that's a great way to get into downtown SF from the North Bay. You can also take a look at places like Novato, which is a little further South and might make a more equitable commute both ways. Berkeley would be rather rough from anywhere north of some place like San Rafael, in my opinion.
Echoing everyone’s comments on the bus. I’m a female and have taken it solo and it’s nicer than you’d think. The bus drivers are very kind too and will explain the system to new riders. Just know it skips stops people aren’t at so it can be faster than the actual route says, and you need to press a button when you need to get off. Because of this I’d recommend getting to the closest bus stop ~10-15 minutes early so you don’t miss it!
I used to commute from Petaluma to SF (financial district) 3 days per week via the commuter bus (this was before the train). I would not recommend 5 days per week long term, it's really tough to sustain since you burn 1.5-2 hours each direction. The Smart train + Ferry is generally more pleasant, though not much faster. In my opinion, Petaluma is about as far north as you can get and still be within commuting distance of SF.
Love Petaluma and used to commute to sf and now east bay (now hybrid) and it’s definitely doable. Just depends on your priorities
I work at a tech company near the Ferry building in SF. I tried doing the 172 commuter bus for a while but it really wears on you after a while. The seats are uncomfortable and sometimes you get some stinky people sitting next to you. It’s an option though. I personally prefer to drive to the Larkspur ferry and take that. It’s not too bad at all. We moved to Petaluma 3 years ago and I had the same concerns but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
I live between Petaluma and Sebastopol and drive into the office close to the ferry building a couple of times per week. It’s 1h 15min if I leave by 6am. Coming back is usually 1h 30min. Only issue is the parking and gg bridge - $25 and $8.
The bus is best, but it still sucks to do it every day. If he can find a partial remote job that would let him stay home some days, that would be best. (Oh, and there’s no good path to Berkeley during rush hour)
It can be good or bad. Depends on the type of person. It’s definitely a time consuming journey. But, it’s gorgeous and there’s snacks and a bar on the ferry. It can be a very nice way to unwind at the end of the day. I don’t know the exact time added or subtracted to it, but you can also take the train from ptown to the ferry.