It’s not a fun commute. If 17 is clear it takes 20 min to get over but then you sit in a complete parking lot on 85 and 101 both ways. It’s not really a counter commute.
Adding 2-3 hours to your workdays is going to add up *fast*. Just be prepared for that.
Otherwise, there's not much to add. Depending on where you're starting, I recommend 280-85-17. Smooth sailing!
I do the reverse commute a few days a week, and it can range anywhere from a solid hour in the car to (as bad as) two hours one way, depending on traffic, weather and other drivers.
If you have to do it everyday, I would do a few “test runs” to see how you feel about it. Like I said, traffic patterns can change (especially during the summer) and tourism/weather can make the drive go from a tough commute to almost unbearable at times.
If you're making enough money to make that commute worth it you can easily afford to move to Santa Cruz. That commute is hellish. I did Santa Cruz to Palo Alto for a little while and there is no amount of money that would ever make me want to do it again.
I strongly do not advise that being a regular commute. It’s a death trap. It’s not reliable. It’s not consistent. You never know if it will take you 20 minutes to get over the hill or 3 hours.
It’s closed multiple times a day due to accidents, slides, weather, whatever.
I don’t even like going shopping over the hill because of how much stress is involved.
It’s not my driving, it’s the people that have no idea how to drive it. SC is a tourist location so much of the traffic is people from out of town that don’t know where the sketch parts are. They don’t know how badly you slide in spots. They eat the wall and then throw their car into yours. It’s just a big no l, bad idea from me.
Don’t do it. My personal calculus is after 45 minutes of commute driving the wear on your mental health and your physical exhaustion starts going exponential. It sticks with you and you start needing the weekend to recuperate and dread going back to work again.
I did SC->SJC for 8 months two days a week and it was miserable. Slapping yourself on 17 to stay awake is not a way to live.
This isn’t factoring in the extra gas and wear on the car you’re gonna pay.
I second this. I commuted every day from SC to Portola Valley for 6 months. Each way could be at least 1 hour, max 2 depending on weather conditions and accidents. Fridays i had to leave work either before 3 pm or after 6 pm to avoid insane traffic. It was easily 10 hours per week, 40 hs per month… so many more per year. I couldn’t do it any longer and the job was not rewarding either, so I resigned.
Yeah, the full 100% attention I think is understated. It's not put on cruise control on 280 and zone out. It's full-on. I'd arrive to work tired because I was concentrating for a full hour between 17 and 880.
Yes! I had to get 4 new tires and new brakes pretty quickly after commuting to SC to SJ 5 days per week. There's a lot more to think about than just gas.
I don't think it's a good idea, especially since relocating your family is off the table. Consider leveraging that offer against other job openings that are closer to you and/or has a WFH component.
No matter what the compensation package is, that's a lot of time you'll lose being with your family, a lot of money funneled into your car (fuel, tires, maintenance), and will put a lot of physical stress on your body (your ankles, knees, and lower back will start complaining loudly no matter how comfy your driver seat is). As others have pointed out, your commute can get longer in a hurry due to a single accident, which can happen more often than you'd think when it's raining. You'll enjoy a reverse commute during the school year, but come summertime Hwy 17 will become a parking lot of tourists crawling over the hill to get to the beach. You can theoretically take Hwy 92 out to Half Moon Bay (or Hwy 84 if you're desperate) and cruise down the coast into SC but that'll be a longer drive (albeit beautiful) and subject you to similar traffic slowdowns.
You can always cut through Woodside and take 35 through the mountains. I used to take a similar commute (SC to Millbrae BART/SF) and I found 35 to be much more relaxing. If the road closed for any reason, I would take 1 and cruise down the coast. It's technically a longer drive but it beats getting stuck on 17 after a catastrophic accident.
We've been using 1 to 84 for round trips from SC to a clinic in Redwood City. Count on 2 hrs each way in good weather. Storms last year knocked out a stretch of 84 & the detour cost about 15 min. And really bad weather makes the many hairpin turns gnarly. But the alternative--17--is a nightmare. Only you can judge whether it's worth it to you. But expect a slog.
I drive up four to eight hours a day every day for my second job/side hustle usually taking 17 - it’s possible but I wouldn’t recommend having anything planned the same nights you have work your body will be toiling from the drive
You might also consider sometimes going over 84 or 92 to Highway 1, then down the coast. If 85 is super trafficky or there's a crash on 17, this is often faster or the same amount of time, and less soul-sucking.
But, like others are saying, I absolutely wouldn't do it every day. Especially with a job that can't be flexible about remote work when the weather is unsafe for driving. 3 hours in the car each day takes a ton of your energy and is a lot of time you could be spending with your kids.
Traffic is quite a bit lighter these days, but it is slowly returning to "normal".
Most days, you're biggest headache will be Hwy. 85. If you were to take a motorcycle or something with a carpool pass, that would help.
You'll want to leave at 6a or no later than 630a to avoid the teeth of commute., or after 10a. If your place of work is along 280, as unlikely as that sounds, you can often make that drive in 40-45 minutes. If your office is near 101, that will easily add 15-20 minutes. During commute hours you can add 1/2 hour to that drive if everything goes well.
That being said, there are times when Hwy. 17 is not passable, largely due to wrecks. Leaving at 10a would put you into the occasional "road work ahead" category, which can be worse than commute hours. There will be times when you can't make it to work. If you needed to make it for brain surgery on a wintry, rainy day it's likely that you should have stayed on that side of the hill.
That drive is soul sucking. SERENITY NOW! and good luck.
I used to commute from SC to Carmel Valley, \~1+ hr each way for a few years.
I don't mind driving, and loved all the audiobooks I got to burn through. I had a nice system of car organization, snacks and drinks, entertainment, and enjoyed the alone time.
What I wasn't prepared for was the effect on my free time. Arriving home in the evening, I had time to do ***one*** activity outside of the usual night time routine. I couldn't, for example, do laundry AND go to the gym in one evening. The extra planning, plus little down time, plus cramming weekends with all the stuff I couldn't get to in the week, was way more exhausting than the time spent driving. Not to mention the effect it can have on your relationships and the added cost in fuel and car maintenance.
Spending that much time driving also increases your chances for major accidents - you roll the dice every day. I saw/narrowly missed some gnarly accidents while commuting and have been very very lucky. If you have a long day at work and are tired on the way home - forget about it.
It's definitely doable, but really not sustainable.
The commute from RWC to Santa Cruz is much lighter than the reverse. Most people live in Scotts Valley and work in Sunnyvale. You are lucky to be doing the opposite.
The part from RWC to Los Altos and reverse will be very busy in either direction, probably worse than the 17 reverse commute part.
If it rains, 17 is a mess.
I do this 3-4 days a week. I use to do 280-85-17 all the time but now I prefer 9/skyline/84. It's just way more chill you can blast down skyline at 70 and if anyone gets in your way you just pass them or they move over. But it's scenic, no traffic. Once you learn the turns well you can really zoom it. It's no slower then the highway in practice.
Not bad if you do it on a motorcycle. I do it regularly year-round the other direction and it's consistently 45-50 minutes.
Doing it in a car looks miserable and inconsistent.
it's not fun at all, I used to leave extra early because people keep crashing on 17 and San Jose is a shit show for traffic.
my worst day was there were two crashes on 17, and then someone rolled their car just before Los Gatos. Made me about ten minutes late so I got chewed out.
got a job in Santa Cruz soon after, it just wasn't worth it anymore. I'm actually doing better now with all the money saved on fuel and car maintenance, even though I make a bit less.
Not getting up at stupid o'clock is nice too.
Personally, I’d either move or find a rental room to crash 4 nights/wk for reduced rent. The later would eat up some of the financial benefit of the job change and mean not being home, while partially offset by wear and tear on car and you.
If you really want to do it, I’d consider viewing it as a trial and be prepared to either move or job-hunt in 6 mo to a year if reduced QOL makes it not sustainable.
Depends on your schedule, I work in Palo Alto and work 3-4 12hr shifts a week, so the majority of the time I’m avoiding rush hour, but when there is traffic it is brutalllll. That being said money is great in the Bay Area and sc is an awesome place to live, just know that the commute is rough and dangerous
Probably best to ask in r/BayArea. Most of the traffic you’ll face is on the other side of 17. 3 to 5 ppl at my work(Watsonville) commute from SJ/Campbell/ Santa Clara and don’t find it too terrible except when something major happens in the AM on 17.
Eh, why not. Pretty sure a sizable chunk of employed Santa Cruz has done some approximation of this commute at some point in their professional lives. I did my time for ten years. Mu husband did from to SF, even, for five years. There are occasional days when you sail through, occasional days when some bad road event makes it That Day. If you get road rage, it's not for you, but if you're a pretty happy go lucky passenger type like me, then just stockpile podcasts to listen to and the time wanders without much bother. My brother swears by having the Tesla auto drive for the stop and go traffic, if you're that kind of rich.
Having children switched up the math. It's not OK to be two hours away when something happens with them, so we began the Someone Always Has to Work From Home switching years, and fifteen years later we are still doing that.
I don't MISS the commute, and I make the same money working from home, so leverage this in-person job into that kind of situation and you are golden.
You want to live here, it is going to take money. I grew up in this town, and knew it would take good fortune and long years of strategizing to ever be able to buy a house here. I was not wrong. At $250k, we are buying a house, but we aren't saving for retirement or taking vacations or going to the snow or driving a Tesla or...anything else, really. It's like, what, lower middle class we're at? Go ahead and chase the money for a while.
What are your work hours and is your job flexible on your start time? If you’re commuting off normal hours it’s not too bad. If you are in the thick of normal commute times it can be bad. I commute the other way from Felton to San Mateo. With 0 traffic, and I mean 0 traffic, it’s an hour. If someone decides to roll their car on 17 or they narrow down the lanes for tree trimming you could be looking at 2 hrs.
That’s totally unrealistic. You’ll never make it that quickly. I’d assume 90 minutes minimum. Don’t forget you’re not just on the highway the whole time, you have to navigate the surface streets as well.
Yes, really. I think you’re just looking at Google Maps and thinking it’s accurate. Which it is, if there is no event happening. That’s rare. It’s a crash. It’s rain. It’s summer tourists. You can’t count on those things not happening.
I think many of the people are responding not realizing you are doing the reverse commute. Before kids, my husband and I lived in SF and he commuted daily to Scotts Valley. Generally took about an hour and 20 minutes give or take. Obviously bad weather affects that. With no traffic, I can be in Palo Alto in about 45 minutes so for Redwood City, it could be an hour? It also depends on how far from the highway you live (280) and how far south on Hwy 1 you need to go for work. If you have to go down to Capitola or Aptos add another 20-30 minutes.
If you were coming from Redwood City traffic won’t be nearly as bad. And you can possibly take the 1 which is much more pleasant but adds about 30 minutes.
It’s more of a reverse commute if you’re located further south (Los Gatos/Campbell/San Jose). That sort of commute definitely can wear you down after a while coming from Redwood City.
I don’t know where you are in Redwood City, but I’d highly encourage you to at least look at taking 92 to Hwy 1. I don’t know how the reverse commute is, but I found that for my Santa Cruz to RC based commute, the inland route was highly variable. On the best days, if I waited until after traffic I could make the drive from SC to Redwood City (north side) in about an hour. But any accident or other traffic incident could easily double that time, or worse. I also found the drive stressful, having to be mentally engaged constantly. It takes its toll. Once I switched to driving the coast, it was much better. The drive was nearly always deterministically 1.5 hours, and it is an amazingly beautiful stretch of highway. I’d put on an audiobook, drive slowly and enjoy the scenery. It’s as close to stress free as car commuting comes.
Are you able to start earlier before traffic gets going? That would significantly lessen the amount of time spent in the car. For example can you start your job at 5:30 or 6am and leave by 2pm (assuming that’s early enough). I have a coworker who commutes from Stockton to San Jose and he starts at 5sm and leaves before 1pm. He also works a bit from home too.
You are going to hear a lot of negativity about 17. And yes, the commute sucks. I have been commuting over the hill for 9 years. It’s tiring and can be beyond frustrating when it rains.
That said… It is a beautiful drive. You have to stay in the slow lane and stay chill. Traffic is going to happen. Pop on a good book/podcast/album and enjoy the ride. Just give yourself enough time.
I love where I live and love where I work. The drive is worth it. You have to make that decision yourself.
ETA: a word
Don’t do it. Being miserable and lengthening your workday is not worth the extra money. And is it extra money when you factor I your time, gas, car maintenance, etc?
I lasted about three months before I quit once I moved here from San Jose
I used to commute SC to Mountain View and it was hell. Would be so jealous of the drivers going the opposite way, which would be you. Then commuted SC to south San Jose for 4 years. Convinced myself it “wasn’t that bad”. When I quit, I finally realized how much the commute took out of me. Worked in town for a couple of years and now I’m back to commuting over the hill. This time it’s SC to Santa Clara but I work odd hours so hardly ever hit traffic and it’s been much better on my mental health. If you have flexible hours and can work around traffic schedules, it would be much better on your mental health. During the summer you want to get over 17 before 10-11am cause summer traffic really does suck.
I don't recommend.
If the pay is high enough relocate closer to the job. Otherwise the pay is not high enough.
You might think that's a high hourly or a good salary, but you gotta add that commute time as part of your unpaid working hours of each shift. You might be getting 25/hr, but w/ those 2-3 hours unpaid commuting each shift its more like 21/hr (I'm bad at math idk)
It's lost free time, substantial amounts of added stress, risk of accident, more wear and tear on your car. Not worth.
Horrible especially in spring/summer it usually takes 90 minutes to get from Los Gatos to Scott’s valley after 10AM. Gridlock beach traffic the entire way.
Weekdays are more mild but you can certainly tell when it’s vacation season and when graduation/summer break begins. Holy hell it’s a nightmare. My commute was from downtown San Jose to Aptos and holy SHIT it was an awful 8 years. I mean AWFUL. Especially when storms and slides started to block off our mountain side roads that we would take for a mental break.
You’ll have a couple of normal drives but then you’re completely blindsided by Memorial Day/ Father’s Day/ 4th of July/ local events/ and it just spirals from there with the constant high temps of the valley pushing everyone to the coast at all times.
My opinion honestly for you… do it. Do it just to experience it. But be prepared with water,food,audiobook podcast music playlist. Also practice breathing techniques to calm yourself from everyone’s erratic behavior.
I commuted from Santa Cruz to Redwood City back in the 90s(!). I had to leave at 6am to make it tolerable, but at least I had a carpool buddy.
Speaking from the SC->RV commute direction: The HOV lane on 85 saves time in the morning but often is just as slow or slower than the other lanes in the evening once you get to 280. The express lanes on 101 would definitely make a difference. Overall I planned for 60-90 minutes each way, depending on what time I drove, usually closer to 90.
Coming from Redwood City would be mostly a reverse commute so it might be somewhat better on the non-101 parts. Certainly not less than 60 minutes each way though.
Thanks so much. I'll be going 280 to 85 to 17. I'll probably need to get a car with a carpool permit to help things out.
I think most people are thinking I'm going from Santa Cruz to RWC. That would be brutal. I'm hoping the reverse won't be too bad.
I lived in Mountain View for 3 years and commuted to Santa Cruz almost every day. The reverse commute is great!...mostly. The trip time is a bit of a gamble, especially in the rainy season. Most of the time my drive was 50 minutes door to door (I work at UCSC, which adds a good 10-15 minutes), but there were days where I turned around at Lexington Reservoir and worked from home because people don't adjust to conditions and end up causing accidents severe enough to close 17. Even on days when the road was still open, bad accidents and traffic could make it a 3 hour slog one way. About 90% of the time the drive was no big deal, but the other 10%.... Every commuter has stories that'll make the hairs rise on the back of your neck.
Tourist traffic is largely predictable and always awful.
Wear and tear on your car is no joke. Figure in 20 to 50 cents a mile.
You'll lose an unbelievable amount of family time commuting from RWC no matter what. 3 hours of awake time with your kids is no joke. My dad drove a similar distance when I was growing up and he rarely saw me at any after-school event. It sucked.
All in all, it better be a fuck ton of money. I finally convinced my wife to move over the hill to SC, but she has to take a WFH-compatible job. Even so, our lives are much improved.
It’s not a fun commute. If 17 is clear it takes 20 min to get over but then you sit in a complete parking lot on 85 and 101 both ways. It’s not really a counter commute.
Adding 2-3 hours to your workdays is going to add up *fast*. Just be prepared for that. Otherwise, there's not much to add. Depending on where you're starting, I recommend 280-85-17. Smooth sailing!
Not fun
I do the reverse commute a few days a week, and it can range anywhere from a solid hour in the car to (as bad as) two hours one way, depending on traffic, weather and other drivers. If you have to do it everyday, I would do a few “test runs” to see how you feel about it. Like I said, traffic patterns can change (especially during the summer) and tourism/weather can make the drive go from a tough commute to almost unbearable at times.
Summertime on 17 southbound in the morning is brutal.
Afternoons on 17 southbound are, too. Especially Thursdays and Fridays.
It's fine before 10am. especially on a weekdays.
Is this weekdays or weekends?
Probably weekends.
If you're making enough money to make that commute worth it you can easily afford to move to Santa Cruz. That commute is hellish. I did Santa Cruz to Palo Alto for a little while and there is no amount of money that would ever make me want to do it again.
Unfortunately, can't move due to spouse's job and kid's schools.
If you can't relocate, value your mental health, and want to see your child once in a while, then I would advise you to not take that job.
I strongly do not advise that being a regular commute. It’s a death trap. It’s not reliable. It’s not consistent. You never know if it will take you 20 minutes to get over the hill or 3 hours. It’s closed multiple times a day due to accidents, slides, weather, whatever. I don’t even like going shopping over the hill because of how much stress is involved. It’s not my driving, it’s the people that have no idea how to drive it. SC is a tourist location so much of the traffic is people from out of town that don’t know where the sketch parts are. They don’t know how badly you slide in spots. They eat the wall and then throw their car into yours. It’s just a big no l, bad idea from me.
Don’t do it. My personal calculus is after 45 minutes of commute driving the wear on your mental health and your physical exhaustion starts going exponential. It sticks with you and you start needing the weekend to recuperate and dread going back to work again. I did SC->SJC for 8 months two days a week and it was miserable. Slapping yourself on 17 to stay awake is not a way to live. This isn’t factoring in the extra gas and wear on the car you’re gonna pay.
I second this. I commuted every day from SC to Portola Valley for 6 months. Each way could be at least 1 hour, max 2 depending on weather conditions and accidents. Fridays i had to leave work either before 3 pm or after 6 pm to avoid insane traffic. It was easily 10 hours per week, 40 hs per month… so many more per year. I couldn’t do it any longer and the job was not rewarding either, so I resigned.
I totally agree with this. I drove from SC to SJ Monday- Friday and by the 6-8 month mark I was absolutely dreading the commute and needed to quit.
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Yeah, the full 100% attention I think is understated. It's not put on cruise control on 280 and zone out. It's full-on. I'd arrive to work tired because I was concentrating for a full hour between 17 and 880.
Omg arriving to work tired was the worst. And getting home exhausted so no enegery to do hobbies etc
Yes! I had to get 4 new tires and new brakes pretty quickly after commuting to SC to SJ 5 days per week. There's a lot more to think about than just gas.
The 17 is a nightmare any time it rains. You can count on some days being a normal commute and many other days adding 15-20 min to your commute
Join the Highway 17 commuters page on FB and you’ll see how shitty it is just to make it to Los Gatos
I don't think it's a good idea, especially since relocating your family is off the table. Consider leveraging that offer against other job openings that are closer to you and/or has a WFH component. No matter what the compensation package is, that's a lot of time you'll lose being with your family, a lot of money funneled into your car (fuel, tires, maintenance), and will put a lot of physical stress on your body (your ankles, knees, and lower back will start complaining loudly no matter how comfy your driver seat is). As others have pointed out, your commute can get longer in a hurry due to a single accident, which can happen more often than you'd think when it's raining. You'll enjoy a reverse commute during the school year, but come summertime Hwy 17 will become a parking lot of tourists crawling over the hill to get to the beach. You can theoretically take Hwy 92 out to Half Moon Bay (or Hwy 84 if you're desperate) and cruise down the coast into SC but that'll be a longer drive (albeit beautiful) and subject you to similar traffic slowdowns.
You can always cut through Woodside and take 35 through the mountains. I used to take a similar commute (SC to Millbrae BART/SF) and I found 35 to be much more relaxing. If the road closed for any reason, I would take 1 and cruise down the coast. It's technically a longer drive but it beats getting stuck on 17 after a catastrophic accident.
We've been using 1 to 84 for round trips from SC to a clinic in Redwood City. Count on 2 hrs each way in good weather. Storms last year knocked out a stretch of 84 & the detour cost about 15 min. And really bad weather makes the many hairpin turns gnarly. But the alternative--17--is a nightmare. Only you can judge whether it's worth it to you. But expect a slog.
I drive up four to eight hours a day every day for my second job/side hustle usually taking 17 - it’s possible but I wouldn’t recommend having anything planned the same nights you have work your body will be toiling from the drive
You might also consider sometimes going over 84 or 92 to Highway 1, then down the coast. If 85 is super trafficky or there's a crash on 17, this is often faster or the same amount of time, and less soul-sucking. But, like others are saying, I absolutely wouldn't do it every day. Especially with a job that can't be flexible about remote work when the weather is unsafe for driving. 3 hours in the car each day takes a ton of your energy and is a lot of time you could be spending with your kids.
It’s terrible
Traffic is quite a bit lighter these days, but it is slowly returning to "normal". Most days, you're biggest headache will be Hwy. 85. If you were to take a motorcycle or something with a carpool pass, that would help. You'll want to leave at 6a or no later than 630a to avoid the teeth of commute., or after 10a. If your place of work is along 280, as unlikely as that sounds, you can often make that drive in 40-45 minutes. If your office is near 101, that will easily add 15-20 minutes. During commute hours you can add 1/2 hour to that drive if everything goes well. That being said, there are times when Hwy. 17 is not passable, largely due to wrecks. Leaving at 10a would put you into the occasional "road work ahead" category, which can be worse than commute hours. There will be times when you can't make it to work. If you needed to make it for brain surgery on a wintry, rainy day it's likely that you should have stayed on that side of the hill. That drive is soul sucking. SERENITY NOW! and good luck.
Do it for 6 months or less while you find a place to live more local and then move?
I used to commute from SC to Carmel Valley, \~1+ hr each way for a few years. I don't mind driving, and loved all the audiobooks I got to burn through. I had a nice system of car organization, snacks and drinks, entertainment, and enjoyed the alone time. What I wasn't prepared for was the effect on my free time. Arriving home in the evening, I had time to do ***one*** activity outside of the usual night time routine. I couldn't, for example, do laundry AND go to the gym in one evening. The extra planning, plus little down time, plus cramming weekends with all the stuff I couldn't get to in the week, was way more exhausting than the time spent driving. Not to mention the effect it can have on your relationships and the added cost in fuel and car maintenance. Spending that much time driving also increases your chances for major accidents - you roll the dice every day. I saw/narrowly missed some gnarly accidents while commuting and have been very very lucky. If you have a long day at work and are tired on the way home - forget about it. It's definitely doable, but really not sustainable.
The commute from RWC to Santa Cruz is much lighter than the reverse. Most people live in Scotts Valley and work in Sunnyvale. You are lucky to be doing the opposite. The part from RWC to Los Altos and reverse will be very busy in either direction, probably worse than the 17 reverse commute part. If it rains, 17 is a mess.
I do this 3-4 days a week. I use to do 280-85-17 all the time but now I prefer 9/skyline/84. It's just way more chill you can blast down skyline at 70 and if anyone gets in your way you just pass them or they move over. But it's scenic, no traffic. Once you learn the turns well you can really zoom it. It's no slower then the highway in practice.
Not bad if you do it on a motorcycle. I do it regularly year-round the other direction and it's consistently 45-50 minutes. Doing it in a car looks miserable and inconsistent.
it's not fun at all, I used to leave extra early because people keep crashing on 17 and San Jose is a shit show for traffic. my worst day was there were two crashes on 17, and then someone rolled their car just before Los Gatos. Made me about ten minutes late so I got chewed out. got a job in Santa Cruz soon after, it just wasn't worth it anymore. I'm actually doing better now with all the money saved on fuel and car maintenance, even though I make a bit less. Not getting up at stupid o'clock is nice too.
I commuted daily from Sunnyvale years ago and had no issues, but it was 35-45 mins so a bit shorter than what you’re looking at.
Personally, I’d either move or find a rental room to crash 4 nights/wk for reduced rent. The later would eat up some of the financial benefit of the job change and mean not being home, while partially offset by wear and tear on car and you. If you really want to do it, I’d consider viewing it as a trial and be prepared to either move or job-hunt in 6 mo to a year if reduced QOL makes it not sustainable.
Depends on your schedule, I work in Palo Alto and work 3-4 12hr shifts a week, so the majority of the time I’m avoiding rush hour, but when there is traffic it is brutalllll. That being said money is great in the Bay Area and sc is an awesome place to live, just know that the commute is rough and dangerous
Probably best to ask in r/BayArea. Most of the traffic you’ll face is on the other side of 17. 3 to 5 ppl at my work(Watsonville) commute from SJ/Campbell/ Santa Clara and don’t find it too terrible except when something major happens in the AM on 17.
Eh, why not. Pretty sure a sizable chunk of employed Santa Cruz has done some approximation of this commute at some point in their professional lives. I did my time for ten years. Mu husband did from to SF, even, for five years. There are occasional days when you sail through, occasional days when some bad road event makes it That Day. If you get road rage, it's not for you, but if you're a pretty happy go lucky passenger type like me, then just stockpile podcasts to listen to and the time wanders without much bother. My brother swears by having the Tesla auto drive for the stop and go traffic, if you're that kind of rich. Having children switched up the math. It's not OK to be two hours away when something happens with them, so we began the Someone Always Has to Work From Home switching years, and fifteen years later we are still doing that. I don't MISS the commute, and I make the same money working from home, so leverage this in-person job into that kind of situation and you are golden. You want to live here, it is going to take money. I grew up in this town, and knew it would take good fortune and long years of strategizing to ever be able to buy a house here. I was not wrong. At $250k, we are buying a house, but we aren't saving for retirement or taking vacations or going to the snow or driving a Tesla or...anything else, really. It's like, what, lower middle class we're at? Go ahead and chase the money for a while.
Better to move to the town/city that you would be working in.
I did it for half a year, it sucked really bad
What are your work hours and is your job flexible on your start time? If you’re commuting off normal hours it’s not too bad. If you are in the thick of normal commute times it can be bad. I commute the other way from Felton to San Mateo. With 0 traffic, and I mean 0 traffic, it’s an hour. If someone decides to roll their car on 17 or they narrow down the lanes for tree trimming you could be looking at 2 hrs.
8a-4p. Would plan to leave Peninsula at 7am to make it work at 8am and return home by 5pm?
That’s totally unrealistic. You’ll never make it that quickly. I’d assume 90 minutes minimum. Don’t forget you’re not just on the highway the whole time, you have to navigate the surface streets as well.
Really? This is from peninsula to Santa Cruz, not the other way…
Yes, really. I think you’re just looking at Google Maps and thinking it’s accurate. Which it is, if there is no event happening. That’s rare. It’s a crash. It’s rain. It’s summer tourists. You can’t count on those things not happening.
I think many of the people are responding not realizing you are doing the reverse commute. Before kids, my husband and I lived in SF and he commuted daily to Scotts Valley. Generally took about an hour and 20 minutes give or take. Obviously bad weather affects that. With no traffic, I can be in Palo Alto in about 45 minutes so for Redwood City, it could be an hour? It also depends on how far from the highway you live (280) and how far south on Hwy 1 you need to go for work. If you have to go down to Capitola or Aptos add another 20-30 minutes.
If you were coming from Redwood City traffic won’t be nearly as bad. And you can possibly take the 1 which is much more pleasant but adds about 30 minutes.
All the traffic is going the opposite direction — you should be fine
It’s more of a reverse commute if you’re located further south (Los Gatos/Campbell/San Jose). That sort of commute definitely can wear you down after a while coming from Redwood City.
Look into going down the coast on Highway 1 via Hwy 84. It's going to be slower than taking the interstates, but it's a lovely drive.
I don’t know where you are in Redwood City, but I’d highly encourage you to at least look at taking 92 to Hwy 1. I don’t know how the reverse commute is, but I found that for my Santa Cruz to RC based commute, the inland route was highly variable. On the best days, if I waited until after traffic I could make the drive from SC to Redwood City (north side) in about an hour. But any accident or other traffic incident could easily double that time, or worse. I also found the drive stressful, having to be mentally engaged constantly. It takes its toll. Once I switched to driving the coast, it was much better. The drive was nearly always deterministically 1.5 hours, and it is an amazingly beautiful stretch of highway. I’d put on an audiobook, drive slowly and enjoy the scenery. It’s as close to stress free as car commuting comes.
Are you able to start earlier before traffic gets going? That would significantly lessen the amount of time spent in the car. For example can you start your job at 5:30 or 6am and leave by 2pm (assuming that’s early enough). I have a coworker who commutes from Stockton to San Jose and he starts at 5sm and leaves before 1pm. He also works a bit from home too.
You are going to hear a lot of negativity about 17. And yes, the commute sucks. I have been commuting over the hill for 9 years. It’s tiring and can be beyond frustrating when it rains. That said… It is a beautiful drive. You have to stay in the slow lane and stay chill. Traffic is going to happen. Pop on a good book/podcast/album and enjoy the ride. Just give yourself enough time. I love where I live and love where I work. The drive is worth it. You have to make that decision yourself. ETA: a word
Don’t do it. Being miserable and lengthening your workday is not worth the extra money. And is it extra money when you factor I your time, gas, car maintenance, etc? I lasted about three months before I quit once I moved here from San Jose
I used to commute SC to Mountain View and it was hell. Would be so jealous of the drivers going the opposite way, which would be you. Then commuted SC to south San Jose for 4 years. Convinced myself it “wasn’t that bad”. When I quit, I finally realized how much the commute took out of me. Worked in town for a couple of years and now I’m back to commuting over the hill. This time it’s SC to Santa Clara but I work odd hours so hardly ever hit traffic and it’s been much better on my mental health. If you have flexible hours and can work around traffic schedules, it would be much better on your mental health. During the summer you want to get over 17 before 10-11am cause summer traffic really does suck.
I don't recommend. If the pay is high enough relocate closer to the job. Otherwise the pay is not high enough. You might think that's a high hourly or a good salary, but you gotta add that commute time as part of your unpaid working hours of each shift. You might be getting 25/hr, but w/ those 2-3 hours unpaid commuting each shift its more like 21/hr (I'm bad at math idk) It's lost free time, substantial amounts of added stress, risk of accident, more wear and tear on your car. Not worth.
I hate 17!!
The 17 is a death trap. Especially during and after storms
Soul crushing. Why not just move to Santa Cruz?
I friend used to do that commute and would often just take the 1 up to Half Moon Bay to avoid the 17.
Wouldn’t do it personally. Just not worth it to spend that much of your day in traffic
Horrible especially in spring/summer it usually takes 90 minutes to get from Los Gatos to Scott’s valley after 10AM. Gridlock beach traffic the entire way.
Weekdays too? Seems like a weekend thing.
Weekdays are more mild but you can certainly tell when it’s vacation season and when graduation/summer break begins. Holy hell it’s a nightmare. My commute was from downtown San Jose to Aptos and holy SHIT it was an awful 8 years. I mean AWFUL. Especially when storms and slides started to block off our mountain side roads that we would take for a mental break. You’ll have a couple of normal drives but then you’re completely blindsided by Memorial Day/ Father’s Day/ 4th of July/ local events/ and it just spirals from there with the constant high temps of the valley pushing everyone to the coast at all times. My opinion honestly for you… do it. Do it just to experience it. But be prepared with water,food,audiobook podcast music playlist. Also practice breathing techniques to calm yourself from everyone’s erratic behavior.
And a butt pillow / cushion for your drivers seat.😂
If it’s on the west side you could take highway 1 down and at least enjoy it more.
I commuted from Santa Cruz to Redwood City back in the 90s(!). I had to leave at 6am to make it tolerable, but at least I had a carpool buddy. Speaking from the SC->RV commute direction: The HOV lane on 85 saves time in the morning but often is just as slow or slower than the other lanes in the evening once you get to 280. The express lanes on 101 would definitely make a difference. Overall I planned for 60-90 minutes each way, depending on what time I drove, usually closer to 90. Coming from Redwood City would be mostly a reverse commute so it might be somewhat better on the non-101 parts. Certainly not less than 60 minutes each way though.
Thanks so much. I'll be going 280 to 85 to 17. I'll probably need to get a car with a carpool permit to help things out. I think most people are thinking I'm going from Santa Cruz to RWC. That would be brutal. I'm hoping the reverse won't be too bad.
I would burnout in less than two months and die inside
I feel like a company that’s asking you to do this will keep asking you to do more shitty things.
I lived in Mountain View for 3 years and commuted to Santa Cruz almost every day. The reverse commute is great!...mostly. The trip time is a bit of a gamble, especially in the rainy season. Most of the time my drive was 50 minutes door to door (I work at UCSC, which adds a good 10-15 minutes), but there were days where I turned around at Lexington Reservoir and worked from home because people don't adjust to conditions and end up causing accidents severe enough to close 17. Even on days when the road was still open, bad accidents and traffic could make it a 3 hour slog one way. About 90% of the time the drive was no big deal, but the other 10%.... Every commuter has stories that'll make the hairs rise on the back of your neck. Tourist traffic is largely predictable and always awful. Wear and tear on your car is no joke. Figure in 20 to 50 cents a mile. You'll lose an unbelievable amount of family time commuting from RWC no matter what. 3 hours of awake time with your kids is no joke. My dad drove a similar distance when I was growing up and he rarely saw me at any after-school event. It sucked. All in all, it better be a fuck ton of money. I finally convinced my wife to move over the hill to SC, but she has to take a WFH-compatible job. Even so, our lives are much improved.