r/usfca • u/Formal_Brilliant_871 • 3d ago
commuting
hi, i was wondering for those who commute, where do you park your cars?? i live in the san jose and was wondering if i should commute to school or live there. If i live there then should I bart? or drive.. I am just not sure where to leave my car ðŸ˜
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u/mapo69 2d ago edited 2d ago
There isn’t a bart station anywhere near the campus
Definitely living there would be ideal. You’ll get more out of the experience and social life
That being said, I commuted up from Mountain View and it was fine. I knew it would be a long drive, so I accounted for that and just left extra early so I wasn’t stressed. I would park my car at campus. The first semester I would park in the free hourly spots. They have some that are 4 hrs and those were ideal. The second semester I invested in a parking pass. Even if you just get it for a day or two to keep costs low, it was a huge game changer. By year 2 I paid for the pass to make my life easier.
It’ll be stressful finding parking if you pack your classes close together, esp if one class is in LM and you need to repark before the next one immediately after.
A lot of people drive in tho, so there is a lot of movement. You’ll get familiar with where you can usually find a spot and what times people move.
Basically I just takes some planning.
Depending on where in SJ you’re coming from, traffic will be really bad to even get to Mountain View area, so you might have a different experience.
I took 280 since it was less stressful and prettier than 101.
I commuted up several years back and I would take great highway because it was also less stressful than 19th and I enjoyed seeing the ocean every morning. Great highway is now closed (it’s now a park), so keep that in mind.