Dave Fitzgerald

Napa. 62 miles from my driveway, an hour no traffic--which never happens.

Caltrans closes highway lanes late at night for road work, making that nice 1 hour drive, into 2.

Non-commute, I plan on 1.5 hrs. Commute, closer to 2. The ride home over the Bay Bridge, can be up to 3 hours on a Friday. GG is an option, but 37 across the N bay is even worse than Hwy 80 if you can believe that.

I grew up in the bay. San Mateo, not really affordable unless you inherit. Pacifica is still ok, not too bad, but you get a lot of fog. N bay Marin--very pricey. N and E Vacaville, Susuine, Benecia, not too bad price wise.

East bay actually affordable, but traffic night mare getting through the tube on 24. Concord, San Ramone, Livermore.

San Jose, anywhere near silicon valley, there just isn't anything available at any price. SF too.

Nucflash

How are the bus or pool lanes set up for coach services like the Sonoma County Express? Do those lanes get jammed up too or is it always a clear lane with no delays (other than accidents, etc.)

luv757

Those lanes get jammed up too. Everybody and their Prius gets a sticker that lets them use the carpool lane.

ShyGuy

My first car was my dad's 1988 MB 300E. Probably still the best car I've driven.

HuggyU2

If CHP wanted to generate fast, easy revenue, they simply need to enforce the HOV rush-hour rule of three people in a car on I-80 from Vallejo to the Bay Bridge. A large percentage of cars in the HOV lane should not be there.

PotatoChip

Grew up in Vacaville. Dad was based in OAK.
GREAT place to raise kids if you’re going to be in the area. Easy access to mountains, resorts, Sac, SF, etc. Schools were good. Vaca High has a phenomenal wrestling program.
Davis is also nice, but very college oriented and far left leaning if you’re into that. VERY bike friendly (actually voted one of best bike cities in US).
Avoid 97% of Fairfield unfortunately, just keeps getting worse.
Suisun has okay spots, and is nice if you have a boat and want access to the marina. You can get all the way to the bay from there.
Dixon keeps growing, lots of new construction.

oldmako

Close! That one (and mine) is a 300CD, a two-door coupe. Silver Blue and immaculate. I've owned and driven some really horrible crap over the years, particularly those cars that were dedicated airport (commuter) cars. This one is a bit different. I figured it was time, and the last contract enabled it.

All the others were donated when I was done with them. This one, however, will likely go on Bring a Trailer. https://bringatrailer.com/

If you're a car junkie, it's a great site. Free, and they send regular updates if you elect. Scroll through the avail cars and click on the ones that interest you. Lots of excellent pics and the comments section brings out the gear heads who really know the car. Lots of good info.
The amount of really nice old and classic cars out there is astonishing.

Lenticularis

In progress. I don’t know if it qualifies under the First Class German auto but I love it. It’ll be back on the road this summer!

Lenticularis

My uniform for German autos.

Back2future

The problem right now is the carpool lanes from Sonoma county are intermittent. There’s a large section under construction which, upon completion, will make the carpool lane almost continuous until you’re about 10 miles short of the GG bridge. Then you’re on your own.

There are some great lease deals on EVs. Mine cost less than 2000 a year for a 3 year lease after all the credits. Many of the lots also have 110v outlets that you can charge at. I still split my time between the bus and car depending on my schedule.