Commuting to Oakland?

labfreak · May 19, 2006

your commute would be at least an hour.

from Bart you would either have to ride a bike or take a

bus to the Childrens Hospital. But your new employer may

have a shuttle from the Macarther Bart stop that you would be getting

off at. Also something you need to take into account is how far

you will be living from the Bart stops in the SF. The Bart stops in the

city may not be close to your new home. I would take the time to look at the Bart map and see how far you would live from a Bart stop in the city.

Worse case scenario you will have to ride a bus to bart, ride bart and then ride a bus to work. In the daytime it is safe, but at night use more of your street sense. It is a semiurban/urban environment. Be comfortable, but aware.

Bala Shark · May 19, 2006

I live in Oakland and am very familiar with the area..Actually you can drive to Oakland from San Francisco..The commute is not that bad and it is close..The thing you have to worry about is the traffic..BUT since you are coming from San Francisco to Oakland during rush hour, that route is not congested..Also, when driving back to San Francisco from Oakland, the traffic is not bad either..Either way, Oakland is not that far apart from San Francisco..It is better than taking the bus and the bart which probably takes more time.

illmaticcrs · Jun 16, 2006

My gf works at CHO...that is true there is a shuttle to go to the hospital from the macarthur station....driving wouldnt be too bad either..except on the weekdays the parking garage and free employee lot get full.. they have worked out a new valet system if u are going to be paying for garage parking..i wouldn't park on the streets though, there have been a few vandalisms..

loveandnyc · Oct 17, 2006

Hello, I was just hired at CHOAK PICU and completed my HR/Hospital orientation yesterday. I am originally from SF but moved to El Cerrito (15 minutes away from the hospital using the backroads) to be closer to nursing school. I almost moved back to the city, but I am sick of the commute.

This is my honest opinion about your commute from SF to Oakland, because I've experienced it.

THERE IS TRAFFIC. Don't believe anything else. There is ALOT of traffic and the toll is about to increase to $5.00. In the morning there is traffic getting onto the bridge and right after you're about to get off. I don't know what shift you will be working but my cousin commutes from CPMC (it's in SF) back to the eastbay every morning from her night shift. But if your shift is at 7am, Leaving the city to get to the east bay at 615am sounds about right. I used to commute SF to the east bay at 630am and it was fine.. after a while even 630 meant TRAFFIC!

The problem with the area after the Bay Bridge and BEFORE OAkland is that all of the freeways converge and split there. There is always congestion because people from the east are commuting to SF and to San Jose. You will probably hit the San Jose Traffic. But I can teach you the side street way so you can jump off of the freeway after gettting off the Bridge.

Traffic is unpredictable here in the BAY AREA. There are accidents everyday! That's why I chose to stay on this side. Children's Hospital is wonderful, and so far my night manager (the main reason I chose the job) is full of support and approachable. All of the nurses at the PICU have been nothing but NICE. I turned down all of my other job offers, and the thought of moving back to SF and be near my family and friends to work at a hospital that will support me the best during my first year.

But here are my concerns... and possible solutions:

The main reason I initially did not consider CHOAK was because of the area,plus as a new grad I knew that I will be working the graveyard shift. The neighborhood is sketchy. The hospital is beautiful but sits right smack between a ghetto neighborhood. When I was a student doing my clinicals there, my group actually watched a police raid from the cafeteria window of one of the apartments located right across the street and this was around noon, not night.

The hospital lies between two bart stations, McArthur and Ashby. Even the hospital does not recommend walking to/from them. They provide a shuttle service to and from the BART every 8-10 minutes during peak times. If you plan to drive they have 2 parking lot options. The main lot is across the street from the hospital and is $6/day. As an employee you can buy a discounted coupon book that will give you $3.50/day. If you work graveyard, as long as you get your car out by 8am, your parking is FREE. A monthly parking pass for the same lot is $47/month... VERY CHEAP compared to other hospitals that are $100/month plus don't gaurantee a space. This lot is for visitors and employees and has 600 spaces.

CHOAK is on 53rd street and MLK Way. One block down and across the street is the FREE employee parking lot. While I am on the day shift, I don't plan to use this lot because I get harassed whenever I walk from the lot to the hospital. They offer a security escort but you still have to call them and wait for them to get you. I don't want to rely on this just in case I'm running late. The lot is actually closer than it seems, but you HAVE to J-WALK to "make it a shorter" route, which is highly impossible on MLK Way because the cars are fast and don't care about pedestrians. By the way, you have to walk past that apartment that we watched get raided in order to reach the crosswalk to get to the hospital.. Hence I do not want to park there. Luckily, during peak hours there are a lot of people you can probably walk to the hospital with. But from my experience, I still get harassed by men hanging around the street corner or the bustops and it makes me feel uncomfortable...

If you take Bart there is a BART schedule that I would be more than happy to scan and email to you.

loveandnyc · Oct 17, 2006

Ditto to not parking in the streets.. People break into cars there. It happened to 2 of my classmates in the span of a 2 month clinical stint there. Yesterday at the orientation they also mentioned staying off of the streets.