It was an ideal spot for 92/280 access. But while it was equidistant from everything of interest on a map, traffic was often so impossibly bad that everything was equally prohibitively inconvenient to reach. And forget about parking in SF after you've managed to get there, not on any busy night everyone else is out on too.
If you want to access the SF night life regularly, San Mateo isn't really a convenient place for it. Maybe via Caltrain+BART@Millbrae? That wasn't easy from my place, our location was very car-optimized.
I did prefer the San Mateo weather to SF or Berkeley though, even up on the hill we got way less cold damp crap weather ruining our nights out on the deck.
Why isn’t the train a more attractive option? You’re in one of the very few areas in the US with even one train line, and you still don’t sound like you’re very keen on it.
Surely the train is a fine option from San Mateo right into central SF? What’s stopping you?
- no wifi
- relatively expensive for a return trip
- 4th and King terminal is nowhere. You still have to get to FiDi or somewhere
- runs hourly after a certain time, ending at midnite (pre-corona.)
- if you forget/can't prove you paid, $200+fine and interrogation
There is garage parking downtown after 6 pm, but that's $20+.
This happened to me the first time I took BART to Millbrae from the Glen Park station. I did some transfer that I mistakenly thought was covered by my ticket but apparently wasn't. Was treated like a scumbag criminal by a BART cop on a power trip getting in my face and shoving me around, ended up with a stiff fine to boot.
I've had nothing but problems with Clipper cards and tagging on and off the Caltrain.