SFBay area - South Bay how liveable is it without a car

I might be a few months in Silicon Valley over the summer with my masters program doing an internship and studying at CMU's west campus. I'm doing the budgeting right now and I'd really like not to have to buy a car. I have my bike, and there is the VTA tams and buses. The VTA seems to have pretty decent bike maps. My only fixed point is our campus next to NASA on Moffat field and I guess if I am living or working far outside Mountain View, Palo Alto or Sunnyvale it might be a bit hard. Any thoughts?

A lot depends on your proximity to work. But if you bike and you don't mind mass transit you should be pretty okay. You'll probably want to rent a car at least once or twice a month though. There might be a City Car share down that way that you could use as well?

It would be a hassle to get around without a car, but doable. Caltrain is fine but doesn't run very often, so you have to time your trips accordingly. I lived in Palo Alto for a few years and was happy to have a car for e.g. shopping, but we could have done without. Certainly for just a few months I think you'd be fine without.

City Car share and Zipcar seem to be a bit spotty down that way. Zipcar has presence on Stanford, Pomona and UCSC campuses but not much else and City car share nothing. Mind you I have a zipcard and I fin whenever I need a car it's often cheaper to go to the airport and get a hertz.

Its all a lot of unknowns at the moment. Its a really shitty time to be trying to find an internship even with the school batting for me.

Thanks for the info.

hey does anyone know where i cn buy cheap super naff like rainbow shit in sf? the castro is all exp dog accessories and chinatown is kindof dry. unintentionally offensive preferred.

No, I don't know. Sorry

i should have done this in venice beach but i was too busy tryna get some dude to have sex w/ me

Oh yes, I know how that can be!

yah why is shopping in sf so tasteful? i thought california was supposed to be super tack

No it isn't

well

pretty sure there are some questionable items that would suit your purpose at the big CVS near the Safeway where we got the pizza. it's 24 hours.

in emeryville?

oakland

Pizza in Oakland?

Pizzaiolo? Zachary's?

safeway

Hi everyone BTW. In town for a couple of days.

t - there's a stripmall in West O that also might have what you are looking for.

haha safeway pizza

in oakland

r u home right now btw?

yes

there must be some store like this in berkeley, surely?

berkely seemed sortof classy? i didnt look too hard

like i bought a frantz fanon book
there

yes

what does 'super naff like rainbow shit' mean?

upper haight

GAY PRIDE

hmm -- a lot of the upper haight stuff that is tacky is hippie-related. but maybe the stripper boutique might have tacky queer stuff?

okay if you couldn't find that in the castro you must not have been looking very hard

feel like this should be easy but i dont "get" shopping

Shopping in SF is hard unless you want books, jeans or a bong

the closest thing in the castro is the hrc shop. its so middleaged and moneyed

also its super exp and prolly being funnelled to log cabin repubs

the selection of ironic/nostalgic hipster t-shirts isn't bad, though picked over in some places

it's fucking hailing!!!

This is why I'm happy to have done all my shopping today.

maybe ishould just buy those candy nipple tassles i saw in chinatown

where are you now?

montgomery, i went to sfmoma to buy eflux and they didnt have it. everything is hard. thinking i will see if the apple stores still open then home

by home i mean ur home

I used to work on that street! Do U smell Specialty's?

lol

where is upper haight tho?

the part of haight street near golden gate park

specialty's <3

upper haight - from where you are, you'd need to take the 71, 6, or 7 bus -- on market st.

it's the part of Haight Street where Amoeba is - by the East entrance of GG Park

xxp!

would involve waiting in rain for bus