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Forget about cable cars. Those are for tourists not residents.

I commuted by cable car for three years. My apartment was two blocks from one end of the California Street cable car line; my office was at the other end.

Huge congrats. I haven't lived in SF but have stayed there for many months at a time during various decades from the '70s onwards, and mr pique junior lives there now. I have always found it to have a small-town feel despite being a big city, with a manageable scale. She will probably adore living there.

As for getting her there: my recommendation is she ship a few boxes of clothes and books via Greyhound sent c/o her department and fly out with the cats. The school should be able to help with housing and getting settled in somewhere until she finds a good place to live.

She may want to look at Oakland and take the BART.

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She may want to look at Oakland and take the BART.

That wouldn't be my choice. Too much commuting, and too little opportunity to enjoy being in the residential western part of the town near campus. There are apartments nearby with three rooms, and they can become affordable with three people paying the rent.

Congrats to LL! I haven’t read all the other replies, and my stint as a San Franciscan was 50 years ago, so probably not too relevant now. I loved it then, and it was a good time for me. Whole new, open environment. Hung out at coffeehouses in North Beach, did tons of walking and biking around the city. Many neighborhoods to explore. It was a whole other world then; apartments were affordable and the city had a whimsical character.

Is UCSF what used to be called SF State? If so, it is a bit remote, but still in the city and accessible. Downtown has gotten kind of depressing with the homeless situation lately though.

Living across the bay in Oakland or Berkeley can mean a time- consuming commute, even by BART, let alone by car. Especially since the school is in the southwest part of the city, IIRC.

Will she be on regular campus or medical campus? The medical is down by the Bay Bridge.

In any event, I’m sure it will be an exciting place to live at her age.

UCSF is the medical/dental university for the UC system -- so I don't think it is related to San Francisco State. She's at the Mission Bay campus, which is over by the Bay Bridge. Seems to be a newer/trendier part of town - lots of new hi-rise apartments that aren't rent-controlled so a bit pricier to live there (and much less character and charm!) than over by the other campus in Parnassus (next to Golden Gate Park). There are shuttles that run between all the campuses but they stop running at 7pm and given how late she often stays in her current undergrad lab, I doubt she'd want to rely on them. From what I read about the public transportation in SF, it isn't up to par with other cities - there's very little underground subway so a lot of the buses and above ground trains still get stuck in traffic and are somewhat unreliable. And hours are also limited - they don't run 24/7. Not sure if that's actually true or just people who like to complain on in the interwebs. People also say that the buses and subways are full of homeless/drug addicts who can be harassing and aggressive. Again, hopefully just people blowing things out of proportion.

I'm trying to convince her she doesn't need a car but she's not sure how to deal with things like groceries and taking cats to the vet on public transportation. I keep telling her millions of people live carless in cities and they manage to get groceries and get their pets to the vet so it must be doable. I know UCSF has a deal with Zipcar and there's always uber....I'm guessing either of those options would still be cheaper than trying to own a car in SF.

Mr. Lisa and I were toying with the idea of trying to buy her a condo vs renting but not sure. It seems like real estate prices have fallen faster than rent prices (thanks to the tech bust I guess - apparently downtown has never recovered from the pandemic/work from home thing and it is depressing the whole area economically - even rents are down from where they were pre-pandemic but not as much as housing prices.) She will be there for six years which at likely >$2200 per month rent is a lot of rent money to just flush away. And she has 2 cats which seriously limits her selection of rentals and roommates. But without knowing anything about the city/neighborhoods, buying seems risky so I dunno. So right now it's just a vague thought that may not even be feasible.

She, Mr Lisa and I are going out there in a couple weeks over her spring break for a reconnaissance mission to scope out neighborhoods, check out the public transit for oursevles, look at the UCSF on campus housing options (which are still expensive and not guaranteed), look at rental complexes and maybe hook up with a realtor to talk about whether it makes sense to buy a place. So hopefully after that trip, we will at least have more concrete information to work with.

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I know UCSF has a deal with Zipcar and there's always uber

About half way through my time in grad school, the university started a program with a car sharing (originally it was called "community car" I think, but then got taken over by ZipCar IIRC).

We lived in a grad student apartment complex, and there was a ZipCar whose main parking spot was in the complex. There were also ZipCars that "lived" in various parking lots around campus.

It was SO convenient!!! And yes, much cheaper.

Check out the ZipCar locations (assuming they're done that way) and figure out where they are and so on, and I would guess she definitely does not need a car of her own with that as an option.

Congratulations! That's a huge accomplishment.

I have a nephew who lived with his wife in San Francisco for about three years, and a friend from high school who's lived there for decades. I'll ask them what they would recommend to do on the cheap in the city, and if they have any insight into housing around UCSF Med School.

Congratulations!

What an excellent school.

Having come from an expensive area, I can tell you that roommates are key.

Play it right at the roomies cover the mortgage/rent expense and your daughter’s housing expenses are deductible.

Talk to your tax person.

It will definitely be cheaper for her to use zipcar. Unless she has a daily driving commute

We lose way more people to gun violence than earthquakes.

Does that help?

i can't imagine owning a car in san francisco. it is not an easy place to drive--or park! during my extended stays i mostly used BART, buses, and streetcars, even though at one point i had a van there with me.

a recon mission is an excellent idea.