Here's a small but satisfying story about someone actually making a rational decision in the Bay Area housing market — which, let's be honest, feels like spotting a unicorn on Market Street.

A newcomer to the region was originally eyeing Half Moon Bay as a home base for commuting into San Francisco. If you've ever driven Highway 1 during rush hour — or, God forbid, tried to navigate Devil's Slide in the fog while running late — you already know how that story ends. Spoiler: not well.

But after gathering advice from locals, this person and their friends landed in San Bruno, less than a mile from both BART and Caltrain. That's not just a good outcome — that's a masterclass in listening to people who actually know the terrain.

And this matters beyond one person's commute. The Bay Area's housing dysfunction pushes people into absurd living situations all the time: three-hour round-trip commutes, micro-units that cost more than a mortgage in most American cities, or cramming into places that would violate Geneva Convention standards if anyone bothered to inspect them. When someone threads the needle — finding something affordable-ish, transit-accessible, and livable — it's worth noting.

San Bruno isn't glamorous. It's not going to end up on anyone's Instagram aesthetic board. But it has BART, it has Caltrain, and as one local enthusiastically pointed out, it has Mazra, Little Lucca's sandwiches, and Taqueria Mi Durango — "to complete your move and become one of us." That's the kind of neighborhood pride you can't manufacture.

The broader lesson here is one that city planners and housing advocates keep fumbling: proximity to transit is the single greatest quality-of-life multiplier for working people in the Bay Area. Not bike lanes, not "vibrant streetscapes," not whatever $4 million study SFMTA is currently commissioning. Just reliable trains and a reasonable walk to the station.

San Bruno figured that out. Maybe San Francisco could take notes.