With a 1:30 pm kick off time there won't be any conflict with crowds in terms of starting Startup School at 9am. I would, however, suggest a late lunch (at or after 1:30pm) to avoid fans and long lines at the local restaurants. The biggest problems will probably be at the end given that the game will probably end around 4:30 pm and it's generally a couple of hours before the crowds in/around campus and traffic out of Berkeley start to die down.
I'd recommend people park outside of Berkeley and BART (www.bart.gov) in.
Other notes:
- parking fines are doubled on game days
- many parking lots that are normally public lots on weekends are more expensive and/or reserved specifically for fans with season parking passes
- many streets that normally allow street parking don't allow parking on game days.
Definitely take Bart in if you can. Almost all of the UC Berkeley parking garages/ lots are reserved, and the street parking is either limited or metered. The only other option is to pay the $40-$60 fee some people charge to park in their driveway.
It's not televised. I believe that ends a streak of 38 televised games (home and away) for Cal football and the first home game not televised since 2005.
Protip: on a game day, Berkeley traffic grinds to a standstill. This is due to the fact that in Berkeley, some things (well, most things) are backwards, so traffic engineers figure out new and creative ways to impede the flow of traffic rather than improve it. Don't delude yourself into thinking you can find a parking space.
That's not entirely senseless--traffic engineers have tried and failed to improve the flow of traffic in almost all major metropolitan areas where automobiles are the primary means of transport. It appears that automobile traffic simply does not scale. As a result, encouraging people to abandon automobiles for other forms of transportation is the best solution left.
In a few days that should be updated with a list of parking lots that do not reserve spaces for the game. Parking fines are doubled on game days, so be very careful parking on the street anywhere in Berkeley.
I'd be surprised if traffic is bad at 8am. That said, the BART station is a 10 minute walk from SUS and would make it pretty easy to hit up the Berkeley afterparty and still get home ...
Okay. I knew that you knew about the game as I had mentioned it before (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=764601) but wasn't sure if you knew about the start time as it was just announced.
Thought the game's start time would be useful info to know when scheduling the lunch break and such (eg - Trying to get a bite to eat when the fans are already in the stadium will be a lot faster than going when they're all having their pre-game chow).
Thanks for putting together another Startup School!
You should still be able to park if you are parking 10-15 blocks away from campus. Go south or west. When I was living on Berkeley you could still always find a spot to park on game day if you went south of Ward street or so.
He knows there is a game (I posted that) but kick off time wasn't announced until yesterday and YC/PG may want to take it under consideration when scheduling the day's itinerary (particularly when to have the lunch break). Hence my submission.
Stanford's BASES (http://bases.stanford.edu) is getting interest from people riding up from South Bay to see if we can get a bus. Sit tight you'll get a notice soon. =)
I'd recommend people park outside of Berkeley and BART (www.bart.gov) in.
Other notes:
- parking fines are doubled on game days
- many parking lots that are normally public lots on weekends are more expensive and/or reserved specifically for fans with season parking passes
- many streets that normally allow street parking don't allow parking on game days.
Finally - Go Bears!