We can say that to any congested areas: Only few directions at only specific time, it is bad luck because this is where the majority of people is commuting to or from.
The Bay Area has been getting worse for the last few years, it is now pretty common to spend 1h30 between San Francisco and Mountain View.
But the good news about the peninsula is that there's almost zero residential traffic, and it's almost always <10 minutes to get to most common retail/service businesses (groceries, laundries, takeout food, neighborhood schools, gyms, etc). I attribute this to the fact that there are so few through streets connecting major arteries, and enough major arteries (El Camino, Central Expy, 101, 237(ish), 280, and 85) that attract the vast majority of worker traffic. Getting to & from work sucks, but getting around the neighborhood is a piece of cake.
