San Francisco Transportation Tips by Skylink

'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the logical arrival airport. Oakland airport sometimes has lower airfares. This is a photo of the Sam Trans bus which is only $1.25 (local) or $3.50 (express) from the San Francisco airport to San Francisco. See other transportation tips for further information.
Parking in the northeast corner of San Francisco (Chinatown, Financial District, Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square) can be difficult. However, a car is convenient to visit places outside the city. One might consider not renting a car for a least a day while they explore the parts of the city where parking is difficult. It is also reasonably easy to see the area without a car.

BART, the regional subway system, has begun service to San Francisco International Airport. It's not really faster to go to downtown San Francisco but it is faster than Sam Trans if you want to continue on BART to the East Bay.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: There are many different ways to San Francisco airport. If you have heavy luggage, the SFO Airporter ($11), Super Shuttle and other vans are a bit cheaper than taxis (said to be about $30-35 to San Francisco). The cheapest way is the Sam Trans bus. Bus 292 is only $1.10, allows luggage, and takes a hour. Near downtown San Francisco, you can get off on Mission Street at almost every block. Bus KX is $3 and allows only 1 small suitcase. It travels the same route but only takes 20-25 minutes because it travels on the highway. This is odd - KX is $3 either direction, but 292 costs $2.20 from San Francisco to the airport, only $1.10 from the airport to San Francisco. BART is the heavy gauge train. The airport station is under construction and is expected to open in early 2003.

From Oakland airport, there is a local bus and an Air Bart bus to the Airport/Coliseum BART station. The local bus is almost as fast and much cheaper.
Muni is the name of the city bus company. It also operates the cable car but transfers are not valid or given on them. There is a little advertised weekly bus pass for $9 available at the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, MUNI/BART stations, many Safeways and some Walgreens, as well as many small shops. The drawback is that the weekly pass is valid starting Mondays. There is also a monthly pass. A better advertised pass is available for $15 (7 days), $10 (3 days) and $6(?) for 1 day. (****CAUTION: I think fares will increase in April, 2003. A single fare will be $1.25, instead of $1) Cable car rides are allowed with this pass. This is a good deal and not the higher priced pass that some cities sell to tourists. Muni tokens that are slightly cheaper than paying on the bus are available. Muni transfers are actually tickets valid for 2 more bus rides within about 90 minutes in any direction, even coming back to the same place. BART and AC Transit buses can be used for trips to Oakland, Berkeley, and other cities in the East Bay.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: Bus information can be found at www.sfmuni.com or +1 (415) 673-MUNI or 673-6864 . There is a automated trip planner on the internet, but it is wrong on how to get to Coit Tower. Take the 39 Coit bus from Fisherman's Wharf (Beach Street) or Columbus Avenue.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Consider flying into Oakland International Airport if you want to go to San Francisco. It is served by several low cost airlines, such as Southwest Airlines (www.southwest.com), JetBlue (www.jetblue.com), ATA, etc. Aloha also flies here and may offer a cheaper fare to Hawaii. The fares to San Francisco are often not the same as to Oakland.

To reach Oakland Airport from the BART (see www.bart.gov) there is an AirBART shuttle which costs $2. If you want to save money, you can take a local AC Transit bus for $1.50. The bus takes about 10-15 minutes longer to reach the BART station.

AC Transit's bus A to San Francisco is no longer operating.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: If you park in Chinatown or the Financial District, you probably have to park in a garage. This is sometimes costly. It is not unheard of to pay more than $20 a day for parking. Occasionally there are a few open parking spaces on the street east of Chinatown and North of the Financial District. Try driving around the Sansome or Montgomery Streets north of Embarcadero Center (the John Portman designed buildings that are concrete, tall, thin, and each building looks like wafers bound together but not completely lined up. There are 4 of these tall buildings. You can see them on my San Francisco home page to the left of the Transamerica Pyramid).

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