Andrew Nash
Vienna Transport Strategies

Getting Around - Public Transit in the Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area is blessed (some would say cursed) with about 28 different transit operators. Many of them operate several different types of transit service (buses, streetcars, heavy rail, ferries, and cable cars). Coordination between different operators is improving but still needs work. Regional public transit information is available from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

A Word to the Wise - San Francisco is a hard place to drive a car. There's lots of traffic congestion and not enough places to park. The city's transit system is good, taxis, while not plentiful are available, and the city is ideal for walking and biking. Therefore we would urge you to do without a car while you visit.

San Francisco Public Transit - San Francisco's public transit operator is the San Francisco Municipal Railway, affectionately known as "Muni". Muni offers great coverage of the entire city, although buses can be crowded and late. Muni offers a series of visitor-oriented passes.

Cable Cars - The Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason cable cars pass by the west border of Union Square (Powell Street). No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a cable car ride; the only trick is finding a time when they are not too crowded. Try an evening run on the Powell-Hyde line. It has the most hills, travels through Nob Hill and Russian Hill, and drops you in San Francisco's Maritime Park with its museum, historic ships, and weekend bongo concert. You will be just steps from Fisherman's Wharf (Cannery) or Ghiradelli Square (one of the first historic festival marketplaces). Cable-car fares are higher than normal Muni fares and transfers are not valid. Best to buy a several-day tourist ticket good for all Muni services, including the cable cars.

For die-hard cable car fans there is a cable car museum at the corner of Mason and Washington Streets. The museum is located in the cable-car powerhouse, so you can watch the machinery pulling the cable through the streets. Hours vary so check the Cable Car Museum website for more information.

Muni F Line - Muni's "F-Line" provides historic streetcar service from Market and Castro Streets down Market to the Ferry Building, where it turns north along the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf. Regular Muni fares apply for "F-Line" service. The historic streetcars are supported by non profit group called The Market Street Railway. Their website offers information on the historic streetcars and they have a souvenir store in the new hotel located at Mission Street and Embarcadero.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) - For a look at a modern public transit system, just go underground at the escalators near the cable car Powell Street turnaround and board a BART train. BART was the nation's first modern (post World War II) transit system and it's full of technology from the US space program - some of which works well and some of which, well, has been replaced. You can ride BART to the East Bay through the Transbay Tube; a tube constructed of 200-foot-long segments built in a shipyard and then sunk into a trench in the bottom of the bay.

BART was a major engineering and planning achievement for the 1960s and it continues to be expanded today. The latest BART extension was to San Francisco International Airport; it opened in 2003. If you are staying in downtown San Francisco, the airport trip is a fast 45-minutes, with a reasonable fare. For more information on BART history and planning click on the "About BART" link on the BART website.

Ferry Service - Taking a ferryboat ride is a great way to experience San Francisco. Several public agencies and private companies operate ferryboat service in San Francisco Bay. Golden Gate Transit, which also owns the Golden Gate Bridge, operates service from San Francisco's Ferry Building to Sausalito and Larkspur. Other lines operate to Oakland, Alameda, Vallejo, and Tiburon. There is a Ferry Information Store in the Ferry Building with up-to-date schedules, information, souvenirs, and staff with a sense of humor. The Bay Area Water Transit Authority is coordinating plans for expanded service and has the latest information on ferry service in the Bay Area. See especially the link "Fun trips on Ferries".

Caltrain - Caltrain provides commuter rail service to the San Francisco Peninsula (including San Francisco Airport, Palo Alto, the Silicon Valley, and San Jose). The Caltrain Station is located in the heart of Mission Bay, San Francisco's former freight rail yard, which is being developed by the Catellus Corporation. Caltrain is planning a major extension to a new multi-modal transportation center located in downtown San Francisco (at the site of the existing Transbay Terminal), the Transbay Joint Powers Agency is completing plans for this exciting project.

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