SAN FRANCISCO and OAKLAND TRANSPORTATION

 

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the 10th busiest airport in America, yet one of the better ranked airports for on-time flights. AirTrain is a free people mover that transports you from all terminals to the BART SFO Transit Station and SFO Car Rental Center. Travelers commuting to San Francisco or Oakland should deboard Airtrain at the BART SFO Station and walk down one level to catch the BART Dublin/Pleasanton Train. For travelers to San Jose, catch the BART Millbrae Train and purchase a Caltrain ticket.

 

BART SFO Airport Station

credit lensovet

 

Taxis are plentiful at SFO airport and downtown San Francisco.  At the airport, hail a taxi at the lower lever of the domestic terminals or the international terminal. Super Shuttle travels all over the San Francisco Bay Area, 415-558-8500. Car Rentals: follow signage from your terminal gate to the AirTrain station atop the central parking lot. When AirTrain arrives at tSFO Car Rental Center, you will notice Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty cars for rent.

Oakland International Airport (OAK) is a convenient airport that offloads much of the domestic and Mexico traffic from SFO. AirBART shuttle from OAK goes to the BART Coliseum Station. Taxis are plentiful at OAK airport, Marriott Hotel downtown, and Jack London Square. Super Shuttle goes from OAK to downtown Oakland, San Francisco and many other parts of the SF Bay Area. Car Rentals: the OAK car rental bus stop is outside each terminal and goes 10 minutes offsite to the Oakland Car Rental Center hosting Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty service.

 

Located 1 block from BART subway system and 3 blocks from the Ferry Building, Amtrak runs a shuttle bus from San Francisco's temporary Transbay Terminal across the bay to Oakland Station at 245 2nd Street in Jack London Square and to Emeryville Station at 5885 Horton Street for these Amtrak train routes:

Coast Starlight: Los Angeles-Oakland-Sacramento-Portland-Seattle
San Joaquins: Oakland-Emeryville-Stockton-Merced-Fresno-Bakersfield
Capitol Corridor: Auburn-Sacramento-Emeryville-Oakland-San Jose
California Zephyr: Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Sacramento-Emeryville

 

By 2017-18, San Francisco will open a shop-filled, magnificent Transbay Transit Center that will interconnect High Speed Rail, Commuter Rail, Light Rail, Bus Rapid Transit, Greyhound, electric buses, tour buses and taxis. San Francisco-Los Angeles is a U.S. High Speed Rail Corridor is becoming an important part of our Interstate High Speed Rail network.

BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is a modern 104-mile, 45-station Heavy Rail Transit (subway) system that carries over 400,000 commuters each weekday in train sets of 4 to 10 cabins. Its the popular green way to travel large distances in the Bay Area. BART station floors are even with its train floors and each station has elevators, so BART is wheelchair accessible. BART lines run under the San Francisco Bay, underground and on elevated tracks to prevent disruption by auto traffic. Four of five BART lines pass through San Francisco, while all five lines pass through Oakland. BART line names are:

Richmond-Daly City/Millbrae
Fremont-Daly City
Pittsburgh/Bay Point-SFO
Dublin/Pleasonton-Daly City/Millbrae

Fremont-Richmond (does not go to San Francisco)

 

BART hours of operation and its transit connections are plentiful:

Weekdays:    4:15am-Midnight
Saturdays:    6:00am-Midnight
Sundays:      8:00am-Midnight

 

Transfer from BART to Muni Railway at any of the four BART stations downtown: Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powel and Civic Center. Transfer from BART to most ferries by deboarding at the BART Embarcadero Station and walking two blocks to the Ferry Building.

 

BART Oakland Coliseum Station

 

If you are headed to OAK Airport from San Francisco catch a BART Fremont or BART Dublin/Pleasonton Train, then deboard at BART Coliseum Station. From there AirBART, a $2 shuttle bus, runs every 20 minutes to OAK. If you arrived at OAK and plan to ride BART, board at the AirBART sign located in the commuter island in front of OAK terminals.

 

If you are headed to SFO Airport from Oakland and did NOT board a BART SFO train, for best seating you should transfer to a BART SFO train at BART Lake Merritt Station or BART West Oakland Station.

Caltrain Commuter Rail Transit has a spartan 4th & King Station in San Francisco. Service runs every 20-30 minutes during commute hours in its 47-mile journey to:

 

San Francisco-San Bruno-Millbrae-San Mateo-Palo Alto-Mountain View-San Jose

 

The BART-Caltrain Millbrae Station lets you conveniently interconnect between transit and SFO Airport. Caltrain has overhead luggage racks in most passenger compartments and features a “Baby Bullet” train between San Francisco and San Jose. Caltrain will extend to the Transbay Transit Center when it opens.

San Francisco Municipal Railway, locally called “Muni Railway”, developed the fabled San Francisco Cable Cars and has added vintage streetcars from around the world to its catalog of moving attractions. This 52-mile web of Light Rail, Vintage Streetcars carries more daily passengers than BART. Here are the Muni Metro rail routes:

 

F Line: Vintage Streetcar, Castro-Market St-Ferry Bldg-Fishermans Wharf

J Line: Light Rail, Balboa Park-City College-Market-Embarcadero

K Line: Light Rail, Balboa Park-Church Street-Market-Embarcadero

L Line: Light Rail, SF Zoo-West Portal-Van Ness-Market-Embarcadero

M Line: Light Rail, SanJose&Geneva-Stonestown-Market-Embarcadero

N Line: Light Rail, Ocean Beach-Judah-UCSF-Market-Embarcadero-4th & King

T Line: Light Rail, St. Francis-Market-Embarcadero-4th & King-3rd St-Sunnydale

 

Muni F Line Streetcar on the Embarcadero

 

J, K, L, M, N and T Muni Lines also run under Market Street sharing Downtown stations with BART, but running one level above. The N and T Lines surface on the southern Embarcadero headed to AT&T Baseball Park and the Caltrain Depot at 4th Street & King Street.

San Francisco Bay Area Freeway Network rivals the Los Angeles Freeway Network in terms of per-mile carrying capacity, traffic management innovations and unfortunately, a propensity for traffic jams. The car pool lanes, metered entrances, entrance/exit ramps, freeway status signs all help, but traveling westbound on San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge remains crowded during commuter hours. The Bay Bridge east span from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland is being replaced with a modern span designed to handle a large scale earthquake. Estimated completion date is 2013.

Traffic from SFO Airport slows to a crawl approaching the 280/101 Interchange. Eastbound traffic is usually slow from San Francisco across the Bay Bridge. When traveling westbound on the Bay Bridge, San Mateo Bridge, Dumbarton Bridge, and Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, you pay a $2 toll. Traveling eastbound is free. Traveling southbound on the Golden Gate Bridge, pay a $3 toll. Traveling northbound is free. Avoid unnecessary tickets, DO NOT USE the Fastrak-only lane. The freeway names are:

    4 State Freeway
  13 Warren Freeway
  24 Freeway/Caldecott Tunnel
  80 East Shore Freeway/Bay Bridge
  84 Dumbarton Bridge
  85 West Valley Freeway
  87 Guadalupe Freeway
  92 Arthur Younger Freeway/San Mateo Bridge
101 Bayshore Freeway/ Golden Gate Bridge/Redwood Freeway
237 Mountain View/Alviso Freeway
238 580/880 Freeway Connector
242 680/4 Freeway Connector
280 Junipero Serra/Southern Freeway
380 280/101 Freeway Connector
580 McArthur Freeway/Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
680 Sinclair Freeway
780 Freeway
880 Nimitz Freeway
980 Oakland Freeway