San Francisco Transport
San Francisco International Airport is 14 miles south of San Francisco. The Air Train available 24 hours is a free service to move within the airport: two lines, the red links all terminals, car parks and the BART station; the blue also stops at the Rental Car Centre, where all the car hire companies are concentrated.
There are various ways to get from the airport to San Francisco:
Samtrams – is the cheapest and fastest way to reach the centre. There are three buses and can take between 30 min and an hour according to the bus. The service runs every 30 min round the clock.
BART – light railway connecting the airport with Downtown; trains every 15min from the International Terminal (level 3). Available weekdays from 4am to 23.50; 6am to midnight on Saturdays; 5 to midnight Sundays and festivities.
Airport Shuttles – private minibus offering door-to-door service. There are about ten different companies offering similar prices around $15. Available from 4am to midnight.
Taxi – the journey to Downtown cost about $37. The cost is high, but is ideal with 3 or 4 people sharing.
Car hire – parking in San Francisco is difficult to find and expensive.
Oakland International Airport is 20 miles from the centre of San Francisco. Public transport connections with the city centre available.
To get to San Francisco take the Airbart shuttle that in 10min takes you to the BART station Coliseum/Oakland International Airport; from there the journey into town is about 30min. The most central station is Powell.
Other forms of transport are the Airport Shuttles, taxis and car hire.
Leaving San Francisco
By Coach: Greyhound – Transbay Terminal, 425 Mission Street, a few blocks from Downtown. Coaches go to Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Monterey ,San Jose’, Las Vegas. Open from 5am to midnight.
By Train: Amtrak – There are no train stations in San Francisco, a shuttle service will take you to Oakland and Emeryville on the other side of the bay. Destinations: Los Angeles, San Diego, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, etc. Tickets can be purchased at the Ferry Building, Pier 2, Suite 118, at the beginning of Market Street on the port.
Moving around in San Francisco
There are various ways to move around in San Francisco and the Bay Area: by cable-car, bus, underground, trolleybus and the famous trams. The most efficient system to move across the Bay Area is the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). All transport systems are run by MUNI (San Francisco Municipal Railway) and you can buy one ticket to use on all of them except the BART.
BART
The Bay Area Rapid Transit connects the San Francisco peninsula with Berkeley, Freemont, Oakland, Walnut Creek and other cities in the East Bay. It is a sort of light railway comprising 5 lines that link 40 stations all over the Bay Area covering a ray of about 50 km south and east of the bay. The BART crosses the centre of San Francisco underground and is functional from 5am to midnight everyday with trains running every 10/15min at rush hour, and every 20min the rest off-peak. Tickets can be purchased in the self automated machines in the stations; prices vary between 1$ and 5$ according to the distance.
The City Metropolitan Line
The city metropolitan system (not to be confused with the BART), both underground and overground lines, is a very fast and convenient way to go directly to the various areas of the city such as Mission, Golden Gate Park, Castro, etc.
The Historic Tram
Running since 2000, The Historic Tram connects Embarcadero with Castro going down Market Street. Its characteristic carriages date back to the first after war and come from everywhere in the USA and Europe. It runs every 10/15min.
Cable-cars
The cable-cars are the most emblematic transport system in San Francisco, in fact it is the only transport system in the world to be considered as historic monument. At the end of the nineteenth century there were 600 cable-cars and 21 lines. Today the lines are three:
• Powell-Hyde, which goes up Powell from Market Street as far as Chinatown and then descends to Fisherman’s Wharf via Nob Hill offering an amazing view over Alcatraz.
• Powell-Mason, which follows a similar route to the line above, but instead of going up Nob Hill it descends immediately via North Beach, the Italian district that is a continuation of Chinatown.
• California, is the least used of the three lines and starts at the Hyatt Hotel next to Embarcadero and goes up to the top of California Street as far as Van Ness Avenue.
The service runs every 10min everyday from 6.30am to half an hour past the midnight.