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San Francisco
Transportation

SAN FRANCISCO TRANSPORTATION

Getting There
The Bay Area has three major airports: San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on the west side of the bay, Oakland International Airport (OAK) on the east side of the bay, and San Jose International Airport (SJC) at the southern end of the bay. Most international flights use San Francisco (at Oakland and San Jose, 'international' mostly means Mexico and Canada), but all three are important domestic gateways, so you should have little trouble finding a flight or connection to just about anywhere on the continent.

Although a variety of bus companies have services between other Bay Area communities and San Francisco, Greyhound is the only regular long distance bus company operating in the region. Their buses arrive and depart at the Transbay Terminal in SoMa. From San Francisco, Greyhound has frequent runs to Los Angeles (8 to 11 hours) and, less often, Seattle (19 to 25 hours) and Lake Tahoe (5 to 10 hours). As an alternative to Greyhound, try the funky Green Tortoise bus line, a favorite of backpackers because it manages to combine getting there with enjoying yourself along the way. Green Tortoise information is also available from the Green Tortoise Guest House in North Beach. Their north-south trip runs between Seattle and Los Angeles via San Francisco, but they also have trips to the Northern California redwoods, Yosemite and the Southwest desert.

Amtrak is the US national train system, and its Bay Area terminal is at Jack London Square in Oakland. A free shuttle bus connects with San Francisco's Caltrain station and the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero. Traveling north from Los Angeles, it's equally simple to transfer to Caltrain at San Jose and take that service to San Francisco. Amtrak's main Bay Area routes are the San Joaquin (Oakland - Bakersfield), the Three Capitols (San Jose - Oakland - Sacramento) and the Coast Starlight (Seattle - Oakland - San Jose - Los Angeles).

Freeways crisscross the Bay Area, and once you're outside of the city you'll be glad to have a car. Highway 101 runs south to Los Angeles and north to Oregon, but its bayside stretch is a continuous traffic jam - sometimes stationary, sometimes high-speed, but always solid. Interstate 280, parallel and slightly to the west, is much more attractive and easier on the nerves. Highway 1 is the slow but scenic coast route. On the east side of the bay, Interstate 80 runs across the Bay Bridge north through Berkeley and inland through Sacramento, the state capital, on its way to Reno, Nevada. Interstate 580 swings inland from the East Bay to meet Interstate 5, the fastest route south to Los Angeles; the trip takes 6 or 7 boring hours. The 210mi (340km) route inland to Yosemite starts along Interstate 580.

Getting Around
San Francisco International Airport is on the western edge of the bay, 14mi (22km) south of the city center. The simplest way to get to the city is by shuttle vans, the Airporter bus, taxis or rental cars. There are also bus-BART combinations, which are useful if you're heading to the East Bay. Oakland International Airport is 8mi (13km) south of downtown Oakland. Shuttle buses run between the airport and the Oakland Coliseum BART station, as well as into town. San Jose International Airport, at the southern end of the bay, is a few miles north of downtown San Jose and just over an hour's drive from San Francisco. A free shuttle bus links the airport with a light rail system that runs to downtown San Jose. The easiest way to get from San Jose to San Francisco is to catch the 80-minute Caltrain service.

Within the compact city center, walking is a pleasurable way to get around, but there's a solid transport network backing you up when perambulation seems too pedestrian. San Francisco's principal public transport system is the Municipal Transit Agency (MUNI), which operates nearly 100 bus lines (many of them electric trolley buses), streetcars and the famous cable cars. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system is a convenient, economical subway system linking San Francisco with the East Bay. Ferries have enjoyed a modest revival in recent years, and there are services from Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero Ferry Building to Alameda, Oakland, Sausalito, Tiburon and the bay islands.

A car is the last thing you want in downtown San Francisco: negotiating the hills and trying to find a parking spot are going to stress both you and your machine. For traveling farther afield though - up to the Wine Country for example - a car can be invaluable. Taxis are tough to secure in San Francisco; you may find phoning one easier than whistling or waving your hand on street corners, especially during peak hours, but even that's no guarantee.

For most visitors, the thought of hopping a bicycle in the city is gruesome - there's too much traffic and the hills are fearsome - but the Bay Area is a great place for recreational biking. Downtown becomes a sea of festive bicyclists on the last Friday of every month when Critical Mass, a cheerfully anarchic ride of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of cyclists, gathers at the bay end of Market St and rides, bells ringing, to a different destination along a different route each time.