San Francisco is physically small (11km by 11km), and it’s densely populated—an ideal combination for public transport to really excel. Public transport options, car shares, car pools, and travel on foot are all part of how we’re getting around.
Public transport options, car shares, car pools, and travel on foot are all part of how we’re getting around in San Francisco.
San Francisco is physically small (11km by 11km), and it’s densely populated—an ideal combination for public transport to really excel.
San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, known as MUNI, runs both a bus and tram/metro service, with major networks criss-crossing the city. Historic cable cars run through downtown, servicing some of the hillier city streets and tourist attractions. Plus, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) runs from the south, through downtown, then over to the East Bay. This variety and coverage in the city offers plenty of convenience.
This convenience is enhanced, in turn, by cross-transit passes. Yes, providers collaborate to make it easier for the passengers—amazing, I know!
Cable car
For example, we’re fans of the Fastpass. This allows us travel in the city centre and surrounds for one monthly fee, on all transit types and at discounted rates! Even the cable cars are in on this deal—there’s nothing like flashing your Fastpass to the driver when all the tourists have paid $5 for the “experience”.
What the MUNI buses and tram may lack in speed, they win back in smarts, with a recent partnering with an intelligent website: nextbus.com. Life is truly wonderful when you can look up the next arrival time of your service, at your stop, in real time. Combined with a PDA or iPhone, this is god’s gift to public transport.
Zip car
Car share has really found its niche in this city: where residential parking is scarce and the vehicle insurance is high due to litigious nature of the US. The city has two competing companies, Zip Car and City Car Share. Zip Car has a strong hold in the market, and that’s who we use. The main reason we pick up a car is to do a big grocery shop—which we inevitably extend into a drive out of town.
There is a small application and annual charge for membership, then prices range from about $7–$14 an hour or $65–$90 per day, depending on how nice a car you reserve. There are entry-level Toyotas available as well as hybrids, Minis and fancy BMWs. Insurance and gas is included in the price, and access to vehicles is incredible: there are at least 25 cars available within a three-block radius of our apartment. We find the online and SMS/text systems for making reservations, and instantly extending reservations, incredibly simple to use.
Car-pooling has also found its place. The Bay Bridge that connects Oakland, Berkeley and the rest of the East Bay to San Francisco is a log-jam during the morning commute. In an effort to reduce traffic, the government has provided special lanes for vehicles with more than two occupants, and their $4 toll is waived. This created a price and speed incentive to start a casual car-pool system. ‘Casual’ means that no one is in charge of this system. It has just evolved.
Commuters wait at a nearby BART stop to be picked up and are dropped at a common downtown location in SF. A series of informal rules have evolved around this practice: no food and drink in the vehicle, no cell phone use, no tweaking the air-con by passengers, and conversation has to be initiated by the driver.
Smarter than any single smart transport option, however, is the incredible walkability of San Francisco. Again, it really helps to be a dense city, on a small peninsula. In fact, San Francisco scores higher than any other US city when using a great online tool called Walk Score, with a score of 86 percent across all neighbourhoods.
Park in a parking space, above. Multi-rider bike, below.
Walk Score even works for New Zealand addresses: give it a try!
Walkability is rated by: the presence of a neighbourhood centre; high population density; mixed income and mixed use; parks and public spaces; pedestrian-centric design; and nearby schools and workplaces.
Walking around our walkable neighbourhood was the right thing to do on World Park(ing) Day, September 18th. Taking a stroll down nearby Valencia Street was the perfect place to browse parking spaces transformed into parks for the day. This street, which features bike lanes in both directions, made for a safe place to set up lawns, benches and art.
A unique multi-rider bike was doing the rounds up and down the street, with a large sound system—spreading the good word: “One less car (park)”. Smart.
