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As per the title, would anyone have experience or suggestions for getting from SFO to ~downtown San Francisco on either Uber, Lyft, Shuttle or Train etc please? The wife and I are over there for a few days in September. Never been to San Fran before (and over 20 years since I was in the USA) so no idea what to expect. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Cheers
StuThe simplest and easiest way is to simply catch the BART. It leaves from the international terminal and you’re downtown in about 30 mins. You’d need to check the current price online but from memory earlier in the year it’s about $9 per person to get from the airport into the city (there is a airport surcharge built into the price).
Where exactly are you heading to downtown? If you’re not near the BART line and don’t want to then walk from a BART station to the hotel you’ll find it just as easy to catch an Uber or Lyft from the airport straight to your hotel.
Depending on the time of day and traffic an Uber or Lyft starts at just under $30 for the ride into the city. You can use Uber Pool or Lyft Line which is a shared service meaning other people will ride with you and the price drops down to around $20, but obviously the journey takes longer.
Thanks Steve. We’re about 20 minutes walk from the Powell Street BART station, as it turns out, so walking isn’t an issue. Not much difference in price for two of us to catch the BART or just use Uber\Lyft. Might just see what the day brings then, as neither options need booking. Cheers!
If I’m going to be travelling between San Francisco and the Bay Area I find staying near San Franicisco Airport (SFO) can work out well – along with a rental car. It all depends what your plans look like. In and around San Francisco finding parking is a challenge so using a mix of Lyft, Uber and the BART are often good choices. And they have e-bike sharing services too if you feel like riding around – checkout the Ford GoBike option.
It’s a shame the GoBike is so expensive after 30 mins, but I guess it is a short trip point to point tool and not intended for tourists who may want something for a couple of hours.
Thanks guys! I think we’ll be using the likes of Lyft to get around to specific destinations (not so touristy) and maybe the hop on hop off types to get between touristy locations in and around the CBD/Bridge/etc. We’re not hiring a car. Everything else will be on foot. If only the bikes didn’t have Ford plastered all of them (I’m joking)!
Just to close this off, for anyone pondering my question: We used Lyft to get to the city from SFO, and back again at the end of the trip. Quick and easy, to and from the hotel, no mucking around. We also used Lyft to get across town from wherever, but only at the end of the day when we’d spent the day walking across the city. We were based on Van Ness Avenue, on the edge of the (somewhat infamous) Tenderloin District, and walked pretty much everywhere, most of the time. No problem walking if you don’t mind hills (and sidestepping the homeless).
Cheers and thanks!
No idea, sorry. Have never used Uber. Just asked a couple of people and checked local news and reviews and Lyft seemed to come out on top. Didn’t have any concerns with the drivers we got. Some better than others, of course, but will happily use Lyft next time we’re in town (unless something changes with local ride share politics!)
Lyft is the trendy option in SF right now – Uber seemed to fall out of favour last year after all the issues.
I tend to switch between the two and simply pick the cheapest option. Last week when I was in the US that meant a couple of rides in both.. I ended up using Lime scooters for a few rides that potentially would have been rideshare.
Just be aware that in SF surge pricing can be a real killer at times. I had an 11am Monday flight from SFO and as it was about a 15 min walk to the BART station was just going to use Uber Pool / Lyft Shared as both can be as low as about $18ish from the CBD to the airport vs $9.65 for the BART. Around 8am on the Monday rideshare prices were up over $50 to the airport and regular rides were up to about $80 – $90 on both Uber and Lyft so I just ended up catching the BART.
I heard several people in the security queue and then again in the lounge commenting on the high prices to get to the airport so I’m not sure if it’s a common thing to have surge pricing on a Monday morning when the weather was perfect.
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