# San Francisco Transit systems



## KmH (Dec 10, 2017)

I'll be in San Francisco in March.

I plan to ride the San Francisco Bay Ferry, the cable cars, and the street cars.

So I got myself a Clipper Card (Senior).


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## City of Miami (Dec 10, 2017)

More than 1 ferry! You could ferry to Larkspur then take new Marin SMART train to Santa Rosa (& back). Don't forget ACE trains, Stockton to San Jose as well as Caltrain, San Jose to SF. Cable cars a tourist ripoff imo. I lived there '71-'07. Just ride buses & LRVs and look out the window. There is much to see!


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## Maglev (Dec 10, 2017)

I also suggest taking a trip under the Bay on BART.


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## Green Maned Lion (Dec 10, 2017)

The cable cars are a rip off, but included in tourist passports, and worth riding for the experience anyway. But dont go to the big sites, rather explore deeper into town for some of the best food. In the same vein, avoid Aliottos.


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## jebr (Dec 10, 2017)

Personally, the cable car was one of the major highlights of my Bay Area trip a few years back. There's something about just hanging onto the side traveling down the street that's exhilarating.

Surprisingly, they never collected my fare. I showed my Clipper card but they never validated it, so I got a free ride. (I was using stored value, no passes, so it should have cost $6.) At any (semi-reasonable) rate, definitely worth it and very glad I did it. Should I be in the area again, I'll definitely take the cable cars again.


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## caravanman (Dec 11, 2017)

Certainly ride a cable car if you have not done so before. Touristy they may be, but such olde worlde simple fun!






Ed.


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## Green Maned Lion (Dec 11, 2017)

Just because something is a tourist trap (thatd be the entire embarcadero, really) doesnt mean it isnt worth seeing. If you have some spare cash to waste well, I strongly reccomend the Musee DMechanique or whatever its called, on fishermans wharf near the Jeremiah OBrien (another place for well wasted cash). Hundreds of restored vintage music boxes, fortune telling machines, and all kinds of other fun stuff to explore two bits at a time.


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## willem (Dec 11, 2017)

The cable car museum was free. And it housed the functioning machinery that powered the cables. As far as I know, it still is free and still houses the machinery. Even if there is an admission price now, I expect it would be worth it.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 11, 2017)

caravanman said:


> Certainly ride a cable car if you have not done so before. Touristy they may be, but such olde worlde simple fun!
> 
> 
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> ...


Ditto!


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## KmH (Dec 11, 2017)

I'll be staying in Sacramento (HI Sacramento Hostel) and have just one day I can go to San Francisco.

I last rode the cable cars some 35 years ago while I was in San Francisco for 2 weeks on temporary assignment.

I won't pass up a chance to ride a cable car again.

For me the high points of my day will be:

• _Capitol Corridor train ride SAC - OKJ_. I've not been on the train west of SAC before.
• _Ferry ride_ Oakland to Pier 41.
• _Seafood stew_ (originated in S.F.) w/sourdough bread for lunch @ Cioppino's in the Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood.
• Ride the _Powell-Hyde cable car_ line. If the weather is nice I'll probably get off and spend some time at the top of Lombard street. I would like to shoot some video from the Hyde-Lombard intersection.
• and stopping in Davis for a _Mexican food_ dinner (Tres Hermanas) on the way back to SAC.

I'll be taking Amtrak's 4:15 pm Thruway bus back across the bay to Emeryville to head back EMY-DAV-SAC.
I considered riding BART from the Embarcadero station to Richmond instead of the Amtrak bus to EMY, but would rather go _over_ the bay.

One-way cable car fare is now $7 for all ages.

https://www.sfmta.com/fares/cable-car-single-ride


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 11, 2017)

Great plan, were envious!

(I've been in San Francisco hundreds of times and lived in the Bay Area years ago when it was affordable!)


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## BCL (Dec 11, 2017)

As a tourist ride, I prefer the Golden Gate Ferry ride between Sausalito and the Ferry Building. If you absolutely have to be at Pier 41, you could then take a short hop ride on San Francisco Bay Ferry. The last time I was on the Sausalito Ferry, it seemed that most of the riders were tourists with rented bikes. People basically ride from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and take the ferry back. There are also taxis waiting for those who miss the last ferry.

Golden Gate Ferry has substantial adult fare discounts for using Clipper Card. I don't believe they have any Clipper discounts for seniors though. However, if you're running late you won't need to worry about lines at the ticket machines. Especially with tourists unfamiliar with how to use them.


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## KmH (Dec 11, 2017)

Timing wise neither the Blue & Gold nor the Golden Gate ferry work for me because of the short time I have.

If I had more than just part of 1 day I would be able to see/do more.


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## BCL (Dec 11, 2017)

KmH said:


> Timing wise neither the Blue & Gold nor the Golden Gate ferry work for me because of the short time I have.
> 
> If I had more than just part of 1 day I would be able to see/do more.


Sure. Didn't know what the timing was. But the Sausalito and Larkspur provide a great view of Alcatraz. Certainly getting a Clipper Card and loading it with cash value can save time. You could also load a card with day pass, but that might not make sense if you're not riding MUNI enough to justify it.

I got my Clipper card when it was free, but had to start with a minimum $5 cash value. I did lose my original one though, and $5 of my cash value was docked to pay for it. I guess senior and youth ones are free.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 11, 2017)

Good suggestion about the Sausalito and Larkspur Ferries if you don't want to ride the Jack London Square/Oakland Ferry to the Ferry Building in SFO. ( not much to see here except the Bay Bridge)


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## BCL (Dec 11, 2017)

FYI for anyone taking it, if you don't have Clipper the tickets for San Francisco Bay Ferry are sold on board. There's a discount though for Clipper, but anyone in a hurry can just board and get in line for tickets. They also sell tickets at Pier 41 and a store called Bay Crossings (will also handle Clipper) in the Ferry Building. They also have scrambled orders. Eastbound most ferries start at Pier 41, but I've been on one that started at the Ferry Building and went to Pier 41 before heading off to Oakland/Alameda.


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## BCL (Dec 11, 2017)

Bob Dylan said:


> Good suggestion about the Sausalito and Larkspur Ferries if you don't want to ride the Jack London Square/Oakland Ferry to the Ferry Building in SFO. ( not much to see here except the Bay Bridge)


At the Alameda ferry terminal there's this big piece of equipment next door. I'm not sure what it is, but it's this huge rig on rails at Bay Ship & Yacht. It's kind of interesting.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 12, 2017)

BCL said:


> Bob Dylan said:
> 
> 
> > Good suggestion about the Sausalito and Larkspur Ferries if you don't want to ride the Jack London Square/Oakland Ferry to the Ferry Building in SFO. ( not much to see here except the Bay Bridge)
> ...


Alameda used to be a Naval Base so perhaps its left over from those times???


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## BCL (Dec 12, 2017)

Bob Dylan said:


> BCL said:
> 
> 
> > Bob Dylan said:
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This business has been there even when NAS Alameda was active. It's some sort of boat repair business. They say their specialty is wooden hulls. The thing I was thinking of is a crane on rails. It's the black crane on the right.






http://www.baycrossings.com/dispnews.php?id=3021

However, the article where I found the photo is about the HMB-1 (the big thing with the retractable roof), which was a submersible floating dry dock that was originally property of the US Navy and sold via auction. It has an interesting history that includes being used to try and recover a Soviet ballistic missile sub that sank in the Pacific, as well as another project (a prototype stealth ship) before being put in mothballs. I think the retractable roof was useful for shielding what was under the roof.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cold-war-era-cia-duped-u-s-350m-soviet-submarine-article-1.3425852

https://maritime.org/tour/seashadow/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Shadow_(IX-529)

Apparently Bay Ship was the company that dismantled the Sea Shadow.


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## TiBike (Dec 14, 2017)

I'll put my two cents in: check out the Vallejo ferry. Long, fast ride through San Francisco and San Pablo bays. You'll see a part of the Bay Area people who have lived there all their lives haven't seen. Not much to do in Vallejo, but it might be worth an uber over to Benicia for lunch. Or uber between Martinez Amtrak and the ferry (even better, ride a bike -- cool trip, including across the Benicia bridge).


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## Steve4031 (Jan 23, 2018)

Ride the muni f line. Pcc cars are fun.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


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