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Driving from San Francisco Airport to San Rafael

Driving from San Francisco Airport to San Rafael

Old Jun 24th, 2016, 08:23 AM
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Driving from San Francisco Airport to San Rafael

I will be renting a car at SFO to drive to San Rafael. Some routing suggestions say take the bridge to Oakland and then the bridge to San Rafael rather than the Golden Gate north to San Rafael. I will depart SFO about 2:00 pm depending on how long the car rental process is. Any opinions/advice in this regard (route or car rental process). Thanks
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 08:28 AM
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I'd just go up 101 myself. It is shorter thought probably no faster in the scheme of things, but it's more straightforward.

And going the other way, once you cross the Bay Bridge you could get stuck in East Bay traffic which could be purgatory . . .
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 08:51 AM
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Traffic on the Golden Gate is typically better than the Bay Bridge. So I would take 280 to 19th Ave to the GGB rather than 101 and traversing SF on Van Ness and Lombard.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 08:52 AM
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My preferred route is west on 380 from the airport to 280, then north across the west side of the city on hwy 1 to the Golden Gate Bridge. Look on google maps and it'll be clear. While any route can be slow, I don't like 101, find it more prone to jams. Going over to the west side you miss the downtown and Bay Bridge approach traffic. But mostly I just like it better, somehow more civilized.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 08:54 AM
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Oh good, we agree SAB (19th Ave. = Hwy 1).
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 08:56 AM
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To avoid confusion --19 th Ave is 1 as it goes through the City.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 09:04 AM
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I wouldn't guess - I'd go whichever way Waze says is fastest at that time.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 09:22 AM
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It's kind of cool to drive through town and you get to cross The Golden Gate.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 02:37 PM
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Thank you, all of you, janisj, MmePerdu, SAB, logandog, sf7307. It sounds like the consensus is to use the Golden Gate (unless waze says otherwise). I kinda like the look of going north on 1. A concern I have had about using the GGB is that I will have a rental car and no "electronic" pass which means Budget Rental Car will get the bill and add large fees by the time it gets to me. Do you know if it possible to get a temporary card of some kind before arriving in SF? As far as I know the bridge does not have a cash lane like the other two bridges do I think).

MapQuest suggested the two bridge option as their first alternative is why I thought that might be a good way to go, but that East Bay purgatory traffic is something I would to avoid.

Thanks again
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 04:22 PM
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The northbound direction of the GG Bridge is toll-free, the toll occurs in the southbound direction. You are correct in that there are no cash lanes, there are no manned booths. The toll bill would be sent to the rental car firm, unless the firm provide a Fastrak device in the car. Driving to the East Bay to get to Marin is incredibly inefficient, the directions MmePerdu gave you are pretty much what everyone who lives in Marin uses, including me.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 04:34 PM
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Oops, I meant to say SAB and MmePerdu directions are pretty much the default for folks living in Marin.
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Old Jun 24th, 2016, 05:38 PM
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Once you have the plate number you can buy a one time plate pass online BEFORE oyu cross.

https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/gg...epayment.shtml

You can mark the number of days or hours you want the pass to be good for. It's only online - you don't get a sticker or anything. It circumvents the rental car fasttrak.

We do it all the time as we don't own a car and only rent and hate the extra rental car charges.
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Old Jun 25th, 2016, 11:13 AM
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Thank you Newtome. I checked out the website for bayareafastrack and that is exactly what I will do. Great solution.
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