Airport to Union Square
 

Can anyone suggest the best/cheapest/quickest way to travel from SF Airport to the Union Square area. We are a family of 5. Thanks.

Quickest is to take the BART directly from an airport terminal to Powell Street.

Best, with your size group and attendant luggage might be a car service.

BART (rapid transit train) from SFO Station (in international terminal) to Powell Street Station is $8.10/person (children under 4 ride free). Depending on where your lodging is and if you are ok with walking a few blocks with your luggage, I would say this is the easiest and fastest way.

http://www.bart.gov/guide/airport/inbound_sfo.aspx

You can take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the airport to the Powell St. stop for Union Square. Fares are $8.25 for adults, $3.05 children.

http://www.bart.gov/guide/airport/inbound_sfo.aspx

That would likely be the cheapest and possibly fastest depending on time of day. Adult fare for a shuttle is about twice that but would be a bit easier.

http://www.shuttlefare.com/san_franc...FQgUKgod7yMAvg

Where exactly? Union Square 'area' could mean LOTS of places. And many are a long/uphill walk from the BART station. How young are the kids and how much luggage do you have?

Seldom are the >>best/cheapest/quickest<< all the same mode of transport.

Quickest/easiest would be a taxi. There are taxi stands just outside the terminal doors & across the 1st street. Look for the Taxi postings on pillars once you get outside. They will drop you off at your hotel.

If you take BART:
- You will have to walk to the BART station at the airport. I've never done this (I live within 10 mins of SFO) but I think the BART station is adjacent to the international terminal - so a shuttle might be necessary (does anyone know exactly??).
- you will have to figure out how to purchase a BART ticket for each one of you. I've done it dozens of times - and still have trouble doing it (until I purchased a "clipper card").
- there will be wait time for the BART train. They run every 20 mins mid-day.
- The BART train will not drop you off at your hotel.
- Trip takes 30 mins once on BART. Door-to-door, plan on a 1 to 1 1/4 hr trip
- Trip will cost about $27 (assuming 2 adults & 3 kids)
- When you emerge from the Powell St station - I apologize for the surroundings/vagrants.

Taxi:
- Taxi will take about 30 mins door-to-door in non rush-hour traffic.
- I don't know the cost - guessing about $35-40

Stu Dudley

I don't think that BART is the obvious fastest or cheapest way for a family of 5 to travel. IF you can all fit into one taxi (I don't know if there are SF taxis that hold 5) you will get to your hotel easier/faster/same price as BART.

I've seen many minivan taxis but not sure if they have 3rd row seats or not. Hopefully others will chime in if 5 seater taxis are available.

I noticed on your other thread that your kids are teenagers. If you have a lot of luggage it could be a chore to take BART, and I don't know how far you are from the station. But our teens all think riding mass transit is a great adventure and part of the fun, especially in a new city. So those are the pros and cons.

>>I noticed on your other thread that your kids are teenagers<<

If that is the case, then a taxi would probably be the cheapest/fastest/easiest.

I'm pretty sure I've seen van taxis - but we've never had to take one.

Stu Dudley

Depending on when you are traveling, traffic can add substantially to the time a taxi takes. Not so for the BART.

The BART station is a 120 min walk from Term 3 or a quick airtrain ride. We usually walk.

5 peopl - e cost is about $50 for a taxi w/ the new rates to Union Sq, vs 40 + for BART> Unless you are getting on at rush hour I;d go w/ a taxi. and there are minivan taxis.

12 minutes?

OMG 2 hours to walk to the BART station from terminal 3? I can see how a taxi would be preferable. ;)

Anyway if BART turns out to work for you don't worry about walking around Union Square with luggage. I've done it and lots of people are carrying luggage from parking garages as well as from BART to the hotel. It's a common sight.

SFO to Powell on BART is $8.25.

sorry it's 10 minutes. I really need to start using the preview pane....

Taking BART from the airport is easy. However, much can depend on the location of your hotel. There are hills in SF, some easy, some steep. If we know the location, we can advise.

>>Taking BART from the airport is easy.<<

As easy as taking a taxi??

Perhaps it is easy to take BART the fifth time you've done it within a year. But like I stated earlier, I still have trouble with purchasing tickets if I haven't done so in a while. I think the OP is a first-timer.

Stu Dudley

The BART ticket machines are very confusing - consequently, whenever I need a ticket, I just put in a $10 or $20 and get a ticket for the full amount!

I ride BART maybe 4 or 5 times a year . . and I hate those blasted machines :)

BART is <i>relatively</i> easy (even if buying tix is a biatch), but it is NOT cheap for a group of 5. And again, where in the 'Union Square area' can make a big difference.

Thank you everyone. We are staying at the Hilton in Union Square. I appreciate your responses. From what I can gather, if we can get a taxi/minivan for five for less than $50 it is well worth it to take one. Otherwise we will attempt the BART. The machines seem difficult! We want to purchase a the pass that will allow us to travel on the cable cars, etc for three days. Does anyone know if these can be purchased at the airport and if they include the BART ride into Powell Street from the airport? Being from NYC, the train riding/possible vagrants is not a problem!

IIRC, it is a real station at the airport, and you should be able to buy all the passes etc. If you take the taxi, there is a downtown transit center at the foot of Powell, sort of underground, where you can do the same and more. This station had by the way, the highest ratio of homeless/vagrants/scam artists I have seen anywhere since Times Square in 1965. I would leave the family at the hotel and send one adult to buy the passes. It isn't particularly dangerous, I think, but there were a lot of people with a tenuous grasp on reality, whether through dope or schizophrenia, and many of them were given to vocalizing.

And no, the passes do not include BART, which is an entirely separate system (the pass covers the means of transportation that are run by the Muni Railway, which includes the cable cars, trolleys, buses, streetcars, but not BART, which is run by Bay Area Rapid Transit). Unless you go somewhere outside the city that is served by BART (Berkeley, for example), you won't use BART once you're here -- within the city, Muni is more extensive, with more stops.

Hi
here is a list of all the places to buy the 3 day MUNI pass. There is a station at the Airport and at Union Square.
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/asystem/farevendpassport.php

Your hotel is about 4 blocks from the BART Powell St. Station. There is an slight incline up Powell St but it should not be troublesome. I am always awkward with the BART machines, but it's not a terrible issue. I have traveled from SFO on Bart with my 89-yr-old mother. That said, with 5 people you might find it just as cost-effective with a taxi.

Awkward is a good word.