How hard is it to get a taxi?

I've always found it easy to get a taxi in the city. They are numerous, and they are used to going short distances within the city. Once I took one 5 blocks because I had been shopping and it was all uphill back to the hotel. I don't know about the taxi situation on the outskirts.

Depends on where you are? From downtown hotels, pretty easy; on streets downtown, not bad except around 5:00; from non downtown neighborhoods, almost non existent on the streets, must call and wait.

The only time we had a prob. in SF was when we got caught in "no-man's land" between FWharf and The Embarcadero. Most taxi's going thru that area already have fares.

Other than that, never had a prob.

We were there in April at the Tuscan Inn and asked the attendent to get us a taxi...no sooner as we asked, one came by.
We hailed it and told him "Broadway and Polk"...He asked us "Where's that?"

He had only been driving for 2 days in SF!
Gave him the directions and we got there in one piece and PDQ.
Ya gotta luv SF!
Kal

For a mid -sized city the taxi service in SF is not bad. But do not expect cabs to be as easy to come by as they are in New York City or Chicago. You generally do not hail a cab in SF. You basically have to call and wait, sometimes a half hour, but usually a little less than that. The three places where you can usually get a cab are hotels, hospitals, and theaters. Other than that plan to wait.