San Jose to San Fransisco
 

Hi there. My husband and I will be headed to the U2 concert in San Jose on Monday. We have reviewed our travel arrangements there- Caltrain to Diridone. Only problem, I believe the return train (to San Fransisco) stops at 10:30 pm and we believe the concert will go until 11 pm. There is no option to spend the night in San Jose.

Any suggestions, other than a cab, to get back to San Fransisco? We are staying near the Powell station in SF.

Thank you all very much.

The simplest solution, it seems to me, would be to rent a car for 24 hours. The most expensive part may be the overnight parking, but far less than a cab.

Here is a wild guess:

Taxi to the San Jose Airport. Airport shuttle to SF or to SFO (last BART @ 11:54 to Powell). I know nothing about airport shuttles.

Stu Dudley

The whole taxi/shuttle/airport thing occurred to me too but late at night, after an event, seemed just too much to bother with to save a few bucks. Better to get & return a car in the light of day, rested. Taxi would be easiest, certainly, if you could find one.

Seems to me that letting someone else do all the driving in & out of large cities that you are unfamiliar with - multiple times (once during rush hour & once at night), would be the least troublesome. Also, there is a lot of nighttime construction going on in SF right now, & many street deviations. And parking near Union Sq & SJ????. I would not drive if I were staying in Union Sq - and I've lived in/near SF for 40 years.

Stu Dudley

"...I've lived in/near SF for 40 years."

Yes, so you keep saying. I stick with my recommendation.

Easy parking at the Sutter-Stockton garage near Union Square.

"Easy parking" and navigating into the City for a "first timer" at 12:30 am after a very full evening of activity in San Jose???

Let's ask. Danielle, are you as inept as Stu thinks you are?

She never said she was a first timer.

Sorry, San Francisco is not at all difficult to navigate in and out of. I have always remarked that the signage is so good that even a meandering route is intelligible.

Only the OP knows if they will be too tired, or will have been drinking at the concert, or are worried about highway and city driving for any reason.

That said, I'd Uber back. :-) It won't be much cheaper overall than renting a car, but someone else will do the driving.

>>Sorry, San Francisco is not at all difficult to navigate in and out of<<

Depends if you call downtown rush-hour gridlock, and then 101 all the way to San Jose during rush hour - "difficult". It seems that every time we've driven in & out of downtown within the last 5 months, there is a different road closed/re-routed each time. And some of our "standard" freeway entrances are blocked. We drove south along the Embarcadero and then west on Harrison to get on the freeway at 4th st at about 4 PM on a Thurs a few weeks ago, and it took us 4-5 traffic-light changes to make it through each intersection. And there were freeway "obstacles" at 4th st. The normal 5-10 min non-rush-hour drive took about 45 mins. No telling what time Danielle would have to leave downtown SF to make it to SAP arena, park, and in her seats by 7:30. Likely heavy traffic around SAP arena also.

Between the Transbay Terminal and the "tunnel" construction downtown - it's a "big mess".

I would definitely take a taxi back also - but Danielle wanted "alternatives" to an all-the-way-to-SF taxi trip. Let someone else drive the entire round trip. I think she would enjoy the concert more that way - I know I would.

Stu Dudley

<No telling what time Danielle would have to leave downtown SF to make it to SAP arena, park, and in her seats by 7:30>
Actually, Google and Apple Maps do a pretty good job of estimating drive time. They take traffic and detours into account. We have found the two apps' estimates accurate both in the SF Bay area and in Boston and vicinity--both places where traffic is a bear.

I wouldn't want to drive during rush hour either! Or back after the show.

The concert is tonight so I imagine you've already ironed-out your return transit plans but in case you haven't here a couple of possibilies.

From Diridon Station there is a VTA bus at about 11:03PM to Fremont BART Station, arriving about 11:48PM. The last BART train leaves there at midnight on weekdays I think. Get on the train a switch at Bay Fair Station for one bound for SF/Daly City or Millbrae. In SF, get off at Powell Street for your Hotel.

From Palo Alto Transit Ctr there is a SamTtrans bus (#397 I think) that leaves about 12:48AM for downtown SF. I'm not sure which bus you take (VTA or SamTrans?) from Diridon to get there, but you would have plenty of time if the concert gets out late.

Please verify for yourself the schedules because mine was just a cursory check of timetables.
https://www.bart.gov/
http://www.samtrans.com/
http://www.vta.org/

Enjoy the concert!

We go to SAP all the time (for Sharks games). We normally drive, although once in awhile on a weekday, we take the train due to horrible commute traffic. However, last time my daughter went for a game and took the train, she missed the 9:30 train (game was over at 9:35), sat on the train waiting for it to leave at 10:30, and go to the SF Caltrain station (I kid you not) at 12:15 a.m. So, commute traffic or not, I'd also rent a car. If you tell us exactly where you're staying in SF, we can tell you exactly how to get there despite the construction on the streets of San Francisco (I live smack in the middle of one of the construction zones).

Oops, just realized the concert was last night. What did you end up doing?