Can someone tell me where the closest amtrack station is from SFSU bart station and if there are any connections??? thanks

Lynn

The closest Amtrak station is in Oakland Jack London Square. Take BART to the Lake Merritt Station. The Amtrak station is about 1/2 mile from there. The Lake Merritt Station is on MAdison Street between 8th and 9th. The Amtrak Station is at 2nd and Alice Streets. The link below is a map of the area. The star indicates the Amtrak station.

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed...Cca&country=us

Lynn, take it from an SFSU alum--if you are using Amtrak to travel to SFSU you will not want to leave Amtrak in Oakland, nor will you want to use BART at all.

There is no SFSU BART station. The nearest BART station to SFSU is Daly City. SFSU used to run a shuttle at times from this station, but there is no reason for you to need to take it when the San Francisco Muni Metro (the city subway/trolley) will drop you directly at SFSU's door.

Amtrak will book you directly to downtown SF. The last part of your trip will be by what they call Thruway Motorcoach. Ask for what they call the San Francisco Financial District Station, which will be at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero hotel.

From where they let you off, you will be only a few steps from the escalator down to the Embarcadero BART/Muni Metro subway station. When you get to the bottom, one direction will be BART, the other Muni Metro.

Enter the Muni Metro part of it. Phone San Francisco Muni in advance or ask one of the station agents which train you take to SF State. I'm pretty sure it's called M Oceanview, but it's been a while so doublecheck this.

Eventually, long after the train goes above ground, you'll see the sign announcing the campus (right after you pass the Stonestown Shopping Center) and you'll probably be getting off the train with lots of other people.

Lynn,

In my experience from living in SF, I agree with Treck's advice. The convulted routing proposed by johncharles makes no sense. Actually the closest BART station to SF State is the Balboa Park Station (2 miles away). From SF State take the #29 bus to the Balboa Park Station. Once on BART get off at Lake Merritt.

There is a connecting Amtrak bus from Embarcadero (maybe a block away from BART) to Emeryville train station.

Also Amtrak has BART connection in Richmond, but this stop may be not safe if your train stops there.

Are you sure you have to take BART to Amtrak, not a MUNI line? I think it's M or K, takes you to Embarcadero Amtrak.

BART to Lake Merritt then walking to the Amtrak station in Jack London Square makes the most sense. Taking the light rail (MUNI) to downtown then transferring to a bus is a real pain. The Amtrak bus does not come very often, and also traffic can be a real problem with taking the bus from downtown SF to the Amtrak station in Emeryville. The BART option to the Lake Merritt Station is definitely the quicker and hassle free alternative.

Looking at SFSU's own website, it looks like johncharles' information is all accurate. Especially that important piece of information:

There IS no "SFSU" BART station.

Now, the closest Amtrak station to the Daly City BART stop (the one closest to SFSU) is indeed Oakland (OKJ)-- over 12 miles away. From that Amtrak station, it is a quick walk (a third of a mile) over to the Lake Merritt BART station, where you'll grab a train to Daly City, then you can grab a shuttle (weekdays only) to SFSU.

Or, as johncharles says, you can take Amtrak service into SF, grab Muni Metro M-Oceanview, which takes you right to campus. Sounds like a bit less walking/waiting (and, if it's the weekend, less taxi-hunting).

http://www.sfsu.edu/~parking/text/tocampus.html

I just plugged in the information on the Daky City and Balboa Park BARt stations. It actually turns out that the Balboa Park station is a little closer to SFSU (1.9 miles) than the Daly City BART station (2.3 miles). Of course if it's a weekday taking the shuttle to Daly City then BART to LAke Merritt as Treck, Hann, and Lake have suggested would be the best way to get to Amtrak. Otherwise, if the SFSU shuttle is not running, just take the 29 bus line to Balboa Park station like Hann said. Why anyone would suggest taking the MUNI streetcar to the Embarcadero to catch a Thruway Motorcoach amtrak shutttle bus is beyond me.

lynnarro: Please, Please, PLEASE listen to johncharles and rjw. Unfortunately Fodors resident weirdo has decided to take over your thread. Treck, Hann, Franklinn and Lake are all the same person. Fodors editors usually delete his posts before he can to a lot of damage. But in your case he has posted under 4 of his several aliases and since he is agreeing with himself you might be led into thinking his advice is OK. IT IS NOT!

He will then come back on to identify me and others as the trouble makers, and the thread will deteriorate. I am just warning you to either take johncharles advice or better yet contact the college directly and ask their advice. Just to be safe . . . .

This is one of the WEIRDER threads I have ever seen. Regardless...

As other posters have mentioned THERE IS NO SFSU Bart Station. The easiest way to get to BART is on the M-Oceanview line. You can do one of two things, you can ride the M OUTBOUND tram to Balboa Park, and transfer to BART there - OR - you can ride the M INBOUND to whichever downtown MUNI/BART STATION pleases you Civic Center, Powell, Montgomery or Embarcadero. Considering that you have to take MUNI anyhow, you may as well take it to one of the 4 downtown SF stations before transfering to BART as BART fares are higher coming from the outer neighorhoods.

Once you're on BART you have 2 choices. You can ride to the Lake Merritt station. From there, it's about a 12 block walk to the train station, and while the neighborhood is okay, it's not the most pleasant walk on the planet. It's partly Oakland's China town and partly Oakland's industrial printing, painting toxic fumes neighborhood.

Your other choice is to take a BART train from SF headed to either Pittsburg or Richmond and get off at MacArthur. There is a Free Shuttle to the Amtrak station on weekedays called the Emery-GoRound, it runs about every 20 minutes. On weekends, the Shuttle does not go directly to the Amtrak station, but rather to the Woodfin Hotel. Not a big deal, there is a Pedestrian Overcrossing in the parking lot, I would call it a 2 block walk, if that.

Of the two, the Emeryville option is definitely the way to go if you have luggage or don't like walking.

Both of these are better than taking MUNI to the transbay terminal and getting the Amtrack bus, because traffic on the Bay Bridge can really suck.