This past weekend I had a chance to visit San Francisco. The weather was absolutely perfect. And I had a chance to ride the cable cars and BART.
BART works on a payment system based on the distance you travel. Next to each ticket machine is a list of fees per station. I tell ya I wish they would either go to a London-type zone system or a NYC-type one-fare system. This is such crap in my opinion. I think they do it to confuse the heck out of people (esp. tourists) so they can overpay which benefits the system. Trains were very clean and efficient overall, though I will say that I saw more homeless than in most other systems.
The cable cars cost $5 per ride or $11 for the day. They certainly are fun to ride. Best advantage point is to hang off the sides or the front or back. But make sure to stay tight to the car because I almost lost a leg – no kidding!
The hills are something in SF and really make the cable cars even that much more spectacular. The hills up the California Street line really make the trip more of a ride than a traditional trip. Ride to Fisherman's Wharf and you can watch how they turn around and then shop and eat and ride back to your hotel.
I took the MUNI bus a few times and once we sat for 25 minutes while the bus driver waited for the homeless who came in thru the back door to pay or get off. It is quite amazing how wealthy a place SF is for all of the homeless they have as well.
Overall, I would say the transit seems pretty efficient in SF. Fix the damn pricing system and it would be that much better.
