Closest thruway station to SFO airport.

I'm going to Yosemite nation park and I'm coming in from San Fransico Airport and would like take the thruway bus at the closest station to the airport. (Hopefully save on cab fair.).

I have arrived at SFO and taken Super Shuttle to Emeryville Hyatt House Hotel across tracks from the station. Cost was $20.

You can ride BART to San Francisco, Oakland or Richmond from SFO!

I'm not certain if you're asking about Thruway buses to Yosemite or not?

You can ride a San Joaquin train from Oakland or Emeryville to Merced, then make a connection on YARTS to Yosemite, Amtrak will book this for you! See Pages 106 and 103 in the National Time Table Effective 4/06!!

Ok so I'm totally confused. I have no idea about anything.

I'm a born and breed NYC and this is my only my second time in California and first time going to Yosemite.

So I have a flight to SFO from NY.

And Amtrak tickets to Yosemite. This is what the tickets say. But I'm not sure if I'm leaving from the correct station that's the closest to the airport.

This is what the tickets say

Train 6612: SAN FRANCISCO (CALTRAIN), CA - EMERYVILLE, CA

Train 712: EMERYVILLE, CA - MERCED, CA

Train 8412: MERCED, CA - THE AHWAHNEE

There really are no Amtrak thruway bus stops close to San Francisco International Airport. The closest ones would be in San Francisco itself, and the airport is well outside of San Francisco.

Probably your ideal itinerary would be to take BART to the Richmond station. That station is shared between BART and Amtrak. You can then take the San Joaquin from there. The only caveat is that if your flight to SFO is delayed, the San Joaquin is considered a "reserved" train where you would completely lose your reservation (without credit) unless you cancel or modify in time. However, you could purchase your ticket at the Richmond station via Quik-Trak.

Maria1980 said:

Ok so I'm totally confused. I have no idea about anything.

I'm a born and breed NYC and this is my only my second time in California and first time going to Yosemite.

So I have a flight to SFO from NY.

And Amtrak tickets to Yosemite. This is what the tickets say. But I'm not sure if I'm leaving from the correct station that's the closest to the airport.

This is what the tickets say

Train 6612: SAN FRANCISCO (CALTRAIN), CA - EMERYVILLE, CA

Train 712: EMERYVILLE, CA - MERCED, CA

Train 8412: MERCED, CA - THE AHWAHNEE

Click to expand...

OK - the Caltrain stop is in San Francisco. That will be a bus from San Francisco to Emeryville. It's also a long ride making several stops before heading for Emeryville.

There are several things you could do, including taking BART to San Francisco and then a city bus and/or subway/streetcar to the Caltrain station. The bus stop is across the street from the Caltrain station, right in front of a Safeway supermarket, and almost across the street from AT&T Park. You could also take BART to Millbrae and then Caltrain to the 4th and King station.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=am/am2Station/Station_Page&code=SFP

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7768136,-122.3944466,144m/data=!3m1!1e3

I know exactly how to do this, but I've taken Caltrain/San Francisco MUNI/BART many times. I'd probably recommend taking BART and MUNI since Caltrain may be difficult to figure out. Let me post this and then come up with a good way to do this with Google Maps public transportation.

Here's what Google Maps came up with:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/San+Francisco+International+Airport,+San+Francisco,+CA+94128/San+Francisco+Caltrain+Station/@37.653847,-122.5112981,36722m/am=t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x808f778c55555555:0xa4f25c571acded3f!2m2!1d-122.378955!2d37.621313!1m5!1m1!1s0x808f7fd6eb33becf:0xb7d880249f5a29f9!2m2!1d-122.394323!2d37.776439!3e3

When you arrive in San Francisco Airport, you need to get to the International Terminal, and the entrance to the BART station is at the north end. You could either walk or take AirTrain (free) depending on which arrival terminal.



At the BART station you will need to buy an $8.65 BART ticket for the SFO to Embarcadero station fare. This includes a surcharge for all SFO airport trips. The ticket is a magnetic strip ticket and there are variable fares depending on starting and ending stations. From the morning until about 8 PM, you'll want to take the RICHMOND (red line) train. After that you'll want to take



The Embarcadero station is underground and is shared between BART and San Francisco's MUNI system. MUNI is a combination subway/streetcar/bus system and a single $2.25 fare is good for up to 90 minutes on almost all of their vehicles (except Cable Cars). At a station you'll need to buy a ticket (from a ticket machine) before entering. Google Maps is recommending taking the N or KT, although I think on weekdays the T might be an option. There are other ways to do it (one would be getting off at another BART station and then taking a bus), but they might be a bit confusing if you're not familiar with MUNI.

When is your scheduled arrival, and what day of the week?

Thank you guys so much. You have been a great help.

So my San Fran airline arrival time is on a Monday at 9pm local time. I am getting on the bus/train/bus to Yosemite at 6:20am Tuesday.

My departure, I am scheduled to arrive on the return side to San Fran. 4:05pm Saturday and depart SFO Sunday 9pm.

So I will have to find a hotel for those nights so that's part of the reason I need to know the best places to depart from

San Francisco - Financial District (SFF) would be the closest to hotels near Downtown and adjacent to Embarcadero BART and the Hyatt Regency hotel. San Francisco - Shopping Center (SFS) would be close to hotels near Union Square and also adjacent to the Powell Street BART. San Francisco - Fisherman's Wharf (SFW) would be near any hotels that are close to Pier 39. It all depends on what type of lodging you are looking at and what would work best for you. Once you narrow down the lodging options you can find the stop that works best for you. BCL provided some great information on how to get to SF proper to/from the airport. I'd highly suggest taking BART as well.

OK. I wasn't sure if you were going straight through perhaps with a morning arrival. The San Joaquin obviously doesn't leave that late.

If you want to keep your current Amtrak reservation for the Caltrain station bus stop, you can certainly find a hotel in San Francisco and then take MUNI in the morning. There are many hotels in downtown San Francisco that are close to the four downtown BART stations (Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center). These four are also combined with underground MUNI stations.

If you're willing to change your Amtrak reservation, you could do assorted things. Maybe a hotel in Oakland at Jack London Square with an thruway bus the night before (it's possible)? San Francisco is pretty nice, but hotels are expensive. Well - roadman1313 recommended maybe a different bus stop. If you check out the schedule, the Caltrain station is the first bus stop (6:20 AM) and the Temporary Transbay Terminal is the last (7:05) before going to Emeryville. So basically the bus will be spending 45 minutes driving around in San Francisco. You might not even need to change your reservation; I've heard that the bus drivers don't care, but sometimes they skip stops when nobody has a reservation for a particular stop.

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/205/656/San-Joaquin-Schedule-030115.pdf

One way I might suggest is just taking BART into Oakland at the 12th Street station, and stay at either the Oakland Marriott or Courtyard (both at Broadway and 11th). I know Oakland had a bad reputation, but that's a heavily traveled area so it's not too bad at night. In the morning you could take the free Broadway shuttle to Jack London Square, but they start service at 7 AM, so you might be pushing it for the 7:30 departure for the 712. It's a good walk though if you left early.

I haven't taken it before, but Amtrak doesn't actually operate the bus from Merced to Yosemite. They have an agreement with the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) to accept Amtrak passengers. They have two types of buses. One is a large coach bus, and the other is based on a van chassis. I understand that they occasionally borrow a bus from some other service, so that's something to be aware of.

I've ridden YARTS before. I think they always use those huge blue D4500CT buses. I didn't see any other kind of YARTS when I was there. Here's #505: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/15992775271.

It's not a bad bus.

If I were going to catch a flight out of SFO Airport, what's the fastest option from Transbay?

Check out the Oakland Marriott or Oakland courtyard if rates in San Francisco are too high. Both of these are within one block of the 12th street Bart stop.

Swadian Hardcore said:

I've ridden YARTS before. I think they always use those huge blue D4500CT buses. I didn't see any other kind of YARTS when I was there. Here's #505: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/15992775271.

It's not a bad bus.

If I were going to catch a flight out of SFO Airport, what's the fastest option from Transbay?

Click to expand...

This company does tours of Yosemite via train. I'm pretty sure most can do it themselves, but I guess they have a niche by doing all the arrangements. The photos were taken in winter, so they were using the van-based bus. I have been to Yosemite in the winter. There are visitors, but it's certainly not peak visitation.

http://www.calpartours.com/Yosemite%20Tours%20by%20Amtrak.htm

The Embaracadero BART station is two blocks away from the Temporary Transbay Terminal. Your could take the MUNI 41 those two blocks if you REALLY don't want to walk. Or maybe the 5 to the Montgomery BART station.

A taxi would be the fastest way to the airport though. We got off BART once when we figured that we wouldn't make it and flagged a taxi.

To answer Swadian Hardcore (quotes aren't working on my computer right now): It depends on the time of day but most Taxi's tend to know the short-cuts if you are really in a hurry (and give a little extra tip). BART would be the most convenient transit oriented option and can be faster compared to rush hour traffic. It also will be much less expensive than a taxi. Shared shuttle vans (such as Super Shuttle) can also be an option from nearby hotels though they won't be quite as fast. Ridesharing service are another option (such as Lyft, Uber, and Sidecar) and they are quite popular in the Bay Area, although they need to be licensed to drop at the airport (currently they are, however Taxi operators are working hard to fight that).

If it is a weekday during the PM peak you could consider taking Samtrans as well. The KX route departs across the street from the terminal and is scheduled to take about 40-45 minutes (assuming PM Peak traffic) to SFO for the $5 express fare. They also have the 292 route that operates throughout the day on weekdays and weekends from the same location, however that takes just over an hour for $4. BART takes about 30-35 minutes from Embarcadero (plus the 10 minute or so walk to the terminal - so 40-45 minutes total) for $8.65. A Taxi takes 17-40 minutes depending on traffic and will put you back about $50-90 depending on traffic.

To tie that into the OP's question... there are a multitude of ways to get from SFO to Downtown for your first night and most will put you near an Amtrak stop for your trip.

If your train departs from Emeryville, I recommend staying overnight at the Hyatt House Hotel in Emeryville which is right across the tracks from the Emeryville stations. There is a pedestrian bridge over the tracks with elevators for luggage. If you do this, then you can get Super Shuttle from SFO to the hotel for $20 after your flight arrives that evening. I have done this and stayed in the Hyatt House several times.

On your return trip I recommend staying in a hotel in the SFO area. I always take the California Zephyr back east from Emeryville.

With regard to the KX bus, be aware that it operates only Monday-Friday, with 4 bus times into San Francisco in the mornings and 4 bus times out of San Francisco in the afternoon. The better public transit choice would be, IMO, BART to SFO airport from one of the 5 stations along Market Street in downtown San Francisco.

question on the return amtrak has us back at 5;30 is that enough time to make a 9;30 red eye back to new york? we are just thinking that it if we have to pay for a hotel anyway it would be great to have one more night in Yosemite rather than a hotel... thoughts for those who have done this?

If you're talking about getting from Emeryville to SFO in 4 hours, no problem. I would get off the train at Richmond, cross over to the BART platform and head into SFO. You should be there by 7 or so.

To be honest that could go either way. It all depends on the on-time performance of the train. For example, two days ago train 713 made it to Emeryville 8 minutes early at 3:57pm. Yesterday train 713 made it to Emeryville 1 hour, 41 minutes late at 5:46pm. Add the connection time for the bus to SF and traffic you are looking at a 6:30pm-7:00pm arrival getting off the bus.

What I would suggest is what TiBike mentioned. Get off the train in Richmond and take BART to SFO. That way you save some connecting time to the bus and you avoid the traffic on the roads/freeway. Fare is $9.85 from Richmond and the travel time is about 1hr. 8min. on BART with trains every 15 minutes (with one scheduled cross-platform transfer at MacArthur station in Oakland).

Figure worse-case scenario that something happens to train 713 you'd even be able to take train 715 (scheduled just over 3 hours after 713) to Richmond and take BART and be to airport by 8:30pm(ish). That's a little tight but just an example that you'd have some cushion by taking train 713, even if something were to be delayed. Personally I'd feel comfortable if it were me staying the extra night in Yosemite and taking train 713 to BART in Richmond to SFO to catch a 9:30pm domestic flight.

Maria1980 said:

question on the return amtrak has us back at 5;30 is that enough time to make a 9;30 red eye back to new york? we are just thinking that it if we have to pay for a hotel anyway it would be great to have one more night in Yosemite rather than a hotel... thoughts for those who have done this?

Click to expand...

I did similar this past January, and it worked out fine. I had a couple of hours to "spare" which on non-refundable flights, is always nice.

Have you been to Yosemite before?

Tennessee Traveler said:

If your train departs from Emeryville, I recommend staying overnight at the Hyatt House Hotel in Emeryville which is right across the tracks from the Emeryville stations. There is a pedestrian bridge over the tracks with elevators for luggage. If you do this, then you can get Super Shuttle from SFO to the hotel for $20 after your flight arrives that evening. I have done this and stayed in the Hyatt House several times.

On your return trip I recommend staying in a hotel in the SFO area. I always take the California Zephyr back east from Emeryville.

Click to expand...

The San Joaquin has several options however, including Jack London Square, Emeryville, and Richmond. The first two do have options for checked luggage, but I'm thinking that's not a huge issue for the OP.

I wouldn't mess with taking Caltrain or getting on the bus at the Caltrain stop either. Just take BART downtown. Since you've already bought your tickets, you can use the bus ticket to get on at any stop within San Francisco. The bus driver won't care. I'd get on at the Ferry Building, as its the last stop before crossing to Emeryville. The Ferry Building is also a staffed Amtrak station and offers ticketing and checked baggage. It is closest to the Embarcadero BART station. All the other bus stops in SF are just on a street corner next to an Amtrak Thruway Bus sign. This is all assuming you stay in San Francisco for the night.

saxman said:

I wouldn't mess with taking Caltrain or getting on the bus at the Caltrain stop either. Just take BART downtown. Since you've already bought your tickets, you can use the bus ticket to get on at any stop within San Francisco. The bus driver won't care. I'd get on at the Ferry Building, as its the last stop before crossing to Emeryville. The Ferry Building is also a staffed Amtrak station and offers ticketing and checked baggage. It is closest to the Embarcadero BART station. All the other bus stops in SF are just on a street corner next to an Amtrak Thruway Bus sign. This is all assuming you stay in San Francisco for the night.

Click to expand...

The Ferry Building Amtrak stop was closed. The main San Francisco Thruway stop is now the Temporary Transbay Terminal, which picked up the old code SFC code.

The Financial District Thruway stop (SFF) is at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and right next to the Embarcadero BART station. I would recommend that stop to get to and from BART and SFO. As Saxman stated, your bus ticket to the Caltrain station will be fine for the SFF stop, A ticket for any San Francisco bus stop will be accepted at all of them.

PRR 60 said:

saxman said:

I wouldn't mess with taking Caltrain or getting on the bus at the Caltrain stop either. Just take BART downtown. Since you've already bought your tickets, you can use the bus ticket to get on at any stop within San Francisco. The bus driver won't care. I'd get on at the Ferry Building, as its the last stop before crossing to Emeryville. The Ferry Building is also a staffed Amtrak station and offers ticketing and checked baggage. It is closest to the Embarcadero BART station. All the other bus stops in SF are just on a street corner next to an Amtrak Thruway Bus sign. This is all assuming you stay in San Francisco for the night.

Click to expand...

The Ferry Building Amtrak stop was closed. The main San Francisco Thruway stop is now the Temporary Transbay Terminal, which picked up the old code SFC code.

The Financial District Thruway stop (SFF) is at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and right next to the Embarcadero BART station. I would recommend that stop to get to and from BART and SFO. As Saxman stated, your bus ticket to the Caltrain station will be fine for the SFF stop, A ticket for any San Francisco bus stop will be accepted at all of them.

Click to expand...

I've heard that one possible issue is that the bus driver may skip a stop if there are no scheduled passengers to pick up. I'd be inclined to modify the reservation just in case.

There are a lot of ways to do this. Possibly so many that it's easy to get confused. I'll just say the Caltrain stop probably isn't the ideal choice if the OP is staying the night somewhere. Also for the OP - if you accidentally miss the bus, you might be able to catch up by taking BART to Richmond.

Quotes aren't working for me, either, unless I go into HTML.

If I had to catch a 2:35 PM intercontinental flight out of SFO and I got to Transbay at 12:45 PM, do you think I'll make it? Or should I not book that flight? It's midday, so hopefully traffic wouldn't be that bad.