I'm flying into SFO on a Friday evening arriving shortly after 7:00pm. I need to get to a hotel near the Amtrak station in Emeryville after arrival.
What is the best way to get there? Uber? BART to a nearby station and then Uber? I'm completely unfamiliar with the area, so I don't know if Uber is a bad idea given traffic or if traffic will be fine on a Friday evening. I also don't know if BART has a high hassle factor or not. I'll have just a small rollerbag with me.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
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Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
By 7pm the traffic should be manageable. You could BART to West Oakland, but you'd still have to Uber from there to Emeryville (or take a bus). Personally I think the time saving would be negligible, so if cost isn't a factor just Uber all the way.
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- DocLightning
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Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
Oh, I would strongly disagree. At 7 PM on a Friday the eastbound traffic across the Bay Bridge and also along the 101/280 corridor is likely to be horrible. It also backs up horribly up 80 East and 24 East, meaning that the traffic does not let up until you get off the freeway for Emeryville. I've gotten in jams all the way up to 10:30PM.
Take a BART train to W. Oakland Station. From there, you can order an Uber/Lyft to get you wherever you need to go in Emeryville. That will save you time, money, and brain damage. Welcome to town.
Take a BART train to W. Oakland Station. From there, you can order an Uber/Lyft to get you wherever you need to go in Emeryville. That will save you time, money, and brain damage. Welcome to town.
Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
DocLightning wrote:Oh, I would strongly disagree. At 7 PM on a Friday the eastbound traffic across the Bay Bridge and also along the 101/280 corridor is likely to be horrible. It also backs up horribly up 80 East and 24 East, meaning that the traffic does not let up until you get off the freeway for Emeryville. I've gotten in jams all the way up to 10:30PM.
In my experience it usually doesn't take more than an hour or so from SFO to the other side of the bridge. It's actually more of a pain if you're in the city to get on the freeway. Once you're on it's fine, providing you don't get frustrated driving at 30mph. Google Maps also agrees based on traffic data if you put in the departure time as 7:00pm on a Friday, in fact it suggests it's more like 50 mins.
BART is always moving, so it feels faster. But I highly doubt you'd save a significant amount of time, and if you're travelling with baggage it's a lot nicer to just take a car all the way. Plus you get to see the bay instead of being stuck in a tunnel.
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- Aeroflot777
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Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
zckls04 wrote:By 7pm the traffic should be manageable. You could BART to West Oakland, but you'd still have to Uber from there to Emeryville (or take a bus). Personally I think the time saving would be negligible, so if cost isn't a factor just Uber all the way.
7pm traffic on a Friday across the Bay Bridge is manageable? We must be in very different places.
My advice as someone who has now lived in San Francisco for 23 years, stay as far away from the bridge at that time as possible. You will most likely curse the world out as you are stuck on 101 merging onto 80. There is nonstop construction, reducing lanes and not to mention people leaving the city for the weekend. All that on top of regular commuter traffic.
Take BART and don't even think twice. Once you are on the East side, just take a cab/uber/lyft locally to your destination. DocL is 100% right, you will save yourself from frustration of various forms.
Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
Aeroflot777 wrote:7pm traffic on a Friday across the Bay Bridge is manageable? We must be in very different places.
I guess it depends what you consider manageable. If I'm not driving, I'd rather sit in a car for an hour than ride a BART train for 45 minutes then sit in a car for ten. When I was commuting every day that would have been more annoying simply because of the effort of driving in stop go traffic.
I accept that I'm in the minority though!
Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
Another alternative is to take BART to Macarthur station, then board the emery-go-round
https://www.emerygoround.com/maps---schedules.html
https://www.emerygoround.com/maps---schedules.html
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- DocLightning
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Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
Aeroflot777 wrote:My advice as someone who has now lived in San Francisco for 23 years.
And I a grand total of 14. In 2012 or even 2013, taking the freeways from SFO to the East Bay at around 8PM on a Friday (which is realistically what will happen once you disembark and what-not) was a reasonable prospect. In 2017 is it absolutely not.
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- Aeroflot777
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Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
zckls04 wrote:I'd rather sit in a car for an hour... I accept that I'm in the minority though!
You also have to understand that Bay Area traffic is getting considerably worse, not better. Conditions today are significantly more congested and slow compared to even 3 years ago.
I would say that for a 7pm Friday evening, SFO to Emeryville in an hour is a very optimistic estimate. You simply never know here, it could be 50 minutes if you are lucky, and it can also be 2 hours depending on conditions.
BART mostly runs on time, and goes directly from the airport terminal. I don't know who would ever choose a car as airport transport during pre-weekend, rush hour traffic.
I also drove for Uber as a weekend/evening side gig on top of my day job. It was indeed this traffic that we speak of that made me stop this hobby. Sitting paralyzed on the bridge on ramp just wasn't cutting it for me.
Re: Best way to get from SFO to Emeryville?
Thank you everyone for the suggestions, especially Airstud! I wound up taking BART to the Macarthur station and then caught the Emery Go Round which dropped me off right in front of my hotel. It was all easy (though I could have used ear plugs on the BART) and the price was right...$9.35.
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