<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Eastbay1K:
The only good news for many of us is that maybe traffic and parking will loosen up causing parking prices not to increase or maybe go down. BART will be nearly useless for eastbay residents who have anything other than midday weekend flights.
(1) There is no way to get there in time for an early morning flight.
(2) There is no place to leave a car overnight or for multiple nights, except it is safe to leave the car over a saturday night at several stations. A cab ride to/from the BART station will cost more than 2 days' parking.
(3) A delayed return flight means a $100 cabride home.
And so on. But it will be great for tourists who don't arrive after midnight or need to fly out before 9 AM.</font>
Well, I live in the East Bay (Union City, to be specific), and I think the BART line will be VERY useful. I'll go through your objections one by one:
1. BART starts running around 4:00 am on weekdays. So you should be able to get to the airport by 6:00 am at the latest. That may be too late for a VERY early flight, but not for a somewhat early flight.
2. Whether this is a problem depends on your exact location. I live only a mile from the Union City BART station. A taxi from my house to the station costs only about $7, including the tip. And there's decent bus service. (Yes, I've taken the bus even with suitcases. It's only a five minute ride.)
3. BART stops running at midnight. Depending on how late your flight is scheduled to arrive, you may be taking a chance that you'll not get to the train on time. But first of all, I think that in many cases it's worth it to risk having to spend $100 on a taxi if 90% of the time you DO get to the train on time. Secondly, in that circumstance I would take a shuttle for $50 instead of a cab. Thirdly, I rarely take flights that arrive at SFO later than 9 pm.
Ed