SFO to downtown SF: BART or SuperShuttle
 

We'll arrive at SFO a little after noon on a Saturday, after an overnight flight from Brazil (going through Immigration and Customs in Charlotte). I've read a lot about taking BART with luggage.Using the BART site, it looks like we'd get off at the Powell Street station ($8.10 pp, according to the site, which is more than I imagined) and then take a taxi to our hotel on Sutter St. (I may get my wife to go with BART, but not walking that far with our luggage). One site estimated taxi fare at $6.25 plus tip.

Main alternative would be SuperShuttle, with, according to the site, would cost $27 for two people. All in all, the shuttle sounds better, even though, we realize, the shuttle could make multiple stops for other people before we get to our hotel.

Anyone with opinions on either method?

Thanks!

Bart bart bart
 

Unless you find a shuttle (there are several) that is going directly to your hotel. As mentioned in other threads SS and its ilk are worse than useless coming back from an airport.

However at $8.10 each plus $6-7, you can upgrade a few dollars and get a cab - shouldn't be much more than $30 -35 IIRC. We took a taxi to our home in the inner sunset a few weeks ago and it was just about $40 with tip.

Completely agree with squeakr; SS is terrible. I'd vote for a taxi.

I think the taxi estimate is a little low, but still, I'd probably take one for 2 w/luggage. Taking BART and then finding a taxi w/your luggage won't be as easy as you think - you'll get out of the station and have no idea what exit will be best - you could end up in a taxi in the wrong direction who (through no fault of his own) will have to go around in the "wrong direction," in what will seem like circles, on one way, and/or no left turn streets, to get you to your very close hotel.

Unless you need to save every dollar, take a taxi the whole way. BART from SFO is a rip-off. They have jacked up the rates, and overall it will take you MUCH longer to get to your hotel. Also, the short taxi ride within downtown will cost you more than you think. I'd strongly favor taking a cab the whole way.

BART certainly won't take much longer, depending on whether there are events going on in the City, but I too recommend taking a taxi. Should be closer to $40 IIRC, given the Sutter St. destination.

Add it up:

0 (edit to add)) Travel from Terminal 1 to International Terminal for BART, expect approximately 10 minutes
1) Buy your BART tickets
2) Possible wait for a train up to 15 minutes, expected value 7.5 minutes
3) Train ride 30 or so minutes
4) Work your way out of Powell station
5) Find an open cab around Powell station -- this alone can take time
6) Cab must potentially circle the block if you get into it facing the wrong way

On a relative basis, I would call that much longer, but I suppose it's a matter of semantics.

Don't forget that the OP will have to get to the International terminal first, which means a separate trip on the AirTrain as well. A taxi directly from the terminal to the hotel might be well worth it, especially after such a long journey.

I'm a public transit fan myself, but in your situation - and as others have pointed out, i'd recommend a taxi. You will need one anyway once you exit BART, and they are not necesarilly in abundance. The cost will probably double what it would be for the BART/TAXI combo, but will shave a considerable amount of time and effort over other options. Just my .02

P.S. Welcome to San Francisco :)

Another vote for the taxi, here. And I think your 30 minutes for the Bart ride is low. Isn't it closer to 40?

I live in the Lower Haight and drive past the airport every day, often during rush hour. It is 17 minutes from my garage to the airport exit in no traffic, and between 20-40 minutes in traffic. Downtown should not be tremendously different.

We won't need to get to, or from, the interntional terminal. We'll go through Immigration and Customs in Charlotte. Flight from there is domestic and USAirways lands at Terminal 1. We first thought of staying near SFO that night, but then felt it might be more interesting to be in downtown SF (which we've visited) if we want to go out for dinner, plus rental car is $70 cheaper in downtown than it is from the airport. Thanks for all thehints.

The poster's point was that if you wanted to take BART, you'd have to go to the International Terminal, as that is where the BART station is. I didn't add that into my list of BART time-hassles above, but I should have. It'll probably take about 10 minutes to get from the US Airways terminal to the BART station. Yet another reason to take a taxi.

BART plus cab from Powell: $22 + tip. Cab all the way: $30 + tip.

You must have a pretty strong marriage if you're willing to force your wife to transfer terminals at the airport, ride the subway 30 minutes, schlep up and down BART station stairs with all your luggage, and stand around @ Powell trying to hail a taxi... after you've been up and flying for 24 hours... all in order to save $8.

Don't be silly. Taxi.

If you're going to take the BART depending on where your hotel is you may want to take it to Montgomery and walk from there to Sutter. If your hotel is closer to Civic then you're better off taking the taxi all the way as its a pretty steep climb up from the Powell Street station and its going to be ugly with all that luggage.

Thanks for the input. Although the sites estimating taxi fares I looked at ( http://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=SF) estimated $7.14 plus tip from Powell St., to Sutter St (added on to, of course $16 BART fare for two)., and $50.16 plus tip for SFO to 609 Sutter Street, those are, of course, just estimates. Points on wait time for train, BART, taxi, etc. are good ones. I think my wife would just as soon stay at an SFO area (Burlingame) hotel to sleep after a long flight (even though we'll be in Biz Class), even if we go to downtown SF to pick up the car the next day (to save $70 over airport rate), but we shall see. I was thinking downtown SF would be a nicer area in which to stay, but we may not end up doing much of anything besides going to dinner that night. And we've got lots of driving after that (to Sacramento for a few days, then Portland, then flying to LA).