Boraxo

From SFO or SF to Walnut Creek, Rental car is the only option if BART is down and also the cheapest by a factor of 2x-3x. Depending on traffic, from SFO may want to use San Mateo Bridge and take 880North->580East->680North.

I would strongly advise anyone flying into SFO who is not staying in the city of SF to make a car rental reservation (fully cancellable) as you will be up a creek if you need to travel anywhere in the bay area that is not serviced by CalTrain. And it goes without staying you will want lodging as close as possible to your daytime activities. SF streets were gridlocked during the last strike, and that was a holiday week.

The local political reporters said that BART operators would not strike again after being burned the last time as the strikers would have even less public support. But these are not well educated workers, they are loathe to make further give-backs, and BART management has not seen fit to throw them much of a bone in the latest round. So who knows, this could be brinksmanship but if not Round 2 may be a long one.

Ocn Vw 1K

Just after 7:00 p.m. today, unions representing BART employees issued a 72-hour courtesy notice that there may be a strike if there's no settlement or meaningful negotiations by this Sunday, August 4.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...143.php#page-1

abmj-jr

Ok, a bit of a different problem. I occasionally use Amtrak to Richmond and connect to Bart there. Am I looking at a huge cab fare to get from Amtrak to SFO or is there a better option?

bpe

You can take Amtrak all the way to Emeryville, then a cab from there will be somewhat cheaper.

If you really wanted to, you could take AC transit (F bus) to downtown SF, then Muni to Caltrain and then Caltrain to Millbrae, but that's probably more trouble than it's worth.

escog

Couldn't you take Amtrak to Emeryville (or maybe Oakland) and use the Amtrak connecting bus to get to the Caltrain station in San Francisco and from there to SFO? It does sound like a lot of connections which will likely take a bunch of time, though.

bpe

There are relatively cheap ways (AC transit 73 to 1/1R, then a transbay bus) but there aren't any cheap easy ways. If you're going to somewhere in the East bay that BART serves (From Richmond to Fremont), AC transit really isn't that bad though.

escog

Hah. Bpe just beat me to it.

Boraxo

Amtrak also runs to Oakland Colesium, you could then take a quick shuttle bus to OAK. Of course that doesn't work for SFO...

From Fresno you could also take Amtrak to San Jose, and connect to SJC or then take Caltrain to Millbrae. That would probably be quicker than trying to cross a bridge that will be wall to wall cars.

I stand partially corrected, as AC Transit is certainly inexpensive. But if there is a strike, it will take hours to get to SFO on transit from the East Bay. Time is money for many.

abmj-jr

I hadn't considered San Jose. Thanks for the idea. Anyone know how much of a trip from Amtrak-SJ to Caltrain-SJ? I assume by cab.

tom911

I'm flying home from Barcelona on Monday. My plan right now is $29 Evans Airporter bus which stops in Vallejo on the way to Napa (stop is the hotel across from Marine World). My sister's husband in American Canyon will run me home. If it's early enough in the day (won't be for me, 1900 arrival), there is a bus connection to Walnut Creek from the transit center a few blocks away on York Street in Vallejo.

If I can't get home for some reason Monday night, then Vallejo ferry in the morning connecting to SOLTRANS Route 78 bus to Walnut Creek BART (stops in Benicia). That bus has been pretty reliable and I used it to get to BART for this trip, among many others. It only runs until about 7-8 at night, though, and more frequently during commute hours.
http://www.soltransride.com/routes/m...dule/route-78/

It's possible that SOLTRANS Route 80 may continue right into San Francisco from El Cerrito BART. That would get you to Vallejo and then connect to route 78 to Walnut Creek. Watch the connecting times, though, if they do publish a schedule. I would not want to be around the transit center after dark as it's a block from an apartment complex with crime issues.

I'm just not up to speed on any planned bus service to Walnut Creek from San Francisco. Maybe that will be announced Monday, but then the issue is how much capacity and how long you'll have to wait. Didn't the buses only run during commute periods last month?

Tom in Barcelona

bpe

If you mean transferring from Amtrak to Caltrain in San Jose, they are at the same station (San Jose Diridon)

(If there is a strike) there will be more bus service than last month, but it will still be commute-only and I wouldn't be surprised if they all filled up and/or there would be a long wait for them.

Here is the current BART page on what other transit options are available.

Doc Savage

A data point:

It was hard to find reservable parking near SFO today, and BART is not allowing airport parking reservations as of now, even at Millbrae.

Giggleswick

For shared vans, Bayporter Express charges about $40 between SFO and Richmond or Oakland (but I don't know whether they'll go between SFO and OAK, or if there's some reason that they wouldn't). IME, they've been pretty reliable, but all bets are off during strike-caused gridlock. The Bay Bridge will be worse than hellish, whether you go by van or rental car, so some of the circuitous suggestions made above may actually work out better.

There's an SFO-Walnut Creek shared van, East Bay Connection, but I have no personal experience with them.

I assume that either van reservations or rental cars will be much harder to come by than normally.

calwatch

The other option from Walnut Creek is through the north and the Martinez Amtrak station. You would then take 3CTA (County Connection) from Martinez to Walnut Creek. There also is a Martinez Link bus (30Z) from Hercules. WestCAT has announced that all JPX trips will operate from Hercules to San Francisco (via El Cerrito Del Norte).

During peak hours 3CTA has announced special shuttles from Concord to Oakland. http://cccta.org/bart-strike-update/ The last bus leaves Martinez at 8:25 PM though. The Soltrans 80X service operates only four trips and is really a pay supplement to the free BART charter buses which will be operating.

calwatch

Also, don't forget the South San Francisco Ferry. The distance between here and the airport is not that long for a cab ride, although if you really wanted to be cheap take the free shuttle bus that meets the boat, get off as far south as you can (Utah/Airport) and walk a half mile to the SFO long term parking lot and ride the airport shuttle from there.

Given the fact that very few people even know it exists, it is likely to be uncrowded. Of course, service is limited but if it works for your time period this is a great option from the East Bay.

http://sanfranciscobayferry.com/route/oakland/ssf