Back when I used Caltrain and purchased a monthly parking pass, I often parked at Caltrain stations for the occasional weekend trip. But for longer trips I always used the secure off-airport lots for safety (for my car, not so much for my own).

I think Millbrae is pretty safe, but it's not secured parking, so I still worry about my car on longer trips....

Anyone know of any good places to park "in the neighborhoods" around SFO that would be accessible at a late hour? I may be coming in late on a flight, after BART closes, and would like to avoid paying fees for parking.

I wish! I've been tempted to use the "Millbrae Hotels" shuttle that serves the Travelodge and other hotels near BART, but I haven't the nerve, so my late inbound flights result in a $10 taxi ride and a ticked-off cab driver.

Another option is to park in South City close to 101 (on the street) and walk across 101 to Airtrain (about 10 mins). That runs 24 hours. My only question is how safe would it be to park, say, here

On the other hand, parking in Millbrae will mean a closer walk, but also a BART ride. BART's last Millbrae train leaves at 01:15 from SFO.

It's not a great area. I would rather not walk around after midnight.

millbrae bart ($1.50 each way) is still better than street parking in south city and even if you misconnect for the last millbrae train ex-sfo (had it happen with my inbound being 2 hours late), it is still well worth a cab ride (tho give the cabbie a good tip as it's a lousy fare for them :))

Is it possible to walk into SFO from the Millbrae BART / Caltrain station (cross 101 on Millbrae Avenue, then go toward the airport on McDonnell Road)? The distance is about two miles. If so, a possible option if your flight arrives after BART stops.

I wouldn't do this, especailly not in the middle of the night. I'm not sure McDonnel Road even has a sidewalk.

i definitely agree! do not walk it as it is definitely not safe in terms of traffic and you might also get stopped by a leo for "being too close to the airport". if you are parking at bart, take it directly to sfo-it's your best bet, the most direct, the easiest and the safest

I will be parking at San Bruno today (12/30) about 3:30pm and picking my car up about 7pm on Friday (1/2).

1/1 is a holiday (no ticketing). SB is free parking for 24 hours on normal days. Can I get away with not paying as they don't ticket after 3pm today and I will get a full day free on 12/31, 1/1 is a holiday then will I get another 24 hours on 1/2 (even though I won't need it).

Should I just be safe and buy a few days or will I be ok? Any input appreciated.

It seems there is $1 daily fee to park in Millbrae BART. If I park there on Friday evevning and pick up on sometime on Monday, Will I get fine on Monday if I don't pay it in advance? How much will the fine be?

If they check, and they usually do, you will get a fine on Monday.
Fine table

Can I pay Monday parking fee on Friday?

San Bruno BART parking permit strategy Friday 6/5/09 to Sat 6/13/09
 

I need to park at San Bruno ~10AM Friday, June 5 through ~10 AM Saturday, June 13.

Looking for any advice/ experience on these options:

Option 1 - Buy long-term permit covering Friday, June 5 through Friday, June 12 (8 days=$48). Pro: easiest and most risk-free; con: most expensive option because I'm paying for Sat and Sun, June 6 & 7.

Option 2 - Buy 1-day permit for Friday, June 5 ($3) and a separate long-term permit for Monday-Friday, June 8-12 (5*$6=$30). Pro: Saves $15 versus option 1. Con: Will displaying two permits at once attract unwanted attention by BART parking authorities?

Option 3 - Arrive at San Bruno on June 5 without a reservation for that day, pay the $1 for it, and then also have a permit covering Mon-Fri June 8-12 ($30). Pro: cheapest option, more importantly than $2 savings vs. option 2, it avoids risk of displaying two permits simultaneously; Con: Risk that no parking is available when I arrive; hoping on a Friday this would be unlikely, but if the lot is full, then I am screwed.

I am leaning to option 1; after all in comparison to my $1,000 air fare for my trans-oceanic itinerary, what's an extra few bucks in parking. But on the other hand I am frugal and hate to spend money unnecessarily.

this is kinda like "will my upgrade clear?" :)
 

I would seriously drop option 3 for the reason given -= no promise there will be parking when you arrive. Why take that kind of chance?

On 1 or 2, perhaps posters more familiar with BART parking can answer more clearly, but if I were going abroad for 10 days I would prob go w/ Option 1 to avoid any problems. But maybe Option 2 is a common practice, so I hope those who park there will answer.

Anything we say is only a guess of course :)

When faced with a similar issue at Millbrae, I chose to pay for Fri/Sat/Sun so that I would have only one permit on my dashboard. I don't see any legal issues with Option 2 (after all, you're paying for what you're using), but I'm not eager to test the patience of BART parking enforcement by using separate parking permits simultaneously.

NB: I don't know how quickly the San Bruno parking lot fills up, but the reserved permits are good only until 10 am. After that time, anyone (with permit or not) can use the reserved spots. Unless you reach there before 10 am, you could still find all the spots taken.

I parked at Millbrae BART from Fri a.m. Jul. 3 through Tues. p.m. Jul. 7. Used the following combo of parking payments and it all worked fine.
Fri. Jul 3 was a regular BART service day - paid the $1 in-station daily fee for the space in which i parked.
Sat.-Sun. were free days - no parking purchased.
Mon - Tues were regular BART service days and earlier purchased an "airport parking" pass at $6/day for those two days, which I placed on the dashboard before leaving the car Friday.

How much was the BART ticket with the recent increases (particularly the $4 airport surcharge)? Did you get hit with that surcharge for a short trip?

Yes, Millbrae to SFO was $4 each way p.p. (two of us traveling). However, as we are both entitled to use BART green tickets, it brought the fare to $1.50 each way p.p. Thus, the BART fares and the parking charges totalled $19 for 5 days of parking.

Why are people STILL parking at Millbrae? Why not at San Bruno which also has a big parking lot? It's only a 1-stop ride to SFO and you CAN walk to San Bruno at night -- there are sidewalks -- it's only about 1.5 miles from the Car Rental AirTrain stop. You can also probably park in the neighborhood for free.

Three reasons I prefer Millbrae:
1) Earlier BART service to SFO and earlier trains go direct to SFO;
2) Later BART service from SFO back to Millbrae and later trains go nonstop;
3) Fare is $2.90 less each way from Millbrae than from San Bruno.

So I'm gone this weekend, leaving tonight, returning around midnight on Sunday.

If I buy a two day airport ticket for today and tomorrow, that should be enough, yes? Also, is the airport parking at BART in Milbrae in a different area then the regular parking?

Parking enforcement officially ends at 3pm each day and is not in effect on weekends, so you only need a permit for Friday. The airport parking pass allows you to park in any space (including those requiring a permit for use before 10am).

Right but without a permit for today, my car could be towed or ticketed because it was left there overnight, right?

Actually, it looks like they don't enforce until 4am, so you're right. Only Friday it is! Nice!

Even if you needed to park earlier during the day today (prior to 3 pm), you could cover today by paying the $1 fee for regular daily parking at the station (but if you were entering before 10am, this would limit you to the non-permit spaces).

I am planning to park at San Bruno from Thursday at 1 pm until Monday at 8 am.
Am I correct that I can pay the $1 fee for Thursday and pay 1 day's long-term permit for Monday? Would that work? I have read the info on their website about 10 times, but it is still unclear to me.

I'll be driving into San Francisco (Nob Hill) getting there mid to late afternoon on a Thursday. I won't need the car until about 06.30 on the Sunday morning.
My thoughts are as follows :
Park the car at a BART airport car park and then pay $6 a day parking ($18) then pick it up on Saturday evening and park it overnight in the Sutter Stockton garage at a cost of $8 . Retrieve it at 06.30am and leave SF.
Are there any potential problems with this strategy ? Am I being stupid paying out the $18 for the Bart parking?
Any help appreciated (supplied in the most basic of ways:))
Thanks

I was hoping someone would answer this
 

Unfortunately I have no idea - it sounds like a good plan but I never park at BART - sorry!

This won't work. Unless Friday is a legal holiday recognized by BART, you'll need to pay the long-term fee for Friday AND Monday.

If you arrive at the BART lot after 3 PM on Thursday, you could do this for a $6 BART fee for Friday only as weekend parking at BART (3 PM Fri. to early Mon. a.m.) is free. You would need a closer alternative for Sat. night as you point out, since BART service starts too late on Sunday a.m. for your plans.

Thanks for the knowledgable and helpful reply .
I'll probably be arriving after 3pm so that sounds great. One potential snag I can see is when I start a booking it assumes I must be a US resident as the dropdown menu requires a state and zipcode . this is using parkingcarma.com.
is there anyway around this ? many thanks again

As far as the zip code/U.S. state info, you could contact parkingcarma (https://www.parkingcarma.com/About-Us/Contact-Us.aspx) via email and ask if there's a workaround.

Airport/Longterm parking at BART
 

I just used the Millbrae BART station parking lot for longterm parking while on a weekend trip out of town. Was trying to be cost-conscious (translation cheap) and discovered that Millbrae BART is the best deal in town - who knew?

Anyway, posted my experience in an article at:
http://perendinate.com/2010/01/03/co...-bart-station/

I need to park overnight from Sunday afternoon to 1000 Monday at one of the stations that offers longterm/airport parking. Since weekends are free, would I be fine purchasing a reserved pass for Monday only?

Yes, this will work. See post #57 in this thread.

I missed that post. Thanks for your reply!

I hate to resurrect this thread, but it was actually the top result when I searched on Google.

I'm new-ish to the area and am heading home from SFO to Denver next Thursday until Sunday afternoon. Since I have a car, I figure I have two reasonable options:

1) Drive myself to SFO from Lamorinda and parking at SFO. The upside is I guess having safe parking, but the downside is that parking there is $33/day according to SFO's website, and this would also require battling the three hellholes that are the Caldecott Tunnel, the Bay Bridge, and the 101 during the Thursday morning commute.

2) Parking at Orinda BART and taking BART into SFO. It's only $5 a day, and I'd rather take BART than drive. The only thing is, will my car be safe at BART? And do I need my airport permit to cover all four days ($20 total), or can I get by with just buying one for one day and then depending on weekend parking through Sunday?

$33 / day would be fairly rough for SFO parking given that the long term lot is perfectly nice, has a regular shuttle and is open 24x7 for $14 with offsite lots even cheaper. Still, the drive is a pain, faces lots of traffic as you pointed out and ends up costing a lot more. I take BART to SFO from the east bay all the time and while it's going to be hard to get a seat heading into the city during peak rush hour, it's a lot easier to deal with.

Permits to park for the airport are different than just daily parking. BART closes nightly so it's very easy for them to enforce no overnight parking and they do. So long as you are fully adhering to the permit during the weekdays I can't see the weekend being an issue from the policy... but it's worth asking a station agent before you catch the train.

As far as safety, Orinda is one of the nicest stations in a nice city IMO. Still, the station is removed from street view and obviously has people coming in and out frequently. I've never had an issue day parking there but certainly the usual rules regarding keeping valuables out of sight [or really of the car] and making sure your vehicle is not a target really apply.

Weekday parking fee rise at S.F. Peninsula stations.
 

While weekend parking at BART Peninsula stations will remain free, weekday parking at Millbrae, San Bruno and So. S.F. will rise on Aug. 1 from $1 to $2.
http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/20...s20110705.aspx

I saw no increase listed for the long-term airport parking option at Millbrae, so assume that it's still $6/day.

The few times I have done weekend trips with BART (pretty much stopped now due to the $20RT BART fare for me and park off airport instead), I always parked at Walnut Creek. To me, even when I worked for BART in the 80s, it seemed to be the safest station on that line and had very little crime. I'd be worried about parking overnight at Orinda, or even Lafayette, as there just isn't a lot of vehicle traffic by those stations late at night to ward off potential crooks and they have obscure lots that can't be seen from the street.

I have no idea, though, where the "airport spaces" are at Walnut Creek. I always parked at street level on the west side of the station and not in the adjoining parking structure.