San Francisco is connected through various transit agencies. If you are familiar with cities like Chicago or New York, you may be under the impression that getting around the bay area is similar. In my experience, it really isn’t.
In Chicago, I typically experienced, “There is one (or two) right ways to do it.”
In SF, I typically find, “There are no right ways to do it, but there is one that is right for you.”
The Bad:
Having google maps or other services calculate your itinerary is not something to be taken as absolute. Instead, it is often convoluted, especially if you are not familiar with the various transit agencies.
The Good:
The variety of transit agencies allows for lots of choice in the type of experience you have while commuting.
It is helpful to have the map above when traveling around SF. For me, I tend to prefer a train over a bus, and the simplicity of picking the closest stop to my intended destination, saves me a ton of time deliberating on how to get somewhere.
If you know the muni, you might be able to often skip having google calculate your directions until you’ve gotten off at your stop. Doing this while away from the metro can often result in disaster as google maps may recommend a ’10 minute walk’ up what seems like a hill at 90 degree incline.
When stepping off a metro stop, you can be confident that a bus will connect close to the stop, or perhaps just be a short walk away.
Rishi 3:43 pm on September 28, 2012 Permalink |
this is a great tip Ziad! I’m going to try the same strategy on my phone alarm with my audio books.