The Best Transportation in San Francisco

Worried about going to the big city and not sure how to get around? We’ve got all the info you need! At just under 47 square miles, did you know that San Francisco is twice the size of Manhattan? This city isn’t nearly as small as people may think when looking at it on a map! Each of the fourteen districts are unique in their own way. Deciding where to go and what to do during a stay here can seem overwhelming. However, you can see a lot of the city like a local by embracing the best transportation in San Francisco: bicycles. 

While your first thought may be to rent a car, think about alternative options and what’s practical for your stay. Renting a car in San Francisco, and California in general, seems to be quite a bit more expensive than other areas. For example, we had an experience where a rental was $214.80 for two days, not including any temporary holds. Plus, that doesn’t include the higher cost of gas in California. Another factor, the cost of parking a car in San Francisco, adds up as well. It costs $3.75 per hour for street parking without a permit and garages run $3 for 30 minutes. 

Locals joke there are 500,000 people in the city and only 200,000 parking spots. Plus, there are convoluted parking requirements and restrictions on top of it all to try and comprehend.

Walking is, of course, the most practical way to get around for the majority of the city. However, if you’re staying downtown and want to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge, it’ll take you an hour and forty minutes! It’s not bad if you have a long stay, but eats up valuable time if you only have a weekend. 

Alternatively, there are other options. Turo offers daily personal car rentals, but it may mean dealing with some logistics. If you’re comfortable getting on a bus, the MUNI runs all through the city for $3 per ride. Uber and Lyft are a great one-way option if you get tired of walking. However, the costs can add up drastically when you depend on it too often. Currently, the trolley isn’t running, so that isn’t an option right now (thanks, COVID!).

But you’re here to read about biking, right? Biking in a city full of hills may sound intimidating. Don’t worry, there are many alternate route options to try and avoid them if you want. San Francisco is also full of bike-friendly roads and routes. This allows for a safe ride while journeying through the city. Spinlister is a great resource for finding some of the best bike routes for getting through the city. They’re also a premier bike rental and sharing service connecting bike owners with people looking to rent or borrow around the world. 

Just to prepare yourself, take a look at Google maps to see exactly how much height variance you’ll incur during your ride. Don’t be like us and not use this information before you rent a bike. If you don’t, there’s the possibility of frustratingly pushing your bikes up steep hills and then being scared your brakes aren’t good enough to stop at the bottom of said hills…at night! 

There are many local bike rental shops as well as single or multi-use bike options around the city. Choosing which place to rent from is all personal preference and convenience based on how long you want to ride and where you want to go. 

We found the best option for our extended stay was to get a monthly pass for Lyft, which allowed us to try out both the classic and E-bikes. Pricing can be found here and varies based on your needs. The app and bikes themselves were both user-friendly. It felt to us like the classic bikes’ resistance was on the highest setting even when it wasn’t. The E-bikes vary tremendously with some barely needing to pedal, while others need a constant pedal with low resistance. The nice thing is if you take a bike and it doesn’t feel right, you can swap it out and notify Lyft what the problem is with the defective bike. We found this to be extremely helpful. 

It’s easy to see why riding a bike around the city is encouraged. Not only is it more energy efficient, but it’s time and cost-efficient as well. We’ve also found it to be the best way to see unexpected things and go to places we might not have paid much attention to before coming. Plus, it’s fun and a good workout! 

Bonus info! Biking through Golden Gate Park is so big it can keep you busy for days. Did you know that Golden Gate Park is 20% (or 150 acres) bigger than Central Park? There are also bison inside the park. Yes, I said that correctly, bison! Check them out on the west end at the Bison Paddock between 36th and 40th.