San Fran Tran (part 1)

by David Deutsch

A recent business/vacation trip to San Francisco was my first time in the Bay Area As many of my friends correctly guessed, I loved it. The area is not only incredibly diverse and culturally rich; it has also arguably changed the face of the world over the past 20 years more than any other place. Game-changing companies such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo and countless entrepreneurial firms have emerged from the Silicon Valley and Mountain View, spurring some of the most amazing technological leaps the world has ever seen.

On the other hand, America’s right-wing uses the term “San Francisco liberal” as slang for everything that is wrong with America: liberal, gay, and more liberal. A few years ago, Bill O’Reilly even invited terrorists to attack and destroy the city. Nothing screams “patriotic” more than inviting radical Islamic terrorists to destroy an American city.

Instead of delving into a polemic political debate, I’d like to recount my experience traveling the area without a car to review their transportation system and see how the less-fortunate could live in the city without an auto.

The flight to San Francisco from LAX was short and sweet, just the way I like it. Being six foot three and over 200 pounds, I don’t much care for flying coach.

A friend picked me up at SFO and drove us to San Mateo, a charming suburb south of San Francisco, with lots of small shops, great restaurants and cultural attractions. Sadly, the cute little downtownish area that is San Mateo is very, very small. I got pretty bored pretty fast, so I worked my way back to the hotel, which was adjacent to the freeway and pretty much isolated from everything. It was still early, and I wished I had a car: there was a lot to do and see within a few miles of the hotel, but being carless made such excursions all but impossible.

Instead, I ventured around the hotel and found a construction project behind it, funded by the America Recovery and Investment Act, that evil, socialist, communist bill signed by President Obama to, er, rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure and create American jobs during the worst recession in nearly a century. Yes, it would have been nice to have a car; but I’m glad I didn’t, because I got to see how the ARIA project helps replace crumbling roads with drivable ones.

After a couple of days it was time for my business meeting, way up north in Concord. I had to take the BART—Bay Area Rapid Transit, the area’s famous mass transit system—from one of its southernmost points to one of its northernmost, North Concord Station. The trip took about an hour and 15 minutes and cost $10.45. The ride itself was fine with no interruptions, though the train smelled like an old tweed suit that had been in a closet for way too long. According to Google Maps, driving would have taken at least 50 minutes and up to an hour and a half in traffic, not to mention gas and aggravation. So taking the BART was a good choice, even if I had a car.

After my business meeting, it was time to have some fun in San Francisco. My first ten minutes in my slightly-rundown but very inexpensive hotel made me very happy that I didn’t rent a car. Parking a car at the hotel was a whopping $27 per day, and the staff recommended that all drivers keep their cars parked and take mass transit instead. This was music to my mass-transit-loving ears.

And for a mere $20 I got three-day unlimited access to the MUNI system, which included buses, the famous cable cars, and the trolleys, which looked like New Jersey diners on wheels. (More on the trolley cars and cable cars in my next feature.)

One of the first things I did after checking into the hotel was jump on the cable car, which originated just a few blocks away. I had no idea what made cable cars so special until I rode in one. Operators do not drive these things, but rather operate them with a very complex and intimidating series of levers and foot petals. I asked a driver how someone trains to be a cable car operator. He said it requires 35 days of training. It’s an interesting but exhausting job, pushing and pulling, stepping and moving constantly, all while managing the throngs of tourists clamoring to board.

In fact, operating the cars requires two people: one to use the levers and pedals, and the other to operate the brakes on the back of the car. That other job is critical: those hills are steep. They are so steep that some of the sidewalks are actually stairs. I felt bad for car owners who had to drive their vehicles up the hills and hope their brakes didn’t fail; I felt worse for the poor horses that probably fell down the hills on a regular basis before cars were invented.

After a couple of days of zipping around San Fran, from the Wharf to Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge, I realized how glad I was not to have a car. With all the jaywalking, cable cars, trolley cars, steep hills, pedestrians and crazy streets, getting around was too difficult to navigate while driving. Besides, their mass transit system was amazing: buses, trolley cars and cable cars criss-cross the city, making car ownership more of a burden than a convenience. The only other transit-friendly U.S. city I know of is New York, although there may be others I have not visited.

This does not mean San Francisco is a great place for the poor to live. The cost of living is prohibitively high; I saw a two-bedroom house for rent for $2800/month. (Granted, that place had a view of the bay.) Still, getting around without a car there is much, much easier than in Orange and Los Angeles counties. (In retrospect, it might have been better to rent a car in San Mateo and return it before going to San Francisco.)

In my next article, I will discuss the city’s famed cable cars and slightly-less-famous trolley cars, fascinating throwbacks to a bygone era which have weaved themselves seamlessly into the very fabric of the city. And I will discuss why San Francisco maintained its mass transit culture, while other cities let theirs die away in favor of cars.

Stay tuned ...

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