San Francisco at a Glance

Public Transportation in San Francisco

San Francisco is famous for its historical cable cars.

Do you dream of moving to San Francisco, the cultural hub of the Bay Area, and of waking up to the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge? Moving to San Francisco is about more than America’s liberal subculture. With our guide on moving to San Francisco, you’ll learn about climate, visa and public transport.

The Muni

San Francisco’s Municipal Railway (Muni) was founded in 1912 and is one of the oldest transit companies in the United States. It provides transit in the city and county of San Francisco 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are about 80 routes throughout the city. Muni operates historic streetcars, modern light rail vehicles, diesel buses, electric trolley coaches and the world famous cable cars.

Unfortunately, the Muni does not serve San Francisco airport. For transit to and from the airport, please refer to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) or Samtrans. For those night hawks among you, there is a late night and overnight OWL service of the Muni between 1am and 5am.

Tickets and Fares

Travels by bus, historic street car and metro cost $2.00, including a free transfer. Trips with the historic and characteristic cable cars are $5.00 per single ride. Special event services usually have special prices, which you should look up when the occasion requires it.

For limited travel or first-time visits, you can get a Limited Use Muni ticket at one of the vending machines at the metro train stations for example. Once you have moved to San Francisco permanently and know that you will probably need a Muni ticket for regular rides, you can buy a Clipper card.

The Clipper card has replaced the Muni/ BART paper passes. You can load a monthly pass, tickets of participating transit operators or a certain cash value on your card and off you go. Charge your Clipper card at ticket vending machines in metro stations or at Clipper retailers. Alternatively, you can visit clippercard.com or call 877.878.8883.

Taxis

If you do not like to squeeze yourself in an overcrowded trolley car together with hundreds of strangers every day, you may as well take a taxi to get around town. Fares start at about $3.30 and run at around $2.00 per mile. Remember that you should add at least 10% tip to the final fare, even if it has been a short ride.

Cabs are probably easiest to hail along downtown streets. If you find yourself anywhere else in the city, you may need to call a taxi company. Many taxi drivers accept credit cards as a form of payment. However, you should ask in advance if this is the case. Popular taxi companies with 24 hour dispatches are: