San Francisco transportation question!

Re: San Francisco transportation question!

• Caitlinmmk member

  

  January 2011 edited December 2011

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_california-northern_san-francisco-transportation-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:56Discussion:eb7378f3-6bb8-4f96-ad71-ca844bf601d8Post:e4ffa55d-fd8b-4a92-ad17-22854789f343">San Francisco transportation question!</a>:
  [QUOTE]Hi all!  FI and I will be traveling to San Francisco for part of our honeymoon!  We'll be flying out of Chicago to SF and staying for a few days, and then rent a car and drive to Napa and Yosemite for a couple days.  However, when we come back to the SF area, we found a flight for cheaper out of Oakland.  Here's where we're getting stuck with transportation.  We were planning on renting a car just for our Napa/Yosemite trip, and there's a Hertz just a few blocks away from our B&B where we can rent a car for $40 a day.  However, we can either drive all the way back to the middle of San Francisco, drop off the car there, then take the BART over to the Oakland Airport.  I'm so incredibly worried about something going wrong, like rush hour traffic, or missing a bus that we'll end up missing our evening flight.  Instead we could just take the BART over to Oakland from our B&B and rent a car from Oakland and then return it, saving the hassle of public transportation when we're trying to get to the airport, but the prices are so much higher!  Ideally I'd like to not back track and spend literally twice as much, but I love the convenience of just renting the car at the airport. For those who are from the greater SF area, what do you recommend traveling wise?  Any hints for a couple of Midwesterners who are excited to visit California for the first time??
  Posted by twixinthemix[/QUOTE]
  
  I'm a little condfused by your post. Will you be in the SF area at the end of your honeymoon, or will you be in Napa/Yosemite? Because it would be easier if you were in SF to drop the car off in the middle of the day and hang out for a little while at a coffee shop or something and then take BART to avoid all the crazy traffic. Although if you're heading straight from Napa or Yosemite it would be much easier to drop off in Oakland because the traffic isn't as heavy in the direction. Also I think you can drop off a Hertz car at any of their locations, just check with them first. I don't know if I helped at all, but I hope you figure it out :)

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• twixinthemix member

  

  January 2011 edited December 2011

  Sorry I didn't explain it very well!  We will be spending the first three days of our honeymoon in SF, then we'll rent a car and stop in Napa and then head to Yosemite for 2 nights.  Then we'll drive back and fly out of Oakland.  Our Oakland flight leaves at 10:55pm and the local hertz we'd rent it from (it's the one we've looked at the most so far) closes at 6pm so we'd have to be back by then.  So we'd essentially have 4-5 hours to get to Oakland with the BART.  How busy does the BART get during rush hour?  What is considered rush hour in SF?

  
  

  And yes, you can return a hertz car at any location but for a very steep price, especially since one of those locations is an airport.  If we rent it from the local location on O'Farrell St. and return it to the same location it'd be about $40 a day.  If we rented it from O'Farrell and dropped it off at the airport, it would be about $95 a day.  That's over twice as much!!  If we rented it from the Oakland Airport and returned it to the same location, it'd be about $78 a day.  It would seriously be cheaper to rent the car from O'Farrell and return it there while immediately turning around and renting another car from the same location just to drive to Oakland and dropping it off there.  It's ridiculous.

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• Caitlinmmk member

  

  January 2011 edited December 2011

  BART get fairly busy during rush hour, but it wont be as bad as taking the freeway(it's horrible!). Traffic is usually at it's worst between 3-6 and it's really slow going headed east. Also the trip from Yosemite to Oakland is going to be close to a 3 hour drive, maybe you could spend your last night in SF so you can drop the car off in a timely manner and then you can leave your bags at the hotel while you hang in the city until you're ready to head to the airport?
  

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• susie829

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  If your flight doesn't leave until almost 11pm, then you'll be fine. coming into the city at commute time isn't bad; it's getting out of the city that sucks. if you have to have the car back in SF by 6pm, then i would suggest leaving yosemite no later than noon just to give yourselves time to take rest stops and to allow for traffic (and maybe relax a little before heading over to oakland). taking bart is easy. it gets crowded but it's not a big deal. you wouldn't have to leave SF until 8 or 8:30pm unless you want to hang out at the airport for a really long time. just note that bart runs less frequently later at night so make sure to check the schedule.
  
  my other suggestion would be to rent the car from oakland. that way you'll be able to stay in yosemite for awhile longer and not have to deal with coming back into SF. i know you said it was more expensive but keep in mind that if you rent from SF, you'll have to pay the bridge toll coming back into SF and then pay for Bart so it might end up being worthwhile to just rent out of oakland. check out enterprise rentals. they're usually cheaper than hertz.
  my fiance grew up in yosemite (and his parents still live/work there). it's a beautiful place. you guys are going to have so much fun!!
  

  

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