Uber or MuniPass in SanFrancisco?

[boakl]

I am trying to decide between purchasing MuniPasses for each member of our family or skipping the MuniPass and using Uber or Lyft as we need them.

Info to help me make a decision:

MuniPass covers all buses, ferries and cable cars. Individual rides range from 2.25 to 7.00, depending on the mode of transport. If we do not pre-purchase a pass, we must have exact change (11.25 per 90 minutes of ride time).

I ran the cost estimator on both Uber and Lyft, and we are looking at around $25 per ride. Estimated total cost $175-$225)

We have a rental car, but plan to use it sparingly in the city, as parking is scarce and expensive.

We will be traveling from the Outer Richmond Areas to Fisherman's Wharf to pick up a HOHO bus, to meet our Alcatraz Ferry (leaves at 8:45 am!) and to get to AT&T park to watch a baseball game. On the other days, we will use our rental to travel out of the city limits

We would need the MuniPass on 3 days (but they are not consecutive). Daily use is $21 pp/day ($105, total cost)

We have a son with cognitive and motor disabilities. He will need assistance get on/off buses. We will have his special-needs stroller for when he tires. I have run the routes through the MuniPass app, and we will be making at least 1 transfer for each ride. It will take us a minimum of 55 minutes to reach each destination.

Uber/Lyft will pick us up at the house and drop us off at our destination, no transfers, no walking to transfer points.

Opinions? Is it worth the extra $$ to use Uber/Lyft or would should we buy the Muni passes on the days in which we would need them? We are not on a tight budget, but I also like to spend money wisely.


Any advice offered is welcome!

TIA

 

[bcla]

MUNI passes don't include ferries. The various commuter ferries are Golden Gate Ferry between Marin and San Francisco and San Francisco Bay Ferry, as well as Blue & Gold Fleet, which is required to run a commute ferry between Tiburon and San Francisco as part of its operating permit.

MUNI is almost exclusively limited to San Francisco, although I think they barely enter San Mateo County. I've never heard of anything called "MuniPass". Where did you find a pass that's $21/day? MUNI shows their visitor passes (aka Passports) as $20/$30/$41 (man it's gone up) for 1/3/7 consecutive days. While I haven't personally used one myself, I've gotten around San Francisco on MUNI and seen visitors holding these passes, where the user scratches off the first date of use. The passes are void if they improperly scratched. They're valid on all the services that MUNI runs, including buses, MUNI Metro, the historic F-line streetcars, and cable cars. It's the cable car service that makes the price so high. A 7-day MUNI pass is included with San Francisco CityPASS.

https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/transit/fares-passes/visitor-day-passes

http://www.citypass.com/san-francisco

I've taken both major ferry systems, and they only take their own tickets or the interagency Clipper system. Getting a Clipper Card for each member of the family might make the most sense. Almost every public transit agency in the Bay Area accepts it. They can be used with cash value as well as having virtual passes loaded to them. It does take a while to understand how it works though. Golden Gate Ferry has a big discount for using Clipper as opposed to cash fares, and it saves having to wait in line at the ticket machines. I've taken it where I saw long lines at the ticket machines, but where the ferry had last call for boarding. San Francisco Bay Ferry sells tickets on board, but has a small discount for using Clipper.

https://www.clippercard.com/

As for driving, it really depends on where and when your going. I'm familiar with getting around to certain places, and parking can be free in some places like Golden Gate Park or the area around the San Francisco Zoo. Street parking is also mostly free on Sunday throughout San Francisco, although there are some touristy areas where meters are enforced 7 days a week and sometimes until 11 PM. There's also a difference between city parking and Port of San Francisco meters.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

I would use Uber personally. There are no trains that go to Outer Richmond , so you would need to rely on the bus system there. It's just not worth the hassle IMO, especially if you have scheduled events that you can't be late for, and have people in your party with special needs.

 

[SMD]

My sister and I always buy the MUNI pass when we stay in SF, even if we end up taking a loss and not using it. We like to always have the option to hop on a bus if we decide to go somewhere. I've only been back once where I tried to use Uber or Lyft, it was a Thursday night, BART had stopped running, everyone around me was requesting them, there weren't any more available by the time the app loaded for me. I ended up taking the bus back to Emeryville and my cousin picked me up.

 

[GenGen22]

Please keep in mind that San Francisco has very heavy traffic which is why most San Franciscans use public transportation in the city. I've never taken Uber or Lyft but if it's anything like how taxis base their rate on time it could be a very costly ride so, do keep this in mind especially if there is a specific event going on at the time. There have been times we had to wait to get into the city for 45 minutes due to the traffic congestion.

 

[bcla]

Please keep in mind that San Francisco has very heavy traffic which is why most San Franciscans use public transportation in the city. I've never taken Uber or Lyft but if it's anything like how taxis base their rate on time it could be a very costly ride so, do keep this in mind especially if there is a specific event going on at the time. There have been times we had to wait to get into the city for 45 minutes due to the traffic congestion.

I wouldn't necessarily say that most San Franciscans take public transportation within the city. It really depends on where they're going. It's not quite like living in Manhattan. Most of the population lives in single family homes, and even those living in apartments have parking. While the parking situation in touristy areas is notorious, there's actually quite a bit of parking for more mundane businesses like supermarkets. A lot of areas are pretty walkable. While many chain stores seem to have a hard time getting permits, one joke is that there's a Walgreen's within two blocks of almost anyone.

MUNI is somewhat dysfunctional. Most of the services are by bus, so there's not really that much benefit in speed compared to driving, other than a few services that use dedicated bus/taxi lanes. Parking is the real issue, although a willingness to pay for parking makes it easier to find parking. Even MUNI Metro slows down once it becomes a streetcar service.

As for the OP, there is no all you can use pass that includes ferries. MUNI is a completely separate system that is completely based on wheeled vehicles. None of the ferry services has anything other than single-trip fares although I mentioned discounts for using Clipper. I would recommend getting a Clipper card and learning how to use it for all the anticipated services. MUNI day/multi-day passes can be loaded, and cash value can be loaded that can be used on the main ferry services (except Blue and Gold). If you plan on taking the San Francisco to Sausalito ferry, the discount is more than the $3 cost (before adding a cash value) for a new Clipper card.

https://www.clippercard.com/ClipperWeb/downloads/Clipper_MarinSon_05_2016_English.pdf
https://www.clippercard.com/ClipperWeb/downloads/Clipper_MarinSon_05_2016_English.pdf

 

[SMD]

MUNI functions pretty well between tourist areas. I agree that the rail and heritage street cars aren't great for commuters, but for a tourist they should be fine. In my experience it's the buses that are more hit and miss, but they are impacted by traffic. Outside of the highest commute times and the most congested areas (this is when you'd want to take rail anyway) they function fine for moving between sightseeing spots.

 

[bcla]

MUNI functions pretty well between tourist areas. I agree that the rail and heritage street cars aren't great for commuters, but for a tourist they should be fine. In my experience it's the buses that are more hit and miss, but they are impacted by traffic. Outside of the highest commute times and the most congested areas (this is when you'd want to take rail anyway) they function fine for moving between sightseeing spots.

MUNI Metro (light rail) actually functions pretty well outside of their equipment issues. Back in the 90s they replaced their disastrous Boeing Vertol light rail with the most expensive Italian equipment. They said they would be ultra reliable, but they ended up not being so, along with extremely jerky acceleration and braking. They were also way too big, such that they had to redo their platforms.

MUNI works great around the northeast portion of the city, but getting to Golden Gate Park is another matter. Everything slows down once it gets to the more suburban areas of town, especially when dealing with vehicle traffic. It's not too bad when they have dedicated right of way.

 

[boakl]

Thanks for the advice everyone! In the end, we decided to drive our rental to some areas and Uber at other times. We had no problems finding parking, and since we were on East Coast time most of our trip, we would usually get the early bird <$20 parking rates. It was a great time in a fabulous city!