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The Bus

San Francisco Travel Blog › entry 1 of 31 › view all entries

OK, you know that San Francisco you see in the movies? Where people with questionable income live in cute little victorians and travel across the golden gate bridge constantly (Why are they going to Marin, anyways?)? And everything is clean? Yeah, that's not me. I live in the Mission where it's flat and dingy and full of burritos. It's fabulous. Anyway, this is a collection of stuff that happens in SF, as well as summary collections from my travels.
True things seen on buses in SF:

1. A crackhead and a homeless man brawling
2. Crackhead kicking the homeless guy in his man parts
3. Homeless guy peeing during the fight
4. Passenger throwing up due to pee smell
5. Live chickens
6. Some guy fighting another homeless guy onto the bus for stealing his stuff, fighting for 3 blocks and fighting their way off the bus
7. fresh stains from women (ahem) cycle-ing

That said, the buses are pretty reliable. They go everywhere, although they might be a bit late. Compared to other bus systems I've lived through (non existant service in the suburbs, everyone sitting in each other's laps in Panama, the confusing routes in Guatemala City), it's really not that bad. And props to just plain being available. I always hear tourists saying SF has a good public transportation system, so I guess other town don't even have buses or something.

However, SF buses do fall off their wires a lot, and tend to stop in traffic to fix it, and they also have a tendency to hit parked cars. Did you know they actually have little cards that say "Your car was hit by Bus # _______, on ____day, ____, driven by Driver # _____" that they leave on windsheilds?

Bus puke, picture from Atousa's
thenewextrememimi says:
Hee, I used to work for a car insurance company, and one of my clients came back to her car to discover that card on her windsheild and her rearview mirror gone!
Posted on: Dec 09, 2007
lisa says:
hahaha the card thing is hilarious. i hope you didn't find that out personally!
Posted on: Dec 09, 2007
thenewextrememimi says:
I think it depends on where you stay and what you want to do. If you just want to see the golden gate bridge and the wharf, or if you plan on doing bay area stuff like Monterey or Marin, get a hotel somewhere further away (where there's parking) and drive. If you want to experience all the different neighbourhoods and live in the city, you're definitely better off without one.
Posted on: Dec 06, 2007
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"What's there to do in San Francisco? What shouldn't I miss?" SF has something for everyone, so tailor your trip to your interests! Here's my general thoughts.

Of course there's the usual tourist attractions -- Golden gate bridge, alcatraz, pier 39, Alamo Square, lombard st -- which in my opinion range from really cool (views of GG bridge) to silly (lombard st), but my favorite way to see SF is just to put on some walking shoes. The city is geographically small, but very varied. In one day and a general Westward direction, you can get a giant breakfast burrito in the bustling mural-lined Mission, do some vintage shopping on Valencia, visit an old Spanish mission, go to boutique-lined Hayes valley, up Haight St to the famous Haight-Ashbury, enjoy a couple hours in Golden Gate Park (home to lakes, museums and even buffalo), before crashing a nighttime bonfire on the beach. Alternatively, you can start in downtown, get some tiramisu and coffee in North Beach, get dimsum in old Chinatown, see the view from Coit tower, oggle at big houses in Pac Heights, see the beautiful palace of fine arts, visit the Legion of Honor art museum, and go to the golden gate bridge in time for sunset.

A lot of SF is in its atmosphere, its diversity, and its refusal to be stereotypically American. All that, and I haven't even mentioned City Hall, the Castro, the Tenderloin, the shopping, the weekend-trip possibilities, or the nightlife.

Have fun!
Embarcadero Center
The Beat Museum
Skyline
Golden Gate Bridge, photo courte
The (new) mall
mariovanhaal says:
Hi, thank you for your review. What kind of weekend trip possibilities would you suggest? I will be in SF for a business trip in November for a week and wanted to take an extra week off to explore the area. Was thinking of maybe doing Vegas / Gran Canyon. Do they offer these kind of trips from SF? Would it be the right time of year to do these trips? Thanks in advance.
Posted on: Jul 24, 2009
krush says:
"its refusal to be stereotypically American..."
Go, SF!! :)
Posted on: Dec 11, 2007
martinikitty13 says:
i totally agree - loooove walking around SF! never been to Bay to Breakers - guess i'll have to check it out! :)
Posted on: Dec 11, 2007
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