Chapter 8: Transportation

   Transportation is probably one of my favorite topics regarding the city of San Francisco. Living in Los Angeles almost all my life, I was caught by surprise with the extent of how dedicated transportation is in the city San Francisco. In Los Angeles, you cannot reach most of your destinations without a car, and from experience getting from point A to point B using the LA metro system tends to be inefficient. However when visiting San Francisco I was able to get to any point of city that I wanted using a 3-day bus pass. Not only were there a source of transportation to every location I wanted to reach, there were many times more than one form of transportation to get there.

The Forms of Public Transportation

    It is an interesting fact that about 32% of San Francisco residents use public transportation to and from work, which ranks it 3rd in the United States and first in California. Like the Los Angeles Metro, San Francisco transportation program is called Muni or San Francisco Municipal Railway. The Muni which is the 7th largest transit system in the United States consists of light rail, subway, a bus network, and streetcar line. Cable cars are also another form of transportation but it would make sense for residents to ride them. It is known more to be a tourist attraction. When I visited San Francisco it actually took about an hour to get one  of the cable cars so I cannot imagine why someone would use as a form of real transportation. What I also have found to be fascinating is the Transbay Tube. This line runs underwater across the San Francisco Bay.
   Not only is travel extremely accessible through public transportation around the city, it has lines that go to other major parts of the Bay Area.  Similarly, Chicago part of the Great Lakes/Corn Belt region, also has an extensive transportation system

Transbay Tube

Source:
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/rsrtp/documents/09Chapter4-CurrentServiceaccessible-fy08PublicDraftforMTAB10-2.pdf
http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/transportation/publictrans.shtml

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