In the United States, we’re beginning a long holiday weekend of travel to celebrate a national Day of Thanksgiving. This means travel to visit friends and family as we join together to feast and watch American football.
People trying to park at San Francisco International Airport last night were queued to I-380 on Highway 101. The radio traffic reporters told us the best option for southbound traffic was a crazy detour involving I-280 and a u-turn at Millbrae Avenue.
They completely failed to mention the option that seems to make the most sense to me: Millbrae BART to SFO, which is located just off of Millbrae Avenue. They have a monstrous 5 story parking garage with 2900 spaces where they charge $2 per day for up to 30 days for airport parking. The BART ticket is $4.05 for travel between Millbrae and SFO each way. BART dumps you off directly outside of the International Terminal from where you can ride the AirTrain around the airport to whatever terminal you need. When traffic into the airport turns our major freeways into a parking lot, taking BART to SFO seems like a no brainer, so go figure.
I’ve biked from SFO exactly once, when I came to the area for a house hunting trip after accepting a job in the area. The details have likely changed since a decade ago, so I’ll refer you to Lady Fleur’s more recent experience with biking to SFO.
I bike past San Jose International Airport (SJC) to and from the office each day. Airport traffic in SJC isn’t so bad, but the economy parking lot at the north end of the airport was full last night.
You can park your car at a few area hotels and catch an airport shuttle (for a fee). For weekend trips, you can park for up to 72 hours at a VTA Park and Ride lot for free, catch light rail to the Metro light rail station on 1st Street (a $2 ride), and from there catch the free #10 VTA airport flyer. In just a minute I’ll leave the office and take video of this route just to show how easy it is.
Finally, it’s pretty easy to bike to SJC too. The airport website kind of pooh poohs the idea of walking or biking to the airport, but if you have a single piece of small luggage it’s fairly easy to get to the terminal on foot and on bike via the Guadalupe River Trail.
The man behind SJ Rides will help me with video on that this afternoon. Hopefully I’ll have this up by this evening. Perhaps it’s a little late for your travels this year, but maybe it will help for your Christmas vacation plans.
Have a happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you to Matt for details on BART parking at Millbrae
