Drivers in The City
tend to be a bit aggressive. This may be due to the fact that San Francisco is a
very hard city
to drive in. For example, there are many hills and many are extremely steep. Some streets do
not allow parallel curb parking. They are so steep that you must park your
car perpendicular to the curb. There are quite a few one way streets and the
streets tend to be narrow. Also there are many specific signs and info
to follow depending on which street you are one. Take Market Street for
instance. To someone from a small town trying to drive this crazy thing
called a street, it would be extremely chaotic and stressful. Market
street splits many times along its length into two lanes divided by a
concrete divider - one side for buses and carpools the other side for
regular traffic - although if you are in a car, you can drive in either
lane. Metal tracks run down the middle of market street and regularly
you have buses and trains driving among vehicular traffic.
Then to top it off most of the cross streets are one way streets and you
cannot turn the direction you want to go. Then even worse, some of the
one way streets do not allow you to turn in the direction of the
traffic. You can literally spend 20 minutes trying to go around
the blocks(s) in order to change your driving direction. Its crazy.
Driving in San Francisco, like many other large cities has additional
obstacles that you do not have in small towns. Take a street with 3
lanes, the left lane may turn into a "turn only" lane, the right lane
most likely will be blocked by some delivery vehicle, and if you are
lucky the middle lane will be moving.
Some intersections have stop signs that do not function by the global
norm of Red means stop and Green means go. Rather, the obvious
signal lights are all flashing orange continuously on both sides of the
traffic flow - and you have to know whether to stop or continue through
the intersection without stopping.
Parking can be horrific in The City especially in the heart of the
summer tourist months - namely August, mainly near tourist destinations.
In certain tourist areas such as the neighborhoods and streets near
Fisherman's Wharf - its best to find parking early in the day and use a
garage. Dave has actually parked a block and a half from Union Square
(the heart of the city's main shopping district) for FREE. No secrets
given out here though!
Free parking is often available in residential neighborhoods but usually
is limited to an hour or two hours at a time. Parking spots that are
available are usually small and if you are not used to parking in tight
spaces this can be quite a challenge.
Many residents of San Francisco do not even own a car based upon the
aforementioned problems of driving in San Francisco. There is good
public transportation and MUNI is San Francisco's metro. Underground and
above ground routes crisscross the city. BART (Bay
Area Rapid Transit- Schedules, Pricing and Routes available here) is
an alternative public transportation - BART runs to SFO (San Francisco's
International Airport) - you can catch BART via MUNI (MUNI
Schedules, Pricing & Routes available here). Cable cars also are
popular.
One nice thing about driving in San Francisco is that its a small city,
barely 7 miles across from ocean to bay. As long as you know the
direction you are trying to go in, its not too difficult to get lost.
