![[SF-streetcar.webp]] *Photo via [Justin Franz / The Washington Post](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jan/20/a-direct-line-to-the-past-the-streetcars-of-san-fr/)* SF is the second densest city in the US, so it's a bit of a bummer that we don't have a public mass transit system to match. You'll find that you can't reliably get to any point in the city by subway like you can in NYC, you have to use a patchwork of buses, light-rail, and streetcars to get where you want to go. Of course you can use car-sharing apps, but we try to avoid them as much as possible. [Muni](https://www.sfmta.com/maps/muni-service-map) is the name of the city's combined transit system. The bus network covers most of the city, but is not always the fastest way to get from A to B. The light-trail (which also goes underground) is great for traveling north/south between Dogpatch and Chinatown via Downtown, or for traveling east/west between Downtown and Ocean Beach via Castro. The streetcars travel along the Embarcadero and up and down Market Street. I highly recommend a ride on the streetcars. The city has purchased [streetcars from around the world](https://www.streetcar.org/san-franciscos-historic-streetcars/) and restored them to run on our system, each car features its original paint job and inside there is usually placard explaining the car's history and its hometown origin. Look out for the [Boat Tram](https://www.sfmta.com/blog/all-aboard-boat-tram-summer) ... that's the rarest one to ride. Note these are different from the cable cars which run up a few of the big hills in the city. There are still two more train systems to go. The regional subway system is called BART though we rarely ride it within the city. For us, it's only really useful to get to the airport or to connect between the Financial District and the Mission. BART's primary value is connecting SF and the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, etc). There's also Caltrain. This is the commuter rail that connects SF with all points south (Silicon Valley, San Jose, etc). We only ever ride when we need to go to San Jose when the Buffalo Sabres come to town to play the Sharks. Finally, and most important to us, [bike infrastructure](https://www.sfmta.com/maps/san-francisco-bike-network-map) is improving all the time (though not fast enough) and there are [bike share stations](https://www.lyft.com/bikes/bay-wheels) managed by Lyft everywhere. Whenever possible I recommend using an e-bike to assist with some of the hill climbs you'll inevitably encounter. When all else fails, car sharing is dependable everywhere. A lot of people are particularly excited by the novelty of [self-driving taxis](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/waymo-one/id1343524838). > [!TIP] > > You can [use Apple Pay to ride anywhere on the system](https://learn.wallet.apple/transit/san-francisco). And Google Maps is the best all-in-one app for station and stop locations as well as predictions for arrival times.