Bikes on Transit - SF Bicycle Coalition

By combining transit with a bike ride you can extend your pedal-powered reach much further across the city and across the region — here's the lowdown on lots of options and tips for biking to/with transit:

Muni and Bikes

Every bus in the Muni fleet now has a front-mounted bike rack with two slots, providing a very handy way to haul your bike across town for any reason (other regional bus systems, like Golden Gate Transit and AC Transit, also offer bus-front bike racks). The racks are easy to use — just check out this short video how-to, brought to you by MTA's Bicycle Program and Brian McCarthy and Dave Winters of Muni.

You can also download a stand-alone QuickTime file (2.8 MB).

Unfortunately we've heard of bikes being stolen from these racks, so we have two recommendations:

Always sit or stand near the front of the bus to keep an eye on your bike.
U-lock one of the wheels to the frame to prevent the quick getaway (but be ready to unlock quickly when you get to your stop — don't hold up the bus).

Muni also allows folded bikes to be brought aboard, so if you've got a Brompton or Bike Friday or Dahon (to mention a few popular brands of folding bike), fold it up and bring it onboard.

Experiments in bringing regular bikes onboard Muni light rail vehicles (like the N Judah and L Taraval trains) are called for in the 2009 SF Bicycle Plan, but there's no action plan for such an experiment at this time.

Regional Transit and Bicycles

511.org is the best place to find transit routes and schedules for the entire Bay Area including the complete list of bicycle policies for Bay Area transit agencies and Amtrak.

› Caltrain commuter rail between San Francisco and San Jose offers the world's best "bikes onboard" service — learn more about Caltrain and bikes on our Caltrain page.

› BART permits bikes onboard at all times except morning and evening rush hour between SF and Oakland (and a trial of "No-Blackout Fridays" has been announced for August 2012) — learn more about BART and bikes on our BART page.

Free Bike Parking at Caltrain's 4th & Townsend terminal

Warm Planet Bikes' grand opening Warm Planet Bikes — the city's first, free-standing, attended bicycle parking facility — opened Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008, at Caltrain's San Francisco station.

The new 1,600 ft. facility will provide free, secure bicycle parking to Caltrain commuters, meeting the increasing demands of Caltrain's booming bicycle ridership. Warm Planet Bikes will also offer bicycle repair services for a fee and a retail store specializing in commuter bikes and gear.