Moving about

Getting Around

You will not need a car. The house sits between a Muni Metro station and a BART station, on some of the flattest, most walkable blocks in a famously hilly city. Here is how we get about — and the honest truth about parking.

At a glance

Times on foot from the front door

5 minMuni · Church St Station
10 minBART · 16th St Mission
~15 minMuni to Downtown
~40 minDoor to SFO by BART

The two you will use most are Muni Metro from Church Street Station — the K, L and M lines whisk you downtown in about fifteen minutes — and BART (underground at 16th & Mission) for the airport and the East Bay. Between them they reach everything you will want, and you will rarely wait more than ten minutes.

Muni Metro

Church Street Station · 5-minute walk

Walk down to Church & Market. Church Street Station is underground; the J-Church streetcar also stops on the surface. Muni's rail lines are lettered:

KLM
K / L / M lines — the ones we take mostUnderground along Market St from Church Street Station. Downtown & Embarcadero one way (about 15 minutes); west to West Portal, Ocean View and the Zoo the other. Any of the three will do for downtown.
J
J-ChurchRuns on the surface right up Church St past Dolores Park to Noe Valley (24th St) and on toward Balboa Park. It ends at Church & Market — for downtown, step downstairs into Church Street Station.
N
N-JudahTo the Sunset, the edge of Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach; toward downtown it continues to the Caltrain station and Oracle Park.
F
F-MarketVintage streetcars from around the world, on the surface along Market St to the Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf. Slower — but delightful.
TipMuni fare is one flat price for a 2-hour window with unlimited transfers. Tap your phone or Clipper card as you board (or at the fare gates underground).

BART

16th St Mission Station · 10-minute walk

BART is the regional metro. From 16th St Mission you can be downtown in ten minutes, in Oakland or Berkeley in twenty to thirty, or at SFO in about thirty.

All
Toward Downtown / East BayEvery train heading north from 16th St stops at Civic Center, Powell (Union Square), Montgomery and Embarcadero before crossing the Bay.
YR
Toward SFOYellow (Antioch–SFO) or Red (Richmond–Millbrae via SFO) lines, southbound. Around 30 minutes to the airport.

The area right around 16th & Mission is lively and gritty in equal measure — perfectly normal for San Francisco, but keep your phone in your pocket and your wits about you late at night, as you would in any big city.

Buses

For the places the trains don't reach

22
22-FillmoreFrom 16th & Mission through the Mission and up Fillmore St: Potrero Hill one way; Japantown, Pacific Heights and the Marina the other. A great cross-town line.
1414R
14-Mission & 14R-Mission RapidStraight down Mission St to Downtown and the Ferry Building, or south through the heart of the Mission. The 14R skips stops.
33
33-Ashbury/18thFrom 18th & Church over the hill to the Castro, the Haight and the edge of Golden Gate Park — a scenic ride.

Paying & apps

Clipper in your phone wallet

  • Clipper is the Bay Area's transit card and works on Muni, BART, Caltrain, ferries and more. Add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet in about a minute (search “Clipper” in the Wallet app), load $20, and tap your phone at every gate and bus door. No paper tickets needed.
  • Transit (the app) shows real-time arrivals and is what locals use. Google Maps is also excellent for routing here.
  • BART fares vary by distance; Muni is a flat fare. Both accept a Clipper tap; Muni also takes exact cash on buses.

Rideshare & taxis

Cars with a person at the wheel

  • Uber and Lyft are everywhere and arrive in a few minutes. The pin will drop on Ramona; the street is short and drivers find it easily.
  • Taxis: Flywheel is the app for traditional San Francisco cabs, or simply hail one on Mission or Valencia. To the airport, a cab runs about $55–60 plus tip.
A word about Waymo

You will see Waymo's driverless cars everywhere, and many visitors are curious to try one. We have chosen not to ride them, and we would rather tell you why than leave you guessing.

Late one night in October 2025, a Waymo pulled away from the curb on 16th Street and ran over Kit Kat — the beloved bodega cat of Randa's Market, eight minutes from our door and a small celebrity in the neighborhood. Waymo said he had darted under the car. The store's own camera footage, later published by The New York Times, showed him sitting under the stopped car for nearly half a minute while a passer-by tried to coax him out — and the car drove off anyway. As two people who share a home with two cats, that was enough for us.

Ride whatever you like, of course. We just call a cab. And if you pass Randa's, say hello to the little shrine outside — and to Shadow, the new cat in residence.

Bikes & scooters

Flat streets, protected lanes

  • Bay Wheels (Lyft's bike-share, including e-bikes) has a dock at 16th & Mission and many more nearby; rent through the Lyft app. Valencia St has a protected bike lane the whole way down.
  • Mission Bicycle Company on Valencia rents good bikes by the day if you would like a proper one.
  • The Wiggle — a famous zig-zag route that starts just north of here — gets you to Golden Gate Park while dodging the hills. Ask any cyclist.

Walking

The best way to see this part of town

Mission Dolores is built for walking. Dolores Park is ten minutes up the hill; Valencia Street — bookshops, boutiques, restaurants — runs parallel one block east of the park; and Mission Street is the neighborhood's loud, delicious spine. Hayes Valley and the Castro are each an easy fifteen minutes in opposite directions.

See all our favorite places within a walk →

Parking

The honest version

Please readThere is no parking spot included with the house — our own car occupies the garage. Street parking on these blocks is time-limited for anyone without a residential permit, and San Francisco tickets and tows with enthusiasm.

Visitor parking pass · $10 per day

If you are bringing a car, tell us in advance and we can arrange a visitor parking pass ($10/day) that lets you park on the street in the permit zone. Note that it does not exempt you from street-cleaning days — read the signs on whichever block you park on.

The garage · only if pre-arranged

In some cases we can offer the garage. If we have agreed to that, this short video shows how to get in. The spot is tight — take it slowly — and absolutely do not block the car on the right.

The garage is not available unless it has been arranged with us beforehand.

Public garages nearby

If you would rather not deal with the street, there are paid garages around Market & Church, in the Castro, and the city-run 16th & Hoff Garage in the Mission. Expect roughly $20–30 per day.