It’s no secret that the Bay Area has some of the worse traffic around. There are so many people who are trying to get in and out of San Francisco each day, it’s quite the struggle to find some sort of sanity during rush hour.
But it doesn’t have to be all bad when it comes to Bay Area traffic. Here is how to commute around San Francisco and have a little bit of fun doing it.
Get a scooter
In September, I picked out the GOTRAX GXL V2 to help me get around San Francisco as part of my commute to and from the office.
Here’s my daily commute
- I catch the Caltrain, which is conveniently located across the street from my house
- Only catch the bullet trains because they have limited stops and reduce the regular 1:20 commute to 58 minutes
- I bring my scooter with me on the train and I pick one of the bike cars to sit in because they have more room for scooters
- The scooter is able to be folded and compacted to 15″ x 44″ x 6″
- Once I get to the 4th and King Caltrain station, I take my scooter and ride down the Embaracdero to the office
- The Embarcadero in San Francisco runs along the waterfront and has a very large commuter boardwalk.
When I am in the office, we are able to put our bikes and scooters in the bike rack area.
But when I need to get around the city and lock up my scooter outside, I bring a Kryptonite U Lock with me in my backpack. I try to find an outdoor bike rack and I run the lock through the front tire and the rack. That way the scooter stays collapsed.
My thoughts on using a scooter to get around the city
- First off, I always wear my helmet. I never know when someone is going to step out on the sidewalk or a car door might open when I am in the bike lane.
- This scooter is a bit on the heavy side at 27 pounds. It’s not like it’s too heavy for moving around, but if there are a lot of bikes in my way on the train, it’s hard to lift it up over the bikes to fit it in the scooter area.
- Love that it has a headlight on the scooter, but wish it had a backlight. So when I am riding in the dark (daylight savings is not my friend), I need to add a light to my backpack.
- It’s getting cold! In the morning, I need to wear fingerless gloves to make sure my hands are warm. It’s still fun scootering around, but now I need to bundle up!
- The larger tires are really helpful on the bumpy parts of the road. It allows me to feel more stable while riding.
- The battery pack is small – which is a good thing! If needed, I could bring the battery pack with me in a purse or backpack.
Commuting on my scooter has been really enjoyable. I used to have to take Caltrain and then hop on the Muni to get to and from my office. But now I am able to be outside, getting around on my own schedule, and taking in all of the beautiful San Francisco architecture.
If you are shopping for your own electric scooter, be sure to sign up for the GoTrax email list. Their scooters are going to be on the Black Friday sale!
Looking for more places to explore in San Francisco? Visit the Ferry Building or have a date night at Palomino.
