Getting to San Francisco:
You can get to San Francisco on public transit really easily!
First you’ll need to get to the Metro Station on Pacific Avenue. You will want to take the Highway 17 Express. You can check the schedule here. It will cost you $7 to get to San Jose.
You’ll arrive in San Jose at the Diridon Station. Here you’ll need to buy a 4-Zone ticket either at an automated ticket machine or from the ticket sales desk in the lobby. It will cost you $10.50. You can check the schedule for Caltrain here. The schedule is different on weekends and weekdays.
The train will take you all the way to the San Francisco Station. The station is on 4th and King Street.
The whole trip will take you between 2 and 3 hours.
Getting to San Jose Airport:
To get to the San Jose Airport, you will first need to take the Highway 17 Express. This will take you to the San Jose Diridon Station. From here you can either call an Uber or a Lyft (use Uber Pool or Lyft Line for a cheaper ride) or you can opt to take public transportation.
If you opt to use public transportation, you will need to buy a $2 VTA ticket at the San Jose Diridon station. You will take the 902 Light Rail north toward Mountain View and get off at the Metro/Airport Stop. From here you take the Free Airport Flyer and you will arrive at the Airport within a few minutes.
Getting to San Francisco Airport:
To get to SFO you’ll need to take the Highway 17 Express and Caltrain, as detailed above. You’ll get off of CalTrain at the Milbrae station. Here you’ll need to buy a BART ticket and cross the platform. You will take the Pitsburg/BayPoint/SFO train (it’s yellow) to SFO.
Hikes
The Santa Cruz Coalition for Sustainable transportation has a guide for how to hike at Big Basin or Fall Creek without a car. There are also plenty of places to explore right off of campus, like Pogonip!
Car Free Living UCSC 