Is there a bus from San Fran airport to Sacramento? UPDATE

[Deleted]

Hello everybody. 

My DS3 has been invited to Sacramento again next summer (by his best friend's dad). His best friend is flying to San Fran, but she wants to spend some time alone with her dad before DS3 arrives (which is PERFECTLY understandable, I'm just explaining why both kids won't be travelling together.)  

I don't want the dad to have to go back to San Fran a week later to pick up DS3. (He and his family live in a suburb of Sacramento). I've never even met this guy (although we are good friends with DS3's friend's mom and stepdad, and they all have a really good relationship). The dad and his wife are incredibly kind to have hosted DS3 for two weeks last summer, and to have offered to have him again this summer.

I was planning on DS3 flying from Paris to Sacramento, but his friend's mom (who lives here) told me flying Paris-San Fran is MUCH MUCH cheaper than Paris-Sacramento. 

So I'm wondering, is there an easy, reliable bus service from the San Fran Airport to Sacramento? Last year DD arrived in San Fran and took a bus to Carmel. It was very reasonable, and I was able to pre-pay and reserve her ticket, and tell her exactly where to go to get the bus. She was 20, but her English wasn't perfect and she was really nervous.

DS3 speaks perfect English, he will be 16 but he's very street smart. If I can book a bus in advance and tell him exactly where to go, and leave some time for imponderables, I'm sure he will be fine. 

Is there a similar bus from SFO to Sacramento? If so, can somebody please tell me what it's called?

Thanks!

ETA: I just got the dates today, so I'll be booking DS3's ticket this week.

[Deleted]

He can take Amtrak, but it will take about 2.5hrs and will cost from $25-60.

[Deleted]

Thanks Gin. My guess would be that Amrak doesn't leave from the airport itself, but I could be wrong. I wouldn't be comfortable with that. I would only do this if the bus / train left from the airport itself (like the bus to Carmel did). Otherwise we'd bite the bullet and fly him to Sacramento. 

[Bonny]

Debt,

First, as long as it's not ski season and rush hour the distance between SFO and Sacramento is less than 100 miles or about a 3-3.5 RT.

I don't know about a bus that goes between the two airports but we actually have train service, LOL. I'd look into the Capitol Corridor run by Amtrak

www.amtrak.com/capitol-corridor-train It's a little screwy because he'd need to take BART to the Embarcadero Station then pick up the Bus Bridge to the Emeryville Station to pick up the Capitol Corridor.

Another option is to look at DS flying into San Jose vs SFO

He could either take the Capitol Corridor or the ACE to Stockton which isn't too far from Sacramento. www.acerail.com/Getting-You-There/Maps-Stations

If he does fly into SFO he can head south on Caltrain to the San Jose Diridon station and possibly pick up either train to head East.

I've traveled on the Capitol Corridor train before and it was a lovely commuter type rail car. Do check the schedule carefully because it is designed as a commuter RR and will likely have dead times during the middle of the day and not run on the weekends.

[Deleted]

Bonny, thanks! This would be the first time DS3 is travelling alone apart from airport to airport, and your suggestion really does sound too complicated. You're talking about several changes, with a barely 16YO lugging baggage (and gifts). 

I'm going to check out the price difference and see if it's really that big (but not tonight). Then I can think about whether or not I'm willing to ask them if they'd be willing to go back to SF again. Frankly, I will NOT ask them to do that. They have a young son (about 7) so I'm sure that's a consideration for them too. 

The bus for Carmel was SO easy (Monterey Airbus), I guess I assumed there's be a similar option for Sacramento, but I guess not. 

Thanks!

ETA: I don't know about a bus that goes between the two airports

I don't need the bus to go to Sacramento airport, I need one from SFO to downtown Sacramento, or at least somewhere closer than San Fran.

[Deleted]

I just wanted to put out there that a bus in Sacramento or SF is not likely similar to one in Europe.  Might not be as safe... might be plain nasty.

Can he fly from SF to Sac? There should be a ton of commuter type flights from one place to the other.

[Deleted]

Can he fly from SF to Sac? There should be a ton of commuter type flights from one place to the other.

Yes, Shasta, he can. It's just that the mom told me it was really much, much cheaper to fly to SFO than Sacramento. If there isn't an easy bus to Sacramento, then we will fly him to Sacramento. I was hoping there was. 

[Deleted]

No, I meant fly into SF and then catch a flight from SF to Sac?  There are a lot of those short flights because people do commute and road travel between those locations can take a ton of time if it is commute time. He can probably catch a flight for $60 or something to Sac.

Buses in the US are typically used by the "can't afford a car" group.  So, not so much about moving around like in Europe and more about the poor moving around.  I don't really know how to PC say that the folks on the bus might not be the safest route, just should know that going in.

[Deleted]

I need to go to bed soon.

This guy and his wife are absolutely lovely to have hosted DS3 for two weeks last summer, and for nearly 3 weeks this summer. If I asked them to pick DS3 up at SFO, I'm sure they'd do it without complaint. But, for obvious reasons, there is just no way we would do that. In my world you don't ask somebody to drive even 4 hours out of their way to pick up a guest. 

Since there doesn't appear to be an easy solution for a 16YO to get from SFO to Sacramento, we will just fly him there. 

If anybody knows of an easy solution, or even an EASIER solution (ie even halfway), I'd love to hear it.

Thank you all for your help! It is greatly appreciated!

ETA: This wasn't an issue last summer because DS3 went to see my family in NY first, and my sister put him on an internal flight from NY to Sacramento. But this year, because of the dates, he is going to Sacramento first, and to NY on his way back.

[Deleted]

Shasta I understand that but there is no way I would let a 16YO arrive at SFO and then try to book a cheap flight to Sacramento. If DS3 is flying to Sacramento, it will be on a pre-booked flight. 

[Tennesseer]

debthaven2-here is a list of shuttle companies form San Francisco airport to Sacramento:

Airport Shuttle Network

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Mar 30, 2014 16:11:21 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

Shasta I understand that but there is no way I would let a 16YO arrive at SFO and then try to book a cheap flight to Sacramento. If DS3 is flying to Sacramento, it will be on a pre-booked flight. 

You can pre book commuter flights, Debt.  

Fly ino SFO and catch a commuter flight to Sacramento.  He will likely have to change terminals, and maybe wait some, but should be able to fly it.

It looks like United has non stop flights, round trip is $174 for mid July.

We have an airport commuter bus, but it runs about $60 one way and with stops, it almost doubles the amount of time to get from SEA to BLI (about 100 miles).

[Deleted]

Mich, to complicate things even further, I just need a one way. If the commuter bus you mean is where DS3 needs to go, $60 is cheap and I don't care if it takes him longer, he's not in a rush, I just want him to have the easiest itinerary.

I will google SEA and BLI tomorrow LOL. 

[Deleted]

Thank you Tennessee! That's exactly what I was looking for! 

I probably should have posted this tomorrow, I'm sorry about that. 

[NastyWoman]

Debt, I never take public transit, but would it be possible for DS to fly into Oakland, have a prepaid shuttle pick him up and drop him off at the Amtrack trainstation? Anyone from around here (Bay Area) want to chime in on this approach?

[tallguy]

I will google SEA and BLI tomorrow LOL.

Don't bother.  It's just an example.  It's WAAYYY out of his way.   

[Tennesseer]

Mar 30, 2014 17:23:13 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Debt, I never take public transit, but would it be possible for DS to fly into Oakland, have a prepaid shuttle pick him up and drop him off at the Amtrack trainstation? Anyone from around here (Bay Area) want to chime in on this approach?

Joss-her son ìs flying ìn from Paris, France.  No direct flights from Paris to Oakland.

[Bonny]

Debt,

I suspect the easiest solution is to book DS from Paris through to Sacramento. My guess is that he'll fly into Chicago and he'll transfer planes to Sacramento.

You mention a one-way; when he heads home where is he leaving from?

The shuttle that Tennesser mentions is going to be a lot more than $60. That's the fare between Davis and Sacramento Municipal Airport. It will probably be double that between SFO and Sac. IF they will take him. These shuttle guys can be pretty picky about their routes. If you can believe it we used have problems getting home from the airport and we're 20 minutes away! Being on the coast we weren't a lucrative enough run.  Now we have NO shuttle service to my town. You either take the County bus service or a taxi.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2014 17:49:13 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Mar 30, 2014 17:23:13 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Debt, I never take public transit, but would it be possible for DS to fly into Oakland, have a prepaid shuttle pick him up and drop him off at the Amtrack trainstation? Anyone from around here (Bay Area) want to chime in on this approach?

Joss-her son ìs flying ìn from Paris, France.  No direct flights from Paris to Oakland.

And I'd not send a sixteen year old to Oakland of all places.

[TheOtherMe]

I flew in and out of SFO and went to Sacramento.  I did it via the Capital Corridor Amtrak and then BART.  It wasn't hard at all with luggage and I'm not a 16 year old.  It took some time on BART, but Amtrak is right in downtown Sacramento. The train is quite clean and runs on time, unlike Amtrak in my neck of the woods.  That is a commuter train and it actually runs on time.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Depending upon the price difference of the airline tickets, is a hired limo (i.e., a town car or other large sedan with a driver -- not an actual stretch limo) from San Fran to Sacramento any cheaper?  

The advantage is that the driver would wait at your DS's arrival gate with a sign with his name on it and then drive him straight to his BFF's father's house (or anywhere you want).

You pay the limo charge and a tip to the driver for the service.  

Might be cost prohibitive, but maybe not if, as I asked, the price difference in the tickets to both places is sufficiently large (and if you could score a great deal on the tix into SF).  

Just an idea...

[Bonny]

Mar 30, 2014 20:00:03 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I flew in and out of SFO and went to Sacramento.  I did it via the Capital Corridor Amtrak and then BART.  It wasn't hard at all with luggage and I'm not a 16 year old.  It took some time on BART, but Amtrak is right in downtown Sacramento. The train is quite clean and runs on time, unlike Amtrak in my neck of the woods.  That is a commuter train and it actually runs on time.

Thank you. Since I spent a decent portion of my career in public transit I appreciate your comments.

It's really not hard and frankly if I was going to be in town I would walk Debt's son through the process. Honestly the Paris Metro can be A LOT more intimidating and especially at Rush Hour.

LOL, with American transit when there's not a bunch of options it's pretty obvious!

That said, a 16/yr old doing international traveling with a 9 hour time difference isn't the best candidate for an experiment on American Transit. The system in place is really designed for folks who are commuting in and out of SF. If Debt's son had planned on being in SF for a day or two it would be a total cakewalk.

[Deleted]

I grew up in the bay area.  The reason for flying into SF is because SF is a large airport and Sacramento isn't as big. Flying into SFO is cheaper on international flights because they have more of them.

While you can fly Paris to SMF, it is probably way cheaper to fly to SFO and catch a short, pre-booked flight from SFO to SMF.


Fly Paris ---> SFO

Fly SFO to SMF (Sacramento) Flight is about 20 minutes in the air and can be booked just like any other flight, one way, etc...

Southwest is a cheap airline here in CA.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Mar 30, 2014 16:54:17 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

Mich, to complicate things even further, I just need a one way. If the commuter bus you mean is where DS3 needs to go, $60 is cheap and I don't care if it takes him longer, he's not in a rush, I just want him to have the easiest itinerary.

I will google SEA and BLI tomorrow LOL. 

There are one way flights, Debt.  I assumed that he would need a RT flight.  A one way flight is $87.  One way flights are not complicated.  When I went to NY last time, I had no idea how long I'd be so just bought 2 one way tickets.

i gave you the cost of the shuttle from Bellingham to Seatac.  I have no idea how much the shuttle is in CA, but it likely won't be cheaper than $60, and it may be more than a commuter flight.

SEA = Seattle
BLI = Bellingham

[Deleted]

Sorry I haven't been back sooner. I really appreciate all your advice.

I'm not comfortable with the train suggestions.

I'm off tomorrow, so I'm going to check out the price of the shuttles, and the price of flying into SFO and booking a commuter flight to Sacramento, and compare it with just booking Paris to Sacramento from here. I'll check out Southwest and Jet Blue for the commuter flights.

This said, I'm not sure I can book / pay for the commuter flights from here. We had that issue with DD last summer when she was in Carmel and flew to Palm Springs to spend time with DH's best friends. I couldn't book / pay for her Jet Blue flight from here, and Jet Blue wouldn't accept her (credit? debit?) card, so her elderly neighbor kindly booked it for her. 

In any case, it looks like DS3 will be flying in to Sacramento, for my own peace of mind.

Mich, the reason he only needs a one-way is that the dad will be taking both kids to SFO for their trip back. His DD will fly home to Paris and my DS3 will fly to NY to see my family. I have the DD's flight info so I'll work it out so that they leave SFO at about the same time, for the dad's convenience.

My sister invited DS3's friend too, but the mom won't let her DD take the subway in NY without an adult, ie my sister.) So the mom said thanks but no thanks. I insisted a bit, but not too hard, because I love my sister and my sister loves me LOL. DS3 knows how to take the LIRR and get the subway to my two nieces' houses. My sister doesn't need to go with him anymore (although she did at first to "teach" him how to do it.) Like Bonny said, at that age, the train system is easy when somebody shows you what to do. 

We all have to do what we feel comfortable with. Thanks again!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

United airlines has commuter flights as well, that was the site I got the price from that I quoted for you earlier in the thread. As United is a more international airline, it shouldn't be an issue for you to purchase a ticket on it in advance, just as it's not going to be an issue to purchase a one way ticket.

[Bonny]

Debt,

Sounds like you might want to consider doing the RT from Paris in and out of New York and try a one-way from NY to Sac and a One-Way from SFO to NY. I guess the only concern I would have with that option is making sure that the NY to Sac leaves from the same airport as the international flight OR since your sister lives in the City maybe a one day lay-over.

BTW since SFO is a United Hub we've found they are pretty competitive with Southwest.

LOL, I guess that's the curse of living in a big country. So many choices!

[Deleted]

These are good ideas, thank you! Let's see how much I can do tomorrow. 

I'm dealing with a LOT of other stuff right now so at some point I may just go with convenience. I (wrongly) assumed there would be an easy SFO / Sacramento bus, like there was a SFO / Carmel bus. 

ETA: So check out Southwest, Jet Blue, United. 

[lynnerself]

I agree that you should just book the one way flight from SFO to SMF to coordinate with the arrival into SFO.
It probably won't cost much more than any ground transportation would.
Allow time for any flight delay and late arrival.

And depending on where the BFs dad lives, it still may be a 1 to 2 hour RT to get to the Sacramento airport (its way out of town).

[Deleted]

Update: I booked DS3's flights today. I purposely did NOT do any web searches for the tickets before today because I know that every time you do the same search, the price goes up. 

This year DS3 is going to CA in June. To my great surprise and delight, the flights were 33% cheaper than last year, when he went in very late July (and we booked just 2 weeks before). So I booked him from Paris-Sacramento via LAX, San Fran to NY, NY to Paris. He's doing the same trip as last year, but the other way around (ie stopping in NY on the way back instead of the way there). 

He will have 3.5 hours at LAX to get through customs and find his way to the terminal for Sacramento. I know it's a bit longer than necessary but that was the option that worked out best overall (ie getting into Sac at a reasonable hour, flying out of SFO at exactly the same time as his friend, arriving at JFK instead of LGA which is much better for my sister).
 
Lynn, they are 25-30 min from the Sac airport. I have already heard from his friend's Dad, it is perfect for them. I'm sure he is thrilled that he doesn't have to go to San Fran.

Thanks everyone for your help! I'm very relieved that that is done, and DS3 is beyond excited.

.