When it comes to transportation, the responsibilities of meeting planners are twofold: BMPs must provide viable travel options for visiting professionals and ensure that event attendees have effective and efficient plans to get to and from the meeting facility. San Francisco is taking proactive measures to ensure that it can provide top-of-the-line transportation services, thereby guaranteeing a succinctly organized itinerary.

According to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, an estimated $218 billion will be spent on transit projects in San Francisco and its surrounding counties over the next 25 years. The following pages of this issue of Meetings & Events San Francisco will guide you through some of the planned changes and provide insight on how these developments will affect planners’ event schedules.

Moving Forward
One of the most eagerly anticipated changes to the city’s transportation is the conversion of the Caltrain from a diesel fueled operation to an electric powered system. The planned $608 million conversion will incorporate the 52-mile corridor from San Francisco to San Jose. For planners and attendees this means two key changes. First, if traveling between San Jose and San Francisco is required, the expected travel time will be reduced by as much as 13 percent. Second, the shortened in travel time is expected to increase ridership among local commuters which would greatly reduce freeway congestion.

In addition, the conversion of the trains means that there will be more cars and more local stops, making the system convenient for event attendees to move about the city. Furthermore, the electrification of the Caltrain system will mean quieter and cleaner running trains. The overall air pollutant emissions will be reduced by 90 percent and power consumption will be drastically lowered. In essence, this conversion helps to assure that San Francisco will be a clean and beautiful host city for meetings and events for many years to come.

Another exciting transportation project on the horizon is a new ferry that will provide service between south San Francisco and Oakland. Expected to be fully operational in 2010, the ferry will travel south of the Bay Bridge with an estimated one-way trip time of 30 minutes. This allows for traffic-free travel between meeting venues in Oakland to attractions in San Francisco and vice versa. The surrounding area is so beautiful and scenic that event attendees are more likely to consider the ride an attraction rather than a mode of transportation. The new ferry route joins the Golden Gate Ferries, the Blue and Gold Fleet and the Alameda/Oakland ferry as a viable commuting option for corporate meetings and events.

A major development to keep an eye out for is the proposed TransLink program. The TransLink program is a new fare collection system that uses smart cards. A smart card is a readable magnetic card that passengers can use to pay fares. Smart cards will soon be accepted by all of San Francisco’s transit systems making it an asset for planners and attendees who need to travel to different areas of the city. If approved, the smart cards may also be used to purchase goods from vending machines at transportation stations.

BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a major component of San Francisco’s public transportation system and is the fifth-busiest heavy-rail system in the country. BART is a rapid transit railway with five operational lines across 104 miles of track, including 43 stations in four different counties. Much of the underground railway system includes the area that was previously serviced by the city’s electric streetcar network. Bart’s five routes are Fremont – Daly City, Dublin/Pleasanton – Millbrae, Pittsburg/Bay Point – SFO, Richmond – Millbrae and Richmond – Fremont. Passengers have access to Oakland through all routes except for Richmond – Fremont.

Many residents are heavily dependent on BART, making San Francisco less susceptible to the congestion of daily traffic on freeways than other cities in California. As a result of the popularity of BART, train cars and stations are in a constant stage of refurbishment to make daily use more enjoyable. BART has consistently proved to be a user friendly transportation system, especially when it comes to accommodating the business needs of its riders. The system was the first in the nation to offer cell phone communities to passengers of all carriers and has increased its weekend and night schedule, making for easy and effective use no matter what time of day.

Traveling Through History
Anyone familiar with the city knows that the favorite mode of transportation in San Francisco is the cable car. There are three cable car routes currently in operation, the Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde and California lines. The Powell-Mason line begins at the Powell/Market turntable line, then runs over Nob Hill and down to Bay Street at Fisherman’s Wharf. The Powell-Hyde line also begins at the Powell/Market turntable and runs over Nob and Russian hills before ending at Ghiradelli Square. The California Street line runs East-West from the Financial District through Chinatown over Nob Hill and stops at Van Ness Avenue. This classic mode of transportation offers a way for attendees to navigate through area hotspots, event venues and hotels in a manner that San Franciscans have preferred for more than a century.

Streetcars are a charming and memorable way to get around the city. Historically, streetcars were at one time so utilized in San Francisco that they were the only vehicles on the road referred to as cars. Today, streetcars are still very much in use, traveling from Market Street between the Castro and Fisherman’s Warf (collectively known as the F-Market line). The F-Market line provides transportation through some of the city’s key meeting locations.

The popularity of the F-Market line has led to some overcrowding issues that might put a damper on the experience. In this regard, the city has proposed a restoration contract that would add an additional 16 streetcars and help alleviate the stress on the F-market line. In addition, the proposed changes would allow for the opening of the E-Embarcadero line which will run from Caltrain to Fisherman’s Warf and provide another option for event attendees. It should be noted that streetcars are also zero emission vehicles.

For Your Consideration
We’ve touched on some fun alternatives to typical corporate transportation options that we hope meeting planners can find a way to utilize in their event itineraries creating a truly unique San Francisco experience. Consider, however, one more seemingly off-the-wall suggestion that just might turn into viable event solution: the Zeppelin. Zeppelin’s aren’t exactly a way of getting from one point to the next, but its an attraction that’s gaining popularity for groups of at least 12 people. Zeppelins provide aerial transport over major attractions offering event attendees a 360 degree view of one of the world’s most popular meeting destinations. Meeting planners with a zest for the unusual may want to consider the role a Zeppelin can play in their next San Francisco event.

No matter what the chosen method of transportation is for a planners’ next corporate event in San Francisco, we hope that planners begin to see transportation as a way to enhance the overall corporate experience. San Francisco continues to be a compelling lure for meeting planners all over the word. The reason for this attraction is due to the city’s constant advancement in many areas, transportation included.