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New Year’s Eve Travel Tips

It’s easy to get home safely with free cab rides, free muni, free caltrain, late night BART service and more.
By - posted 12/31/2010 No Comment

If you get hammered on New Years Eve there’s still a multitude of ways to get home safely, and in some cases, totally free.

If you’re looking for public transportation, Muni, Caltrain, SamTrans and VTA offer free rides and extended late night service. BART is normal price, but is running extra trains until past 3am.

But if you find yourself somewhere without reliable buses, you can call for a free cab up until 4am. And if you decided to drive to your party on New Years Eve and drank a bit too much to come home, AAA will come and rescue you and your car with a free “tipsy tow” whether you’re a member or not.

So the bottom line is that in the Bay Area there’s really no excuse for drinking and driving unless you’re a complete lame brain.

Free Taxi Rides Home
December 31, 2010 | 10pm to 4am

Revelers in Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco can get free cab rides home from 10pm to 4am within the city limits up to a $35 fare thanks to the Safe and Sober Free Cab Ride Home program from Berg Injury Lawyers. Nearly 500 free cab rides are paid for through this program each year. Full Details

AAA Tipsy Tow: Free Car Tow Home
December 31, 2010 | 6pm to 6am

AAA’s Tipsy Tow Program offers a free tow for drinking drivers in Northern California – members and non-members – from 6pm on New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2010) until 6am the next morning, in Northern California, Nevada and Utah. Full Details

SF Muni: Free rides on all Muni lines & routes (including cable cars) from 8pm NYE until 6am New Years Day. Additional Metro service from Embarcadero to West Portal until 4am.
Extra Owl Service – Buses run every 15 minutes (instead of every 30) from 1am to 5pm
5 Fulton, 14 Mission, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 38 Geary, 90 Owl, 91 Owl, and L and N Owl motor coach service

SamTrans: Free rides on all routes (including RediWheels and RediCoast) from 11pm until 2am. Regular schedule operates on New Year’s Eve, but Sunday schedule operates on New Year’s Day

CalTrain: Free rides after 11pm and there is extended service after midnight. Four extra trains depart San Francisco southbound – 12:45am, 1:15am, 1:45am, and 2:15am making all local stops to the San Jose Diridon Station

VTA: Free bus and light rail service from 7pm on Friday until 3:59am on New Year’s Day.

Last Train Times

Light Rail (Alum Rock- Santa Teresa and Mountain View-Winchester lines)
Express Line 180/181 (to the Fremont BART Station)
  • Last Northbound bus leaving Diridon Station at 2:06 a.m. arriving at Fremont BART at 2:47 a.m.
  • Last Southbound bus leaving Fremont BART at 3:05 a.m. arriving at 2nd & Santa Clara at 3:41 a.m. (Does not go to the Diridon Station)

The following commute bus lines will be cancelled on Friday, December 31st: 101, 102, 103, 104, 120, 121, 122, 140, 168, 182, 304, 321, 328, 330, DASH and Light Rail Commuter Express trips. All other VTA service will be running on a normal weekday schedule.

BART: No special fares for New Years Eve 12/31/10, but there will be extended service until 3am. The best tip we can give is to buy your round trip ticket in advance to avoid a line on the way home.

“Skip Stop” Schedule at Embarcadero & Montgomery
To help ease overcrowding due to the New Year’s Eve fireworks show at Pier 14, some trains will not stop at either Embarcadero or Montgomery Street stations during peak hours.

  • Pittsburg/Bay Point and Richmond trains will not stop at Embarcadero Station until 1:40am – Use Montgomery Station instead
  • Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont trains will not stop at Montgomery Street Station until 1:26am – Use Embarcadero Station

Last Trains from Embarcadero:

  • To Dublin/Pleasanton & Richmond at 3:18 a.m. – Full Service
  • To Pittsburgh/Bay Point & Fremont at 3:26 a.m. (no trains at Embarcadero from midnight to 1:40am – use Montomgery instead)
  • To Millbrae at 3:32 a.m.
  • To SFO at 4:02 a.m.

Last Trains from Montgomery Street Station:

  • To Dublin/Pleasanton & Richmond at 3:15 a.m. (no trains at Montgomery from 12:06am to 1:26am – use Embarcadero instead)
  • To Pittsburgh/Baypoint & Fremont at 3:23 a.m. – Full Service
  • To Millbrae at 3:33 a.m.
  • To SFO at 4:04 a.m.

New Years Eve BART details
Full New Years Eve BART schedule (pdf)

– AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit offer no special fares for New Years Eve.

All details have been confirmed with the transit agencies for 12/31/10


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