California High-Speed Rail

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

It's not High Speed, but Amtrack goes from Union Station to Oakland and you can take BART from there.

Without taking bus part way?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Without taking bus part way?

If the Coast Starlight stops at Oakland Coliseum (I can't remember if it does) then yes you can cross the street and get on BART.

If you get off at Jack London Square, you can take the ferry into the city from the other end of the square (if timing is right). But it is about a 15 block walk (or short cab or bus ride) up to the Lake Merritt or 12th Street BART stations. But on the plus side you can walk through Oakland's Chinatown which is, in my opinion better than San Francisco's for not being wall-to-wall tacky crap.

If you get off at Emeryville you can take the Amtrak shuttle into downtown San Francisco. Or you can catch a Transbay Bus there. Or you can take the free Emery-Go-Round bus (10 minutes once on the bus) to the Macarthur BART station.

You can also get off at Richmond and get right to BART, I believe, but at this point you're probably adding an hour to your trip anyway just from longer time on the train and a longer BART ride.

On the negative side, however, I believe the Coast Starlight gets into town relatively late in the evening (I know it was after dark the times I did it but can't remember if there was more than one daily option) which moots several options and if Amtrak is delayed (not at all unlikely) it'll get more complex.