Bay Area Rapid Transit is the region's airport-and-suburbs railway, not a city subway. Fares depend on distance, there are no monthly passes, and it stops running at midnight. Here's what that means for your trip.
BART's schedule changes on August 10, 2026. Daly City becomes a centre-platform station, and Blue and Green line trains terminate there instead of continuing. If you're on a Blue or Green line train heading for SFO after that date, transfer to a Red or Yellow line train at Balboa Park — the same-platform transfer — rather than Daly City, where you'd have to change platforms. Some BART–Caltrain connections at Millbrae shift too. Source: BART service announcement, July 9, 2026.
Visitors arrive expecting a New York-style flat-fare metro and find something closer to a commuter railroad. BART has 50 stations spread from the airport and the Peninsula through San Francisco to Antioch, Richmond, Dublin/Pleasanton, and San Jose. Trains are long, seats are cushioned, and the fare is calculated on the distance you actually travel — the same $2.55 that gets you two stops in the Mission won't get you out of the airport.
Inside San Francisco, BART runs only along Market Street and the Mission corridor. Everything else in the city — the Sunset, the Richmond, North Beach, the Marina, Fisherman's Wharf, the cable cars — is Muni, a separate agency with a separate flat fare. The two systems share four downtown stations on different levels, which is where most first-day confusion happens.
The one-sentence version: use BART for the airports, the East Bay, and the Peninsula; use Muni for getting around San Francisco itself.
One way, standard adult fare. $5.90 with Clipper START or a Youth Clipper card, $4.40 with a Senior/RTC card. The airport trip carries a premium on top of the distance fare, which is why it costs more than the much longer ride from SFO to Oakland's suburbs.
There is no zone map to memorise — every station pair has its own price. Common trips, taken from BART's official fare data in July 2026:
| Trip | Discount (START/Youth · Senior/RTC) | Adult |
|---|---|---|
| SFO → Powell St / Montgomery / Embarcadero / Civic Center | $5.90 · $4.40 | $11.80 |
| SFO → 16th St Mission | $5.85 · $4.35 | $11.70 |
| SFO → Balboa Park | $5.55 · $4.15 | $11.10 |
| SFO → Daly City | $5.40 · $4.05 | $10.80 |
| SFO → Millbrae (for Caltrain) | $2.90 · $2.15 | $5.85 |
| SFO → 12th St Oakland | $6.10 · $4.55 | $12.20 |
| Powell St → 24th St Mission | $1.25 · $0.95 | $2.55 |
| Powell St → Daly City | $2.15 · $1.60 | $4.30 |
| Powell St → Millbrae | $3.05 · $2.30 | $6.15 |
| Embarcadero → 12th St Oakland | $2.25 · $1.65 | $4.50 |
| Embarcadero → Oakland Airport (OAK) | $6.70 · $5.00 | $13.45 |
Source: BART Fare Calculator (bart.gov), checked July 2026. Children 4 and under ride free.
Clipper START gives adults on a limited income 50% off. Youth Clipper (ages 5–18) and Senior Clipper (65+) or an RTC card for riders with disabilities carry their own reduced fares. All of them have to be arranged in advance through Clipper — there are no discounts sold at BART's vending machines, and tapping a plain bank card always charges the adult fare.
No weekly or monthly BART pass exists. Because fares are distance-based, BART sells cash value, not passes. The one exception worth knowing: Muni's $104 monthly "A" Pass covers Muni plus BART rides between San Francisco stations — useful if you live here, useless for a visit. Source: SFMTA fares.
BART stopped selling paper tickets. There are two ways through the gate, and for a short visit the second one is usually enough:
Tap a contactless credit/debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay at the gate. No setup, no card to buy. Adult fares only — no discounts. Use the same card or device to tap in and tap out, or you'll be charged a maximum fare.
The Bay Area's regional card, accepted on around two dozen systems including Muni, Caltrain, SamTrans, and the ferries. Add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and skip the $3 plastic-card fee. Every rider aged 5+ needs their own card.
Every BART station has them, including SFO. Cash and coins accepted (no $50s or $100s); some machines take cards. A plastic Clipper card costs $3 one-time from the machine.
$2.55 on a regular Clipper card, $1.20 Youth, $0.90 Senior/RTC. That only opens the gate — if the balance won't cover the exit, top up at an Add Fare machine inside the paid area.
Get Clipper anyway if you're staying more than a day. Contactless bank cards work on BART, but not on every Bay Area system — and cable cars, ferries, and buses are where you'll want a card that works everywhere. Adding Clipper to your phone before you land means walking straight past the queue at the SFO vending machines. Source: BART paying your fare.
BART names its lines by colour and its trains by destination. The sign on the front of the train — and the announcement — is the final destination, so "Antioch" and "Richmond" matter more than "Yellow" and "Red" once you're on the platform.
The airport line and the workhorse: SFO, Daly City, the Mission, Market Street, then under the Bay to Oakland, Walnut Creek, Concord, and Antioch. Runs all day and into the evening — trains leave SFO roughly every 10 minutes during the day.
The second airport line, and the direct one for Berkeley: Millbrae and SFO up through San Francisco to Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Richmond. Daytime service — it finishes earlier in the evening than the Yellow Line.
Daly City and San Francisco to Oakland, then south to Fremont, Milpitas, and San Jose. Does not serve the airport — change to a Red or Yellow train for SFO.
Daly City and San Francisco to Oakland and out through the Tri-Valley to Dublin/Pleasanton. Also no airport service.
The East Bay line that never enters San Francisco: Richmond and Berkeley south through Oakland to Fremont and San Jose. Useful as a transfer at MacArthur, Bay Fair, or 19th St.
Line names and terminals per BART's system map. A separate grey shuttle line connects Coliseum station to Oakland Airport.
| Day | Service span | First train from SFO |
|---|---|---|
| Weekdays | 5:00 am – midnight | 4:58 am |
| Saturday | 6:00 am – midnight | 5:47 am |
| Sunday | 8:00 am – midnight | 8:08 am |
Source: BART schedules and BART airport connections.
All five lines run every day until 9 pm, after which BART drops to three lines until closing. Trains are more frequent at peak — and as of the July 2026 timetable, BART has lengthened many Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green line trains during commute hours to cut crowding.
The 8 am Sunday start is the trap. BART does not run overnight and opens late on Sundays — if you have an early Sunday flight, BART is not an option. Plan a taxi, a rideshare, or a 24-hour SamTrans bus instead. See all the ways to reach SFO →
Late-evening delays to and from the airport, through summer 2026. BART is replacing its 1970s train control system with modern communications-based signalling between Daly City and Millbrae. Expect delays of up to 30 minutes after 9 pm on Sunday–Thursday nights in the SFO/Millbrae area, plus occasional weekend single-tracking between Millbrae, SFO, and San Bruno. Check BART's advisories page the day you fly.
Eight BART stations sit inside the city, in one line: four downtown under Market Street (shared with Muni Metro), then south through the Mission and Glen Park to Balboa Park, with Daly City just over the county line.
At the four shared stations, mind the level. BART platforms sit below the Muni Metro platforms, behind their own fare gates. A Muni fare will not get you onto a BART train and vice versa — but if you tap Clipper for Muni within two hours of arriving on a connecting agency, SFMTA takes $2.85 off the adult Muni fare, which effectively makes that Muni leg free. Source: SFMTA inter-agency discount.
BART reaches both Bay Area airports it serves in completely different ways, and the difference matters when you're dragging luggage.
The SFO BART station sits on the Departures/Ticketing Level of the Dianne Feinstein International Terminal, on the G Gates side. From Terminals 1, 2, and 3, ride SFO's free AirTrain to the "Garage G/BART Station" stop, or walk from the International Terminal main hall. Trains take about 30 minutes to downtown San Francisco. Full SFO arrivals guide →
Oakland's airport is not on the BART main line. You ride to Coliseum station and transfer to the automated Oakland Airport Connector, which is priced into the fare — Embarcadero to OAK is $13.45 all in, more than the equivalent SFO trip.
Read the destination, not the colour. Platform signs and announcements lead with the terminus. At the downtown stations, four different lines share one platform in each direction — "Antioch" and "Richmond" are both northbound-to-Oakland trains, and only one of them is going where you want.
Tap out with the same card you tapped in. This is the single most common contactless mistake: tapping in with a phone and out with the plastic card (or vice versa) reads as an unfinished trip and gets charged as a maximum fare.
Millbrae is the Caltrain hinge. SFO to Millbrae is just $5.85 and a few minutes' ride, and Millbrae is a cross-platform BART/Caltrain interchange. If you're heading down the Peninsula from the airport, that's the connection — not a trip into the city and back out. Caltrain fares and zones →
Park at a BART station, not at the airport. BART sells multi-day reserved parking at many stations through its app — Millbrae is a four-minute ride from SFO — and weekend parking at BART stations is free. It routinely undercuts SFO's $27-a-day long-term garage.
Luggage rules are relaxed but the doorways aren't. Bags go under your seat or on your lap, and the wheelchair/bike spaces near the doors are fair game when nobody needs them. Every station has elevators and extra-wide fare gates for large luggage.
Don't count on BART for a 6 am flight. Weekday service starts at 5:00 am and the first train out of SFO is 4:58 am — fine for arrivals, tight for departures if you're coming from the far East Bay, and impossible on a Sunday morning.
A few things travellers ask about alongside fares. The hotel and luggage links below are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no cost to you, and it changes nothing about the transit advice above. How this works →
Fares verified against bart.gov in July 2026. Something outdated or incorrect? Report an error →