Nine operators, nine different service spans, and no single timetable that covers them. This page answers the question underneath most schedule searches: is the thing I need running at the hour I need it?
Service spans as published by each operator, verified August 2026. These are the hours the system is open — frequencies within them vary a lot, and every operator runs a different weekend timetable.
| Operator | Service span | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BART | Wkdy 5 am–midnight Sat 6 am–midnight Sun 8 am–midnight |
5 lines until 9 pm, 3 after. No overnight service. |
| Muni | Daytime network + Owl routes overnight |
The only city-wide overnight option. Owl frequencies are low. |
| Caltrain | First SB from SF ~4:55 am Last ~11:25 pm & 12:05 am |
~85 southbound weekday trains. Weekend service is lighter. |
| SamTrans | 24 hours from SFO | Late-night via ECR Owl and Route 397. Route 292 serves the terminals. |
| AC Transit | Line 73 ~4:56 am–12:06 am Line 805 ~12:35 am–4:30 am |
805 is the overnight OAK link, hourly. |
| Golden Gate Transit | Daytime, route-dependent | Routes 101 and 130 from the Transit Center to Marin and Sonoma. |
| Golden Gate Ferry | Daytime sailings | Angel Island service is seasonal. No overnight boats. |
| SF Bay Ferry | Daytime sailings | Plus ticketed event sailings for Giants and Warriors games. |
| Cable cars | Daytime, ends early evening | Check SFMTA for the current span — not a late-night option. |
Sources: BART, Caltrain, SFO public transit (SamTrans), OAK public transportation (AC Transit), SFMTA. Checked August 2026.
The one to memorise: BART opens at 8 a.m. on Sundays. Not 5, not 6 — 8. Every other planning error in the Bay Area is recoverable; this one strands people with early Sunday flights. What to do instead →
Between roughly midnight and 5 a.m., the rail network is shut. Three things still move:
| Service | Covers | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Muni Owl network | Within San Francisco | Low — check the route |
| SamTrans (ECR Owl, 397) | SFO ↔ SF ↔ Daly City ↔ Palo Alto | Limited late-night |
| AC Transit 805 | OAK ↔ Coliseum ↔ downtown Oakland | Hourly, ~12:35–4:30 am |
Overnight buses run, but they run rarely. An hourly service is unforgiving if you miss one. Check the actual departure time before relying on it, and treat a taxi or rideshare as the realistic fallback for anything time-critical at that hour.
| Question | Answer | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| First train out of SFO | 4:58 am wkdy · 5:47 Sat · 8:08 Sun | BART, from the International Terminal |
| First SFO-bound train from Powell | ~5:29 am weekday | Red Line SFO/Millbrae |
| Last SFO-bound trains from Powell | ~12:04 / 12:24 / 12:44 am | Then a Millbrae-only ~1:13 am |
| OAK connector hours | Matches BART | Every 6 min most of the day |
| Getting to SFO before 5 am | SamTrans, taxi, rideshare | BART isn't open |
BART departure times read from the published Powell St weekday schedule; re-check for your travel date. Full SFO departure guide → · OAK guide →
Bay Area agencies now coordinate their schedule changes, rolling out new timetables together in mid-August and mid-January so that connections between operators are cut to match. BART calls this the Big Sync, and it's the reason a saved journey plan can quietly stop working twice a year.
If you're travelling in those two windows, re-check. The August 2026 round changed how trains move through Daly City — Blue and Green line trains now terminate there, so riders heading to SFO from those lines transfer to a Red or Yellow train at Balboa Park rather than Daly City. Some BART–Caltrain connections at Millbrae moved at the same time. BART guide →
Caltrain runs its own construction calendar on top of that. Weekend service between Tamien and San Jose Diridon has been suspended on selected weekends through September 2026 for bridge work, with a temporary weekend timetable in force. Caltrain guide →
This site carries no live data feeds — no departure boards, no delay trackers, nothing that could be wrong by the time you read it. For the actual times on the actual day, these are the operators' own pages.
For anything crossing operators, use 511. The regional trip planner covers all of the above in one search, which is the only practical way to plan a journey that involves, say, a ferry and two buses. Call 511 or use 511.org.
Service spans verified against operator sources in August 2026. Something outdated? Report an error →