How many different transit systems can I ride in a week?

Last week I took a trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and I definitely set a record for the most transit systems I have ridden in a week.

Los Angeles

In Los Angeles I only rode one system: the Los Angeles Metro (both rail and bus). If you count the Angels Flight as a transit system, I suppose you could say I rode two. I’ve been on the LA Metro plenty of times before, and nothing new other than Aviation/Century has opened since the last time I was there.

Angels Flight funicular going up — Angels Flight in Los Angeles

Train waiting at Wilshire/Western — Wilshire/Western on the LA Metro

San Francisco

Meanwhile in San Francisco, I rode a lot of different systems. The main one on my mind was electric Caltrain, but I rode a whole bunch of others too. Surprisingly, I only spent a bit of time on Muni, but took the other systems for a lot longer since most of my travel was outside of San Francisco proper.

Northbound Muni train at Embarcadero — Muni at Embarcadero

In one day, I made a full circle around the Bay, starting in Oakland, then taking BART to Milpitas, VTA to downtown San Jose, Caltrain back to San Francisco, and finally BART back to Oakland.

Eastbound train at Lake Merritt — BART at Lake Merritt

Southbound BART platform at Milpitas, looking south — BART at Milpitas

Southbound train at St. James — VTA at St. James

Train at San Francisco 4th and King — Caltrain at 4th and King

I also took a day trip up to Santa Rosa, taking BART into San Francisco, the Golden Gate Ferry to Larkspur, then SMART to Santa Rosa.

Ferry docked at Larkspur — Ferry at Larkspur

Two trains at Larkspur — SMART at Larkspur

Finally, I rented a car at the Oakland Airport and drove out to the Western Railway Museum, and after that went to Antioch to check out eBART.

Key System car 182 at the Western Railway Museum — Key System bridge car at the Western Railway Museum

East Bay Street Railways 352 at the Western Railway Museum — Key System East Bay car at the Western Railway Museum

eBART train waiting at Pittsburg/Bay Point — eBART at Pittsburg/Bay Point transfer platform

This means I have now taken every rail system in the Bay Area other than the Amtrak lines and ACE. Certainly was a fun journey, and I got to see a lot of cool places along the way.