Muni also has a fleet of - not buses - but light rail trains. These trains, designed by Ferrari, travel on the surface away from the city center, and then go underground to become subways down town traveling very quickly without traffic interference. From my location (Cole Valley - just above the Upper Haight) a bus ride takes about 45 minutes to get to SOMA, and the light-rail about 25 minutes.
So, if you can find a place on any Muni line, you will dramatically improve your transit times PLUS you won't have to deal with the crazies - they mainly ride by bus for some reason. The way you can differentiate a Muni light-rail from a bus line is the light-rail lines are designated with a letter, and the buses with a number. Avoid buses - life is too short - go light-rail.
And as ced pointed out, Cycling! For me, its under 20 minutes to ride to SOMA - cycling is one of the fastest ways to get around town, and the cyclists have become a political force here and have been granted a bike lane network in the city. But being right on a Muni light-rail line is perfect for those occasional rainy days.
ssh... don't mention cole valley. I like the doctor's wives with the dogs and $900 strollers... and running into Craig every day at Reverie. Let all the nerd wannabees keep driving up rents in the mission, aka "la marina nueva."
A vespa or scooter is a pretty good way of getting around too. I had one when I lived there, and it was much more convenient than the car - easy parking (although sometimes the dickhead meter maids would give me tickets for parking the thing on wide sidewalks between trees...hrumph). If it's rainy, you can dress up a bit more than is comfortable on a bicycle. The drawback is that you're still pretty much stuck in the city, as you don't want to/can't take scooters on freeways.
gibsonf1 is completely right about the MUNI light rail - it is faster and the clientele are less crazy than the bus. I should add that into my post.
The only thing I would add about the light-rail is that it can get so crowded close to downtown during rush-hour that you can't get on...so take that into consideration if you're going to live in the lower haight or duboce triangle or something.
Muni also has a fleet of - not buses - but light rail trains. These trains, designed by Ferrari, travel on the surface away from the city center, and then go underground to become subways down town traveling very quickly without traffic interference. From my location (Cole Valley - just above the Upper Haight) a bus ride takes about 45 minutes to get to SOMA, and the light-rail about 25 minutes. So, if you can find a place on any Muni line, you will dramatically improve your transit times PLUS you won't have to deal with the crazies - they mainly ride by bus for some reason. The way you can differentiate a Muni light-rail from a bus line is the light-rail lines are designated with a letter, and the buses with a number. Avoid buses - life is too short - go light-rail.
And as ced pointed out, Cycling! For me, its under 20 minutes to ride to SOMA - cycling is one of the fastest ways to get around town, and the cyclists have become a political force here and have been granted a bike lane network in the city. But being right on a Muni light-rail line is perfect for those occasional rainy days.