Public transit can always be the best solution if our cities and country invest more money into that infrastructure rather than committing to car dependency
You have to preface this by saying this is applicable for large metropolitan cities. Even 2nd tier cities may not be able to pull it off. My home is near a light rail station and my office is near a transit station. It takes me over 15 minutes to walk from my home to the nearest station... and a tad longer for my work. Both my home and work location carry the selling point of "easy access to public transit". The walking path is uneven and oftentimes dirty and smelly. Try this in Asia or Europe, I could walk to the nearest station in under 5 to 10 minutes and it's pretty much same and not a unique selling point and walk would have access to many stores and restaurants. The bus/subway/train are nearly almost on time such that their GPS-tracked location can predict arrival so accurately that I don't need to leave my home/office early. Try do that in the US... It's not just about spending money - sometimes the layout of the land, population and utilization rate will make and break a system's viability.
The security is a plus for anybody, but things like Waymo will be most valuable to single women who need a ride but don't want to risk getting into a car with a stranger.
For a city like SF, absolutely 100% holding it's own, and IMO better in certain instances, definitely better with cost! That said, a lot of cities with nowhere near the frequency or number of options, even in the Bay Area. For instance if you lived in Millbrae while sure they have a nice transit center with BART and CalTrain, there's literally no way to get there with public transit unless you live near El Camino because SamTrans has no routes in the city outside of that corridor
@@Mike__B yeah the closest is the ECR at Daly City BART, then you can sit on a bus for 90+ minutes to get there. So BART is really the only option unless you have unlimited time.
I’ve taken Waymo a lot. It’s not always more expensive. It may be slower, but it’s a smoother ride. I like that it’s always clean and doesn’t smell (definitely no cigarette smell). But my biggest intangible is as a female who has had my share of scary situations in a vehicle not my own, I feel safer in a Waymo.
That's a great point! This is from my perspective, and mine alone. There are so many other reasons why one of these might be better or worse for someone else.
Waymo is simultaneously safer (because there's no driver) and less safe (also because there's no driver). And I'm not talking about the car making a mistake, I think it rides pretty well. A mentally unstable pedestrian isn't likely to attack a regular car with a driver. And if this does happen, the driver would find a way to just leave the situation. Something that I do worry about when driving in Waymos through sketchy areas of SF at night, is getting attacked by a pedestrian, while the car just gets paralyzed, leaving you trapped.
i find it to be usually be cheaper except for when they disclose high demand. i will say im not sure how much that is subsidized by alphabet funding, so maybe it will change in the future
As a Bay area native I appreciate you showing some of the better highlight points of the city instead of just showing all the negative like a lot of people do when it comes to some of the unfortunate things that are going on in our communities
Thanks! I understand why people show the negative side. It gets a lot more clicks these days. But I can't imagine it's much fun to make videos like that.
I really enjoy your videos and am so glad to see you posting regularly. Being a San Franciscan, it's great to see someone sharing the beauty and quirkiness of living in the Bay Area.
I’m from Brussels, Belgium but I used to travel to SF for work frequently. Now that I switched jobs travelling to SF is pretty much unaffordable for me, but your videos are one way I can stay in touch with a part of the world (and my life) that I have so many good memories about. Always happy to watch you, and I’m certainly curious about riding a driverless Waymo. Keep making great videos!
I've been to Brussels! I at snails at the square, had the best frites of my life (fritland if I remember correctly) and marveled at how seriously you Belgians take your beer! Makes me happy to hear you're enjoying these videos from afar.
@AdamDoesNotExist sorry, but I don't believe you took BART to dolores park. Unless, I came from another dimension I don't remember there is a Dolores Park BART station? Enlight me! This is a video from another dimension where BART covers more SF or how did you reach dolores park?
@@Alejandro-vn2si That escalator is the 16th street bart station. You just walk after that. Honestly I'm more interested in hearing about your dimension though!
I was looking at the data for this video and just now realized what you meant. I can't believe you noticed that! Here's another tidbit - I recorded that very first shot of the train coming out of the tunnel the day I did the Amtrak day trip video. But I couldn't find a good place for it in the edit. Cheers!
added bonus for public transit is that if you are a high school student or younger, public transit is free(muni only, this doesnt apply to samtrans or bart)
I enjoy your channel very much. I grew up living in San Francisco and now live in the Seattle area. Your awesome videos bring me home again. Thanks for sharing.👍
Love watching all your videos; I’m from San Jose and have enjoyed everytime I’ve visited San Francisco! It’s so nice to see it highlighted throughout your channel. Recently had the chance to take a Waymo also and the experience was great!
Great video! We were in SF a couple of weeks ago and HAD to try Waymo. After using Uber once (questionable judgment a few times by our driver), we used Waymo for the rest of the trip. Clean, fast, convenient, comfortable, no driver interaction, and you could pick your own music - and as you noted, the tech is amazing. A little pricier, but it successfully picked us up almost in exactly the spots it was supposed to and dropped us off as close to our destinations as possible. Would do it again in a heartbeat! (We also did ride the cable cars, streetcars, and BART when it made the most sense)
As someone who works with AI, I wanted to answer your question "Why is Waymo more expensive if there is no driver". Its because operating a driverless car is actually more expensive then a car with a driver. Think of all the millions (If not billions) Alphabet invested to develop this. It needs to recuperate all those costs. The AI server costs are high, and its possible the Waymo ops team which likely includes some very expensive engineers, likely has a much higher cost than a car with a driver.
Great video! I love the music choices/cues when time is a factor, almost like a video game. Watching this, I never heard of Waymo before since I live in Boston. It'd be interesting to see how it grows as a company and ever braches out to other cities in the U.S. It may be slower, but I could see it being a plus, especially for introverts. Although, not going over potholes😅
Thank you! You'd think that Boston would be a really tough city to run a self driving taxi. But I'd think they same about SF. They are truly impressive. There are a few other cities where there available now, or coming soon. Worth the try in my opinion!
Great little adventure! Love these videos! Keep 'em coming and thank you for your work! I have to say though, Muni would have maybe even beaten the Uber time if you had gone the right way. You can also exit the station all the way at the back so that you don't have to cross any streets on Market. That being said, wasn't the BART time even faster? And BART has a train every 4 minutes in SF, so no wait like on the J! Granted, BART only exists on that one corridor in SF so it's not a fair fight. But if there's a BART station next to where you're going, it will be faster than driving most of the time!
Who knows! BART involves a lot of walking. But if I had been going between two bart stops I'm sure it would have been faster. Plus I got really really lucky with that J timing.
Another Adam awesome adventure in the city😀👍💯 To me taxis, rideshare and waymos are the transportation mode of last resort. Taxis are not worth it unless you're in Downtown SF or at SFO Airport. Hope to see you at Muni Heritage Weekend happening on 9/21-9/22
I take Muni. For the price, can't beat a $5 day pass to ride anywhere I want in the city, as long as I'm not in a hurry. And there's so many alternate lines to get there that's more interesting and less crowded than the main and trunk lines.
As someone who basically lives on the bus I love watching your videos. Also, just moved to the Bay so I love all the eating recs you do! Hoping to make a day trip and try some places out (especially the bagel place!!)
Amazing content I love this channel. Reminds me of growing up and all the good of the Bay Area. Have you done any thinking on making content on the future of SF? Especially with the AI boom?
Yes I sure have! There are a number of things I'd like to talk about. But I really want to make sure it's about my experience, and not just my opinion.
Great video. Not surprised about taxis. I’ve stopped using taxis about 20 years ago. Very unreliable when calling for one. Waymo is fun but I’m a Lyft or Uber person. I’m not going to nickel and dime my rides as time and reliability is key.
I bet if you saw behind the scenes, you might have a different opinion! This is all I'm working on at the moment, but it's not quite making a living... yet!
I would definitely take this trip on MUNI, but if you are going to try your luck with a Taxi then give Flywheel a call or use their app. Never had a problem with them stranding me. Waymo is fine for now, Uber used to be good too, stay tuned for the bait and switch.
Another benefit to the public transit cost is the day pass is only $5. When I was in SF, it was so easy to get around for so cheap. Honestly probably the only system in the US that rivals NYC imo
As Chicagoan, I find this really interesting. In Chicago, it’s almost always 2x longer to take public transit (I say this as someone who doesn’t have a car 😅) I consider the cost & my mental health worth the extra time. Nothing beats $75 bucks for my whole month of transit 😅 The CTA is pretty bad, but it’s cheap
Digging your videos broheim, but can I offer a suggestions? Frequently when viewing your videos, since you cut so close the to start of your dialog at the beginning, whatever device I'm watching on may cut off the first .5-1 second or so, meaning I miss what you said. Can you maybe try adding a 1-2 second buffer at the start of the video before you start talking? Great stuff otherwise. I really enjoy your ventures out in to the workings of the bay area!
As someone who's whole channel is basically completely focused on Waymo, I hugely respect your score here. Pickups and dropoffs can be super sketchy, and that unpredictability of the routing can really be a struggle when you're trying to get somewhere on time. However, having the car to yourself, and the tech behind it is a huge positive factor. I'm curious, did you include the tip for the Uber in the price? If not, Waymo may be closer than you think.
I didn't include the tip, plus uber had a roughly ~$5 off coupon. I've taken about 10 waymo's now, and this is the first time I've ever seen the advertised price higher on waymo than uber or lyft. Though this is also the first time I've taken one after they opened it up to the general public.
I ride waymo in sf. One time at Union square, Me and my mom had too run 6 blocks just to catch the car. We contacted support, they gave us one free tripr
Transit definitely wins if you want to get somewhere next to a transit stop, which the Ferry Building is next to a whole bunch. But what if you wanted to get to the Presidio or Richmond district? I think that'd be a more reasonable comparison. Especially from an area that doesn't have a direct connection. I say this as someone who lives next to BART but it takes me a long time to get to certain parts of the city via public transit.
I think part of the issue that works for all and against you (in a way) is HOW The City is built. One block has a time limit of at most 3 minutes on each side- about 5 secs driving
I live in Phoenix, which is also a Waymo city. As an introvert, is it definitely my preferred choice even, if it's more expensive than Uber/Lyft. I hate small talk so much. So, riding alone and listening to my own music is fantastic. Plus, there's no tipping!
Was going to say, where you were with Dolores park, take the J, and it's WAY less, plus if you want to go somewhere else free for the next two hours. Or a short walk to the 16th or 24th street BART station and boop, right out at the Embarcadaro.
I take Muni when I can. but of the other modes (if I don't take my own car) I prefer Taxi. Yellow Taxi. Taxi is faster, as mentioned the only mode that is granted special lanes with Muni bus and most Taxi drivers are very aggressive and know how to zip in between traffic lines. The more foreign my taxi driver is the more confidence I have they know how to handle SF traffic. I don't mind at all if they want to have a conversation or if I'm just listening to their music. As a passenger I get to enjoy the city scape.
Calling cabs directly has aleays worked better for me than apps. Also - fewer taxis now in SF bc the rideshares have undermined them. Taxi companies are required to have disability-accessible vehicles, and to carry everyone. Ride shares can (and do) discriminate.
I rode in a traditional SF cab once in my life. The guy sped through the streets & road raged. I have never set foot in a traditional taxi again. Only Lyft/Uber.
Last time I used a cab--a decade or more ago--I had a doctor's appointment and needed to get there on time. I allowed plenty of time, I thought. I called a cab by phone. After half an hour of waiting and having no clue whether a cab was on the way or not (no "app" back then), I called back only to reassured one was coming but they couldn't say when. Eventually it did come and I barely made it to my appointment. But I became an early Uber adopter and have never used a cab again. They need an app that works as well as Ubers for starters. And they may need to adjust their pricing to be closer to Uber's.
In my experience Waymo tends to seem safer than some Uber drivers I’ve had. And Waymo takes safer routes which ends up taking longer. They also won’t do u-turns or other manoeuvres - at least not yet. The time and pricing is annoying,l, but being in a car by yourself is nice.
Waymo felt better before they opened up their app to the general public and then you could “justify” the pricey fare. The exclusivity was something you could brag about in a way. But since they became available to anyone, I don’t consider it as an option anymore; unless I want to surprise a date? I use Uber when going to the airport (don’t want to bring a whole checked bag and carry-on on BART) or when I’m in Oakland and need to head back to the city past midnight. BART and Muni do their job good enough for me.
I lived in Europe for a while, for work and mostly in large Western EU cities (but visited distant family in Eastern Europe regularly too). I will never understand why Bay Areans claim that transit in SF is somehow bad or "worse than in Europe", or "not good enough" in any way,, BART stacks up extremely well with against even the best German regional rail systems, which are supposed to be the best in Europe/world. Muni Metro is an incredible Stadtbahn for a city of SF's size. Most similar European cities absolutely do not have six light rail/light metro lines for 850k people! I don't know what their problem is, honestly. Our transit is kind of just great, leaning heavily into "incredible" territory. Most people around here have zero appreciation for good transit.
The argument that no conversation is an advantage is pretty telling. If you don’t feel like talking just politely say so. I get the feeling that many people feel as if service industry professionals are beneath them. Everyone has something to teach you or that you could learn from them. If you don’t want to talk that’s understandable your driver isn’t stupid, don’t assume they are. There are a bunch of ways to be polite and not feel required to have a conversation.
It might have been a bit slower. But, why didn't you transfer from the J-Church to the E-Embarcadero? It would have been less walking. Going north on Embarcadero to the Ferry Building can be really slow. A snails pace at times. Public Transit might actually be faster if you used the PCC cars.
Interesting video. I don’t like public transport in SF or LA. There’s a light rail station about ten minutes from my house. I can walk down there and with two changes be at terminal 7 in LAX in just under two hours. It’s by far the most predictable, which is important. The downside is that the trains themselves are becoming a homeless shelter; Union Station can be a meth lab. I don’t feel comfortable using it, so I’m back using Lyber. San Francisco isn’t much better, with aspects that are too disgusting to put into writing. I have no idea how to address the issue of homeless-I think it needs to be treated as a symptom(s) rather than a problem. I do know it’s making public transport unattractive for many people.
For what it's worth, union station was really nice on my way though. There was a massive police presence in and around the station. Sounds like that might not be usual. But it was the most noticeable thing in the station to me, especially coming from the bay area.
@@AdamDoesNotExist When I used to take the train to LAX, I’d always see police in the station, sometimes a lot of them. Groups of police would appear on variously platforms too. There still was a reasonable amount of abuse of the rules in the stations, particularly Union Station.
Another plus to Waymo is not having to deal with creepy and/or perverted drivers as a woman. Also heard parents may prefer waymo for their children because of that reason too
Idk why but I love taking bart and muni... maybe it's the people watching lol. Public transportation in general gets my vote, but I do NOT love taking the buses. Too many bad experiences in such a small space.
Ok. Just finished the video. So they are all equal because, and let me get this straight, they take about the same time, something about intangibles, muni has hard seats, ewww yuck, and the fact that muni is an order of magnitude cheaper counts the same as Uber is 10% faster even though you took Uber in the middle of the day and muni at rush hour. Got it.
Fun to see you hanging out in the neighborhood. I live about 2 blocks from a J stop. It's slower than BART getting downtown but a lot nicer. We took it to the Ferry Building Friday night and home again later on. it's a pleasant ride with some great views going through Dolores Park.
Took a waymo for the first time ever today, pick up was 3 blocks away, and they only give you 5 minutes to get there, barely made it 😂. Dropped us off right at the location tho, so that was good. It was comfortable and nice, but not cheap. I’ll probably use it infrequently, but not regularly.
The problem is you stacked the deck by picking beginning and end points with LRV stops on one route (I'm not even sure how BART got into this because they are way down on Mission St, nowhere near as convenient as Muni for these locations and free????). If you were picking a more usual trip that might involve a walk of a couple of blocks to the transit stop and maybe a transfer, public transit would be a lot slower and less convenient and the contest would essentially be between Uber and Waymo. Everytime I've compared the two, I've also found Uber cheaper and used it vs Waymo even though I'd really love a Waymo ride just for the experience.
@@TohaBgood2 Not just a Muni stop but an LRV stop right there. Muni's announced goal is to have a BUS stop within 2 blocks of all residents. A 2-block walk on either end would add significant time. So would a transfer and so would using busses rather than LRVs. From where I live, for example, to get to 20th and Church I'd have to walk 1.5 blocks to catch a bus that would take me to where I could transfer to the J-Church. Actually, if I lived anywhere north of where I live and west of Van Ness it would take even longer.
@@BTinSF Most of SF is plastered in LRV stops, dude. Only the north-western part of the city doesn't have rail of some kind. People keep pretending like a couple of hilly near-suburban neighborhoods not having rail is the same as the whole city not having rail. And even there there is BRt and express busses.
@@TohaBgood2 "Dude", there is no rail north of Market St which is a huge part of the city. There have been plans to extend the streetcar from Fisherman's Wharf across Van Ness and into the Marina forever but it hasn't happened. There is no rail between Mission St and 3rd St., another huge part of the city. In total, it's a whole lot more than "a couple of hilly neighborhoods".
I saw a funny thing a couple weeks ago. A Waymo was in a left turn lane, and for some reason it didn't start moving when it got a green arrow. There was a Muni bus behind it, and the bus driver honked at the Waymo. Now I don't _know_ if there was cause and effect there, but the Waymo started moving right after the honk.
Public transit can always be the best solution if our cities and country invest more money into that infrastructure rather than committing to car dependency
In some places it feels like we're starting to see that shift. But certainly a long way to go
You have to preface this by saying this is applicable for large metropolitan cities. Even 2nd tier cities may not be able to pull it off. My home is near a light rail station and my office is near a transit station. It takes me over 15 minutes to walk from my home to the nearest station... and a tad longer for my work. Both my home and work location carry the selling point of "easy access to public transit". The walking path is uneven and oftentimes dirty and smelly. Try this in Asia or Europe, I could walk to the nearest station in under 5 to 10 minutes and it's pretty much same and not a unique selling point and walk would have access to many stores and restaurants. The bus/subway/train are nearly almost on time such that their GPS-tracked location can predict arrival so accurately that I don't need to leave my home/office early. Try do that in the US... It's not just about spending money - sometimes the layout of the land, population and utilization rate will make and break a system's viability.
Waymo wins on the intangibles. No talking, no tips, and zero guessing on the mental state of my driver. Waymo hands down.
I agree with on the intangibles. It's a landslide in that category.
The security is a plus for anybody, but things like Waymo will be most valuable to single women who need a ride but don't want to risk getting into a car with a stranger.
My colleague recently got into an Uber where the driver was flat-out high. Having a computer driver that will never have that issue is huge.
Glad to see public transportation holding its own against ride sharing.
So was I! Honestly this is not at all how I expected this to go.
I mean. If you have a straight shot take Muni. You went during rush hour. I bet Uber would have gotten way longer due to traffic.
For a city like SF, absolutely 100% holding it's own, and IMO better in certain instances, definitely better with cost! That said, a lot of cities with nowhere near the frequency or number of options, even in the Bay Area. For instance if you lived in Millbrae while sure they have a nice transit center with BART and CalTrain, there's literally no way to get there with public transit unless you live near El Camino because SamTrans has no routes in the city outside of that corridor
@@Mike__B yeah the closest is the ECR at Daly City BART, then you can sit on a bus for 90+ minutes to get there. So BART is really the only option unless you have unlimited time.
I’ve taken Waymo a lot. It’s not always more expensive. It may be slower, but it’s a smoother ride. I like that it’s always clean and doesn’t smell (definitely no cigarette smell). But my biggest intangible is as a female who has had my share of scary situations in a vehicle not my own, I feel safer in a Waymo.
That's a great point! This is from my perspective, and mine alone. There are so many other reasons why one of these might be better or worse for someone else.
Waymo is simultaneously safer (because there's no driver) and less safe (also because there's no driver). And I'm not talking about the car making a mistake, I think it rides pretty well. A mentally unstable pedestrian isn't likely to attack a regular car with a driver. And if this does happen, the driver would find a way to just leave the situation. Something that I do worry about when driving in Waymos through sketchy areas of SF at night, is getting attacked by a pedestrian, while the car just gets paralyzed, leaving you trapped.
i find it to be usually be cheaper except for when they disclose high demand. i will say im not sure how much that is subsidized by alphabet funding, so maybe it will change in the future
As a Bay area native I appreciate you showing some of the better highlight points of the city instead of just showing all the negative like a lot of people do when it comes to some of the unfortunate things that are going on in our communities
Thanks! I understand why people show the negative side. It gets a lot more clicks these days. But I can't imagine it's much fun to make videos like that.
I really enjoy your videos and am so glad to see you posting regularly. Being a San Franciscan, it's great to see someone sharing the beauty and quirkiness of living in the Bay Area.
Thank you so much!
@@demzre I feel the same way. I love seeing my adopted city through someone else’s perspective.
Appreciate the grind Adam. You're killing it lately!
Thank you!
I enjoy using waymo when there's no reasonable MUNI/Bike route to where I need to go in SF. Drives better than most both cab and uber drivers lol
It's crazy how well they work!
😮
I’m from Brussels, Belgium but I used to travel to SF for work frequently. Now that I switched jobs travelling to SF is pretty much unaffordable for me, but your videos are one way I can stay in touch with a part of the world (and my life) that I have so many good memories about.
Always happy to watch you, and I’m certainly curious about riding a driverless Waymo. Keep making great videos!
I've been to Brussels! I at snails at the square, had the best frites of my life (fritland if I remember correctly) and marveled at how seriously you Belgians take your beer! Makes me happy to hear you're enjoying these videos from afar.
Your videos are always so interesting and fun to watch! You deserve more subs! Keep up the great work Adam! Love your content!
Glad you like them!
You're becoming one of my favorite people to watch, I love your content Adam.
Thank you! I'm thrilled to hear that!
5:05 Don't think we didn't notice that was 19th St and not Embarcadero 😂😂 Great video as always!
Hahaha. Thank you!
@AdamDoesNotExist sorry, but I don't believe you took BART to dolores park. Unless, I came from another dimension I don't remember there is a Dolores Park BART station? Enlight me! This is a video from another dimension where BART covers more SF or how did you reach dolores park?
@@Alejandro-vn2si That escalator is the 16th street bart station. You just walk after that. Honestly I'm more interested in hearing about your dimension though!
I was looking at the data for this video and just now realized what you meant. I can't believe you noticed that! Here's another tidbit - I recorded that very first shot of the train coming out of the tunnel the day I did the Amtrak day trip video. But I couldn't find a good place for it in the edit. Cheers!
@@Alejandro-vn2si Umm...foot power from nearest stop...🤷🏾♂️
added bonus for public transit is that if you are a high school student or younger, public transit is free(muni only, this doesnt apply to samtrans or bart)
And now Caltrain is only $1 or $2 for a day pass if under 18
I didn't know that, that's such a good idea
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@@DGotliebVids all public transit using clipper is also discounted if you use a youth clipper
SMART in Sonoma-Marin is also free for 18-younger and 65-older, and only $0.75/zone when it wasn't
I enjoy your channel very much. I grew up living in San Francisco and now live in the Seattle area. Your awesome videos bring me home again. Thanks for sharing.👍
Awesome! Thank you! Glad to hear I can deliver a bit of nostalgia.
Love watching all your videos; I’m from San Jose and have enjoyed everytime I’ve visited San Francisco! It’s so nice to see it highlighted throughout your channel. Recently had the chance to take a Waymo also and the experience was great!
Thank you! I'm sure there will come a time when waymo isn't that impressive to us anymore. But I'm still in awe every time I get in one.
so happy to see your content because I live in Silicon valley, close to San Francisco, and I love this type of videos.
Thank you! Glad you like them!
Great video! We were in SF a couple of weeks ago and HAD to try Waymo. After using Uber once (questionable judgment a few times by our driver), we used Waymo for the rest of the trip. Clean, fast, convenient, comfortable, no driver interaction, and you could pick your own music - and as you noted, the tech is amazing. A little pricier, but it successfully picked us up almost in exactly the spots it was supposed to and dropped us off as close to our destinations as possible. Would do it again in a heartbeat! (We also did ride the cable cars, streetcars, and BART when it made the most sense)
As someone who works with AI, I wanted to answer your question "Why is Waymo more expensive if there is no driver". Its because operating a driverless car is actually more expensive then a car with a driver. Think of all the millions (If not billions) Alphabet invested to develop this. It needs to recuperate all those costs. The AI server costs are high, and its possible the Waymo ops team which likely includes some very expensive engineers, likely has a much higher cost than a car with a driver.
Great video! I love the music choices/cues when time is a factor, almost like a video game. Watching this, I never heard of Waymo before since I live in Boston. It'd be interesting to see how it grows as a company and ever braches out to other cities in the U.S. It may be slower, but I could see it being a plus, especially for introverts. Although, not going over potholes😅
Thank you! You'd think that Boston would be a really tough city to run a self driving taxi. But I'd think they same about SF. They are truly impressive. There are a few other cities where there available now, or coming soon. Worth the try in my opinion!
Great little adventure! Love these videos! Keep 'em coming and thank you for your work!
I have to say though, Muni would have maybe even beaten the Uber time if you had gone the right way. You can also exit the station all the way at the back so that you don't have to cross any streets on Market.
That being said, wasn't the BART time even faster? And BART has a train every 4 minutes in SF, so no wait like on the J! Granted, BART only exists on that one corridor in SF so it's not a fair fight. But if there's a BART station next to where you're going, it will be faster than driving most of the time!
Who knows! BART involves a lot of walking. But if I had been going between two bart stops I'm sure it would have been faster. Plus I got really really lucky with that J timing.
@@AdamDoesNotExist Yeah, that J showed up like a trooper to tilt this somewhat in transit's favor.
Within the city, it's almost impossible for me to see a world where a combination of transit, bikeshare, and walking isn't the best option
FACTS
As long as you don't have a lot of baggage/stuff, and you don't have any mobility issues or injuries, I'm with you!
Another Adam awesome adventure in the city😀👍💯 To me taxis, rideshare and waymos are the transportation mode of last resort. Taxis are not worth it unless you're in Downtown SF or at SFO Airport.
Hope to see you at Muni Heritage Weekend happening on 9/21-9/22
I'm not sure if I'll be there, but if you see me, please say hi!
They not worth it anywhere on earth
Yo Adam. You’re killing it with content man. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
I take Muni. For the price, can't beat a $5 day pass to ride anywhere I want in the city, as long as I'm not in a hurry. And there's so many alternate lines to get there that's more interesting and less crowded than the main and trunk lines.
100% Muni is just... solid
As someone who doesn't drive, I REALLY hope tech like Waymo starts to take some serious leaps forward.
Me too! It's so good now, but not being able to get on highways or leave the city is a huge limitation.
As someone who basically lives on the bus I love watching your videos. Also, just moved to the Bay so I love all the eating recs you do! Hoping to make a day trip and try some places out (especially the bagel place!!)
There's a real bagel renaissance going on the bay the last few years
Amazing content I love this channel. Reminds me of growing up and all the good of the Bay Area. Have you done any thinking on making content on the future of SF? Especially with the AI boom?
Yes I sure have! There are a number of things I'd like to talk about. But I really want to make sure it's about my experience, and not just my opinion.
Waymo > All. Great video again Adam
Thank you! Waymo is sooo good.
Great video. Not surprised about taxis. I’ve stopped using taxis about 20 years ago. Very unreliable when calling for one. Waymo is fun but I’m a Lyft or Uber person. I’m not going to nickel and dime my rides as time and reliability is key.
love this video. Waymo is super cool but bay area public transit is sooooo good
Exactly!
Love the Billy Strings shirt!
Thanks!
Is this your career?? Do you make a living off of this and this alone?? You're living my dream dude
I bet if you saw behind the scenes, you might have a different opinion! This is all I'm working on at the moment, but it's not quite making a living... yet!
@@AdamDoesNotExistkeep up the good work! Hopefully it’ll work out man
I would definitely take this trip on MUNI, but if you are going to try your luck with a Taxi then give Flywheel a call or use their app. Never had a problem with them stranding me. Waymo is fine for now, Uber used to be good too, stay tuned for the bait and switch.
Another benefit to the public transit cost is the day pass is only $5. When I was in SF, it was so easy to get around for so cheap. Honestly probably the only system in the US that rivals NYC imo
It's so well priced. DC has a really useful metro too. But bay transit is shockingly good
Another Adam banger
Thank you!
Another great video!
Thank you!
$2.50. Can't beat that
As Chicagoan, I find this really interesting. In Chicago, it’s almost always 2x longer to take public transit (I say this as someone who doesn’t have a car 😅) I consider the cost & my mental health worth the extra time. Nothing beats $75 bucks for my whole month of transit 😅 The CTA is pretty bad, but it’s cheap
That funny looking structure is a urinal bro 3:37 😅🤣
SF's most famous!
@@AdamDoesNotExist most clutch bathroom in the city; open 24hrs/day
Digging your videos broheim, but can I offer a suggestions? Frequently when viewing your videos, since you cut so close the to start of your dialog at the beginning, whatever device I'm watching on may cut off the first .5-1 second or so, meaning I miss what you said. Can you maybe try adding a 1-2 second buffer at the start of the video before you start talking?
Great stuff otherwise. I really enjoy your ventures out in to the workings of the bay area!
Thank you! That pause is what the kids these days refer to as the "millennial pause." It's very controversial stuff.
As someone who's whole channel is basically completely focused on Waymo, I hugely respect your score here. Pickups and dropoffs can be super sketchy, and that unpredictability of the routing can really be a struggle when you're trying to get somewhere on time. However, having the car to yourself, and the tech behind it is a huge positive factor. I'm curious, did you include the tip for the Uber in the price? If not, Waymo may be closer than you think.
I didn't include the tip, plus uber had a roughly ~$5 off coupon. I've taken about 10 waymo's now, and this is the first time I've ever seen the advertised price higher on waymo than uber or lyft. Though this is also the first time I've taken one after they opened it up to the general public.
I ride waymo in sf. One time at Union square, Me and my mom had too run 6 blocks just to catch the car. We contacted support, they gave us one free tripr
Yay !! New video day 😊
Hope you enjoyed it!
@@AdamDoesNotExist I really did. I can’t believe you couldn’t find a taxi, what the heck. I wish the video had more views, fingers crossed 🤞🏻
Transit definitely wins if you want to get somewhere next to a transit stop, which the Ferry Building is next to a whole bunch. But what if you wanted to get to the Presidio or Richmond district? I think that'd be a more reasonable comparison. Especially from an area that doesn't have a direct connection. I say this as someone who lives next to BART but it takes me a long time to get to certain parts of the city via public transit.
Yeah absolutely. Transit wasn't supposed to be in this video, but taxis really let me down!
It's cool to see they programmed the Waymo to drive like a Californian.
I think part of the issue that works for all and against you (in a way) is HOW The City is built.
One block has a time limit of at most 3 minutes on each side- about 5 secs driving
Yes! Public transit finds a way in the video, again 🎉
I'm sure it's hard to believe, but that really wasn't my intention!
I live in Phoenix, which is also a Waymo city. As an introvert, is it definitely my preferred choice even, if it's more expensive than Uber/Lyft. I hate small talk so much. So, riding alone and listening to my own music is fantastic. Plus, there's no tipping!
Oh boy do I feel that!
Hey Adam! Great video. Just subscribed. It would be fun to collaborate with you! I made a Waymo video back in January in Phoenix. It was a bit wild.
Was going to say, where you were with Dolores park, take the J, and it's WAY less, plus if you want to go somewhere else free for the next two hours. Or a short walk to the 16th or 24th street BART station and boop, right out at the Embarcadaro.
So many good options
That was a fun one!
Thank you!
I take Muni when I can. but of the other modes (if I don't take my own car) I prefer Taxi. Yellow Taxi. Taxi is faster, as mentioned the only mode that is granted special lanes with Muni bus and most Taxi drivers are very aggressive and know how to zip in between traffic lines. The more foreign my taxi driver is the more confidence I have they know how to handle SF traffic. I don't mind at all if they want to have a conversation or if I'm just listening to their music. As a passenger I get to enjoy the city scape.
Calling cabs directly has aleays worked better for me than apps. Also - fewer taxis now in SF bc the rideshares have undermined them. Taxi companies are required to have disability-accessible vehicles, and to carry everyone. Ride shares can (and do) discriminate.
I rode in a traditional SF cab once in my life. The guy sped through the streets & road raged.
I have never set foot in a traditional taxi again.
Only Lyft/Uber.
I've had some great and not so great experiences with taxis, ubers, lyfts...
Last time I used a cab--a decade or more ago--I had a doctor's appointment and needed to get there on time. I allowed plenty of time, I thought. I called a cab by phone. After half an hour of waiting and having no clue whether a cab was on the way or not (no "app" back then), I called back only to reassured one was coming but they couldn't say when. Eventually it did come and I barely made it to my appointment. But I became an early Uber adopter and have never used a cab again. They need an app that works as well as Ubers for starters. And they may need to adjust their pricing to be closer to Uber's.
Next time include an e-bike. They’re hella fast
Actually, that was part of the plan for getting back to the park. The taxi really threw me for a loop. I love taking the bikes around SF and Oakland!
In my experience Waymo tends to seem safer than some Uber drivers I’ve had. And Waymo takes safer routes which ends up taking longer. They also won’t do u-turns or other manoeuvres - at least not yet. The time and pricing is annoying,l, but being in a car by yourself is nice.
So nice having the car to yourself. Rideshare drivers can be quite inconsistent. I'm with you there.
Waymo felt better before they opened up their app to the general public and then you could “justify” the pricey fare. The exclusivity was something you could brag about in a way. But since they became available to anyone, I don’t consider it as an option anymore; unless I want to surprise a date? I use Uber when going to the airport (don’t want to bring a whole checked bag and carry-on on BART) or when I’m in Oakland and need to head back to the city past midnight. BART and Muni do their job good enough for me.
I lived in Europe for a while, for work and mostly in large Western EU cities (but visited distant family in Eastern Europe regularly too). I will never understand why Bay Areans claim that transit in SF is somehow bad or "worse than in Europe", or "not good enough" in any way,,
BART stacks up extremely well with against even the best German regional rail systems, which are supposed to be the best in Europe/world. Muni Metro is an incredible Stadtbahn for a city of SF's size. Most similar European cities absolutely do not have six light rail/light metro lines for 850k people!
I don't know what their problem is, honestly. Our transit is kind of just great, leaning heavily into "incredible" territory. Most people around here have zero appreciation for good transit.
I think they all have their time and place. One thing I've definitely noticed now that anyone can ride waymo, is there sure are a lot of them!
The argument that no conversation is an advantage is pretty telling. If you don’t feel like talking just politely say so. I get the feeling that many people feel as if service industry professionals are beneath them. Everyone has something to teach you or that you could learn from them. If you don’t want to talk that’s understandable your driver isn’t stupid, don’t assume they are. There are a bunch of ways to be polite and not feel required to have a conversation.
They all have ups and downs, just of matter if you can deal with the shortcomings and time
Electric Unicycle EUC is the way to go. Cross the city in no time and have fun.
btw you can sit in the passenger seat in the Waymo.
was air b&b your old office building?
Public transit is great after I recover from my stab wounds on my back, chest, hands, neck, and head, I’ll be back to riding the bus.
waymo is cheaper if you account for the tip for uber/lyft but i like muni if im not in a rush
It might have been a bit slower. But, why didn't you transfer from the J-Church to the E-Embarcadero? It would have been less walking. Going north on Embarcadero to the Ferry Building can be really slow. A snails pace at times. Public Transit might actually be faster if you used the PCC cars.
Yeah it's just so much slower to do that. More hassle than it's worth for most people in my opinion.
Could you recommend channels similar to yours that show San Francisco or other cities in the United States ?
I'm not really sure, but I'd love to hear if there are any others you enjoy
Waymo should have received a bronze in Cost due to it's highest price. That would have made it a 3 way tie. Interesting.......
I would be interested to see this done moving from East to West within the city. Or just the western side in general.
I thought about doing that, but the taxis are all centered around downtown, so I was worried it wouldn't work out for them specifically. Imagine that!
so what is the obsession with the outdoor urinal?>
San Francisco's most famous (and only I believe) outdoor urinal!
my money is on waymo secretly being a mechanical turk situation
Hahaha. There were rumors that someone was driving them remotely. But they're just so consistently good.
Interesting video. I don’t like public transport in SF or LA. There’s a light rail station about ten minutes from my house. I can walk down there and with two changes be at terminal 7 in LAX in just under two hours. It’s by far the most predictable, which is important. The downside is that the trains themselves are becoming a homeless shelter; Union Station can be a meth lab. I don’t feel comfortable using it, so I’m back using Lyber. San Francisco isn’t much better, with aspects that are too disgusting to put into writing.
I have no idea how to address the issue of homeless-I think it needs to be treated as a symptom(s) rather than a problem. I do know it’s making public transport unattractive for many people.
For what it's worth, union station was really nice on my way though. There was a massive police presence in and around the station. Sounds like that might not be usual. But it was the most noticeable thing in the station to me, especially coming from the bay area.
@@AdamDoesNotExist When I used to take the train to LAX, I’d always see police in the station, sometimes a lot of them. Groups of police would appear on variously platforms too. There still was a reasonable amount of abuse of the rules in the stations, particularly Union Station.
Can’t use anything but Waymo. No driver who refuses to use deodorant
What a nice hat
Thank you!
waymo won’t cancel on me a million times before finally picking me up
Waymo might be a bit more expensive than a standard Uber but the quality and cleanliness of the vehicle is better even than Uber Comfort
I wonder if they can maintain that as they scale. In the early days, every Uber was pristine.
Another plus to Waymo is not having to deal with creepy and/or perverted drivers as a woman. Also heard parents may prefer waymo for their children because of that reason too
Bro did everything except CALL the taxi companies 🤦♂️
Idk why but I love taking bart and muni... maybe it's the people watching lol. Public transportation in general gets my vote, but I do NOT love taking the buses. Too many bad experiences in such a small space.
Yeah the busses can be tough. Especially depending on the time of day and the specific route!
How would muni stack up if it did not have to stop for traffic lights and cars and they added a stop at the ferry building?
Ok. Just finished the video. So they are all equal because, and let me get this straight, they take about the same time, something about intangibles, muni has hard seats, ewww yuck, and the fact that muni is an order of magnitude cheaper counts the same as Uber is 10% faster even though you took Uber in the middle of the day and muni at rush hour. Got it.
Oh, and Waymo wins because it is slower, more expensive, is awkward when picking you up and dropping you off, but hey, it’s a jag.
Hi Adam, thank you for sharing the videos. I love it. Do you have instagram , as well ?
I don't! But glad you like the videos
Ferry building to Dolores via BART... huh? Take the J
I'm with ya
1:55 How did it smell to film in a pissoir?
Very French
@@AdamDoesNotExist Ooh la la, eau de toilette
Hmm I see or ?! 😅😊
hes so cute :)
Is it safe riding MUNI at like 10 PM?
I feel perfectly safe but I can absolutely see how some people on some lines in some places wouldn't feel safe.
I wonder if waymo prices are high because cruise was banned
I liked Waymos until it got dirty. No supervision and people leave trash in it.
Are you starting your transit TH-camr arc? 🤔
Maybe a bit!
Fun to see you hanging out in the neighborhood. I live about 2 blocks from a J stop. It's slower than BART getting downtown but a lot nicer. We took it to the Ferry Building Friday night and home again later on. it's a pleasant ride with some great views going through Dolores Park.
So convenient to be able to hop on a train close by. And I'm with you, it can be a lot more civilized than BART.
I always found the J to be one of the fastest lines downtown.
What a huge disappointment the taxi was. Would’ve been nice to see the usage of the bus lanes.
Yeah I honestly though taxi would be the fastest way to get there because of those bus lanes.
Who knew Mohamed Salah is also a TH-cam vlogger?😅
LOL. I used to get that all the time. Glad I've still got it.
@@AdamDoesNotExist yep. Ya still got it! 😄
Ahh the pissoir!
Indeed!
Took a waymo for the first time ever today, pick up was 3 blocks away, and they only give you 5 minutes to get there, barely made it 😂. Dropped us off right at the location tho, so that was good. It was comfortable and nice, but not cheap. I’ll probably use it infrequently, but not regularly.
I tried to get on at pier 39 once. That didn't go well at all.
make a video on zoox
I might if they come to SF!
The problem is you stacked the deck by picking beginning and end points with LRV stops on one route (I'm not even sure how BART got into this because they are way down on Mission St, nowhere near as convenient as Muni for these locations and free????). If you were picking a more usual trip that might involve a walk of a couple of blocks to the transit stop and maybe a transfer, public transit would be a lot slower and less convenient and the contest would essentially be between Uber and Waymo. Everytime I've compared the two, I've also found Uber cheaper and used it vs Waymo even though I'd really love a Waymo ride just for the experience.
Muni has stops all over the city, so a Muni stop being nearby is hardly an accident.
@@TohaBgood2 Not just a Muni stop but an LRV stop right there. Muni's announced goal is to have a BUS stop within 2 blocks of all residents. A 2-block walk on either end would add significant time. So would a transfer and so would using busses rather than LRVs. From where I live, for example, to get to 20th and Church I'd have to walk 1.5 blocks to catch a bus that would take me to where I could transfer to the J-Church. Actually, if I lived anywhere north of where I live and west of Van Ness it would take even longer.
You have to try Waymo! It's just shocking that it works, and works so well.
@@BTinSF Most of SF is plastered in LRV stops, dude. Only the north-western part of the city doesn't have rail of some kind.
People keep pretending like a couple of hilly near-suburban neighborhoods not having rail is the same as the whole city not having rail.
And even there there is BRt and express busses.
@@TohaBgood2 "Dude", there is no rail north of Market St which is a huge part of the city. There have been plans to extend the streetcar from Fisherman's Wharf across Van Ness and into the Marina forever but it hasn't happened. There is no rail between Mission St and 3rd St., another huge part of the city. In total, it's a whole lot more than "a couple of hilly neighborhoods".
If its an emergency are you permitted to hop in the driver's seat and start driving it yourself?
It gets very angry if you touch the wheel (so I've heard). But there is 'pull over right now' button.
I saw a funny thing a couple weeks ago. A Waymo was in a left turn lane, and for some reason it didn't start moving when it got a green arrow. There was a Muni bus behind it, and the bus driver honked at the Waymo. Now I don't _know_ if there was cause and effect there, but the Waymo started moving right after the honk.
It totally could have been!
Make a video about the closed and empty SF Westfield mall.
I did!
Lol, you do know that that mall is open and getting pretty busy again, right? 😁😁😁
Thank you for exploring my city so I don’t have to.
Haha! My hope was these videos would inspire people to get out an explore. But if you've found another use for them, then good on ya!
@@AdamDoesNotExist tongue meet cheek. :) Cheers mate
My commute is 45 minutes via street car and only 20 with a car
Why don't you take Muni Metro instead of the streetcar then?
@@TohaBgood2 that is an hour
@@frescula Lol what are you talking about?
@@TohaBgood2 via muni metro it’s an hour, via street car it’s 45 minutes
@@frescula Lol, there are no Muni Metro routes that take an hour, bud.