Getting around Daly City
Daly City sits immediately south of San Francisco, sharing its northern border with almost all of San Francisco's southern border, and it is bordered by San Francisco, Brisbane, Pacifica, South San Francisco, and the town of Colma. That position makes it a practical base for visitors who want to reach San Francisco and the wider Bay Area. The city itself is spread across distinct neighborhoods — Westlake, St. Francis Heights, Serramonte, Top of the Hill, Hillside, Crocker, Southern Hills, and Bayshore — and getting between them is the main transport question you'll face.
Rail: BART
The backbone of car-free travel here is BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), which provides a regional, frequent rail service connecting much of the East Bay with Daly City, San Francisco, and San Francisco International Airport through the Transbay Tube, a tunnel underneath San Francisco Bay. The Daly City BART station opened in 1973, giving northern San Mateo County rail service to downtown San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area; the line was later extended south to Colma and then to Millbrae and the airport. BART also meets Caltrain at Millbrae, which is useful if you're connecting onward down the Peninsula.
For a visitor, the practical points are these:
- Fares vary depending on the distance traveled.
- You can pay with a Clipper card or with contactless/mobile payment.
- Bicycles are allowed on BART except between stations designated in the schedule brochure during commute hours.
- BART runs several routes, and most of them reach Daly City — so the station is a genuinely useful hub rather than a single-line stop.
Buses and other public transport
Local bus service is provided by SamTrans, the San Mateo County Transit District. SamTrans is the administrative body for the principal public transit and transportation programs in San Mateo County: SamTrans bus service, including Redi-Wheels paratransit service, Caltrain commuter rail, and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. Caltrain and the Transportation Authority have contracted with the District to serve as their managing agency, under the direction of their appointed boards. In practice, this means SamTrans buses are your local option for covering ground within Daly City and connecting to neighboring communities, while Caltrain handles longer commuter-rail trips along the Peninsula.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Waymo's self-driving taxi service has expanded to Daly City from San Francisco, so a driverless taxi is one option available to you here. Conventional taxis and app-based ride-hailing are the other obvious choices when you want a door-to-door trip, particularly for the neighborhoods that sit away from the BART station.
Walkability
Walking is realistic in a limited way. The Wikivoyage guidance is blunt: in general, a car is your best bet unless you're going to the movie theater next to the BART station. That tells you the station area is the one pocket where you can comfortably arrive by train and reach nearby amenities on foot, while much of the rest of the city is oriented around driving.
By car
Two major freeways serve Daly City: U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 280. Interstate 280 essentially bisects Daly City geographically as well as in terms of the areas with the highest commercial and residential density. It is less congested than U.S. 101 and therefore offers a preferred route into San Francisco (and locations further north and east) as well as southern Peninsula locations. If you're driving, I-280 is generally the smoother choice.
Getting in from the airport
There are three airports in the San Francisco Bay Area:
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO) — located about 10 miles (16 km) south of San Francisco. It attracts more international flights and can be more convenient for those staying in the city.
- Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) — in the East Bay.
- Mineta San Jose International (SJC) — in Silicon Valley, about an hour south of San Francisco.
Oakland and San Jose tend to offer more discount airline flights. For reaching Daly City, SFO is the natural arrival point: BART connects Daly City with San Francisco International Airport through the Transbay Tube, so you can ride the train from the airport directly to the Daly City BART station without needing a car. If you fly into Oakland or San Jose instead, you'll be relying on the wider BART and Caltrain network — BART links much of the East Bay with Daly City, and BART meets Caltrain at Millbrae — or on a car.
Practical summary
- Best car-free option: BART, with the Daly City station as your anchor and Millbrae as your connection to Caltrain.
- Local buses: SamTrans, the county's principal bus provider.
- Paying: Clipper card or contactless/mobile payment on BART; fares scale with distance.
- Door-to-door: Waymo self-driving taxis, conventional taxis, and ride-hailing.
- Driving: I-280 is the preferred, less congested route into San Francisco; U.S. 101 is the alternative.
- On foot: Practical mainly around the BART station and the movie theater beside it; otherwise a car is your best bet.
- From the airport: SFO is closest and directly linked to Daly City by BART.