The Bay Area Diaries is over the hump of the blog entry arc, and the focus is now on transit services within the city of San Francisco. Ahem, The City of San Francisco.

Since Part VI deals with San Francisco proper, and rail in particular, expect more people to start showing an interest in the series. San Francisco Municipal Railway’s three rail services get some play: Muni Metro, the F Market line and, of course, the cable cars. All this and a celebrity appearance.

This $11 Muni passport is free with the click of the “continue reading” button.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

Technical difficulties prevented the diaries from being released in the original scheduled order. Part IV: Sonoma County runs today. Part V: Golden Gate Ferry, appeared yesterday. Thank you for your patience and your continued patronage of MetroRiderLA.

Charles Schulz thought he could live in Santa Rosa and complete his “Peanuts” comics in peace. He became the town’s most famous resident, and soon enough the Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center is founded and several “Peanuts” statues are placed throughout the city.

Sonoma County figuratively has one foot in the Bay Area and the other in the North Coast, but it also stands proudly and confidently on its own. Sonoma’s viticulture is its gift to the world, and its wineries are a major economic force. The vineyards and other agricultural industries are still very prominent, but the county is dotted with several cities that maintain a quaint, small-town charm.

The county’s location and its land use give it an unconventional transportation characteristic as well. Sonoma County has a transportation tapas bar; the portions are small but the options are many.

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Image courtesy of femaletrumpet02 via Flickr.

Today on the LA Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog there was a post asking, “In California, is it cheaper to drive or fly?” According the the author, if you’re going to San Francisco it’s cheaper to fly and if you’re going to Las Vegas it’s cheaper to drive. Of course, the author ignores other modes of travel to those two cities that may be cheaper, namely taking a bus (either Megabus or Greyhound).MetroRiderLA is going to give you the information that the LA Times neglected in order to help you find the cheapest way to appease your wanderlust.

San Francisco

In the spirit of Wad’s Bay Area transit adventures, we’ll start with a trip to San Francisco. According the the L.A. Times Travel blog, flying is the way to go if you’re looking to save money. Total flight cost, when taking advantage of a Southwest Airlines sale, is $109. Driving will cost you $129 round trip. And what about the missing element? A trip on the Megabus, booking tickets at the last minute, will cost you $73. The Greyhound will set you back $88.

If you’re looking to save money on a trip to San Fran, riding the bus is clearly the way to go.

Las Vegas

You may be a high roller, but you’d rather spend your cash on the slots rather than the ride. The LA Times Travel blog says you should consider driving if you want to get to Vegas on the cheap. Putting the pedal to the metal will cost you $87. If you hop on a cheap Jet Blue flight, you can get to The Strip for $113. Of course, if you’re a real bargain traveler I’d recommend the Megabus, at $62 for a round trip ticket, you can afford to take some risks in Vegas. The Greyhound clocks in at $85.

Of course, if you’re traveling with a group, driving may turn out to be the best deal because costs can be shared. That is unless you and your friends manage to nab some of those $1 seats on the Megabus.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Attention, Bay Area Diaries readers. Due to technical problems with what was supposed to be Part IV: Sonoma County running today, the Bay Area Diaries is running Part V: Golden Gate Ferry in order to attempt to remain on schedule. MetroRiderLA apologizes for the inconvenience, and we will try to resume a normal operating schedule as soon as possible.

Just sit right back and hear a tale, a tale of a fun-filled trip. Fortunately, on Golden Gate Ferry, there are no castaways and the tour is only a fraction of three hours.

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with the Bay Area Diaries on what is, hands down, a commute that makes the journey as fun as the destionation.

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What gives the city identity beyond mere municipal boundaries and civic government? Unique icons. Great cities, in time and space, have an element that could be either manmade or natural, but the presence of it is singular enough to become so closely associated with the area and its people. It’s something that one city has that no other can authentically claim. Every city has at least one.

New York City has the Empire State Building. Seattle has the Space Needle. Los Angeles has the Hollywood sign.

Each of these cities obviously has more architectural and natural features that also contribute to a sort of metropolitan image association. San Francisco has many as well. Sanfran has a distinct architectural style of houses that immediately leaps out and gives away its location. Other towering structures uniquely Sanfran are the Transamerica Building, which serves as the company’s logo, and Coit Tower. Sanfran also has monuments that double as modes of transportation: cable cars, responsible for transporting thousands per day and improving sales of Rice-a-Roni. But Sanfran’s most iconic landmark has size, span and sensory stimulation.

Nothing in San Francisco is more iconic than the Golden Gate Bridge.

We know the bridge is one of mankind’s engineering marvels. We know thousands travel between Sanfran and the North Bay, and many more visit it for the perfect photograph or vacation video. What’s not as well known, probably because it doesn’t have much visual appeal and because the forest is more interesting than the sum of its trees, is that the Golden Gate Bridge has a posse.

Golden Gate is not just a bridge. It’s a bus company as well.

And a ferry service.

Let’s ride across the Golden Gate Bridge using the structure’s own coach service.

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Last summer Megabus chose Los Angeles as the second hub for the English coach operator’s American market. Soon after the service debuted, MetroRiderLA took Megabus on a short jaunt from Union Station to San Diego. The fare, speed and ride quality on that service left a helluva first impression. That was a two-hour journey, mere child’s play for an operations manager.

But what about taking the big blue bus — no, not that one — to its limits? How well can Megabus do when traveling across California, from the congested megalopoles of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area? And, more importantly, is the Megabus concept catching on here as it has in the UK and the Chicago hub?

A trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco is scheduled for 7 hours, 15 minutes. This won’t take nearly as long to read.

Let’s ride.

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