getting around the Bay Area?

[ra233]

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Hello~

This may seem like a pretty lame question, but how much time and money will it take to get me from the Oakland or SFO airport to Mare Island for an interview at Touro? I know a few of you guys have done this already this year so I thought I'd seek out some expert advise.


~Ryan

 

[TexasTriathlete]

My aunt & uncle live out there, and I talked to them about this. They said that BART goes out there, although it may take forever. But that would be pretty cheap.

 

[prionsRbad]

Hello~

This may seem like a pretty lame question, but how much time and money will it take to get me from the Oakland or SFO airport to Mare Island for an interview at Touro? I know a few of you guys have done this already this year so I thought I'd seek out some expert advise.


~Ryan

Hi there,

I live in San Francisco, so I can definitely help you 😀

You would be best off renting a car. It will take you about an hour from SF or Oakland to get up to Vallejo and remember to bring some cash for the bridge tolls (you only pay one way, $4). You will be going against traffic in the AM, so that shouldn't be a problem.

You can take the BART from SFO or Oakland airport out to Richmond, but you will still be pretty far from Vallejo. I would definitely rent a car.

If you take BART, a round trip ticket is about $12. You will also need to take a lot of bus rides from Richmond to get to Vallejo (the bus fares are about $1.50).

Here's the BART website so you can see how far Richmond is from Vallejo:
http://www.bart.gov/

Best of Luck

Let me know if I can help with anything else. 🙂

 

[Concubine]

Hello~

This may seem like a pretty lame question, but how much time and money will it take to get me from the Oakland or SFO airport to Mare Island for an interview at Touro? I know a few of you guys have done this already this year so I thought I'd seek out some expert advise.


~Ryan

Interviewed their last week. I flew into SFO, stayed at a hotel right near the airport. I rented a car, and woke up way to early since I was unsure of how long it would take. If your driving to Touro, the traffic is not that bad. Most of the cars are coming into SFO instead of out, so I made the trip in a little over an hour. The day started at 9:00, and I got their at 8:00 when I left at 6:30. The interview ended around 1:30PM, and my plane left at 4:20, but I found I had plenty of time to get back to SFO to since in the afternoon, everyone is going out of SFO, not in! Got to the airport with an hour to spare. So in short, renting a car was great! Good luck!

 

[ra233]

thanks for the advise guys. About the car situation, I am not yet 25 and do not want to spend a lot of money to rent a car. I heard that some hotels offer a shuttle out to Touro-CA campus. Which hotels do this?


~Ryan

 

[hookem]

im under 25 as well and I usually just rent a car through enterprise where it is like 8-10 bucks more if you are underage. As for shuttles if you have gotten the information packet in the mail it shows a few shuttle services and that there is one from the marriott as well.

I personally am flying into san jose that weekend and then contemplating to drive into vallejo sunday night (for a monday morning interview) and rent a room for the night. my main concern was being able to make it back into san jose before a 430 flight. any ideas anyone?

 

[vegichica2]

Take the Evans airport shuttle from either Oakland or SF airport and stay at the Marriott Courtyard in Vallejo per the school's recommendations. They recommend that you do this for several good reasons! I interviewed at Touro CA last week and flew in and out of Oakland (smaller airport = less hassle). The Evans shuttle picked me up at the airport (no reservations required!!!) on time in a really nice coach bus and dropped me off at the front door of the Marriott an hour later. The front desk has tickets for the shuttle so you pay for the shuttle at that time ($29 one way - cash or add it to your room bill - you can buy your return ticket ahead of time, too). As for the hotel, you can't go wrong with staying at a Marriott. I always choose Marriott because they have the best customer service and you know that the quality of your room will be good.

The next day, the courtesy Marriott shuttle drove me to and from Touro, also on time. (Don't forget to check out of your room before you leave for Touro; the front desk will gladly hold your bags.) When I got back to the hotel after my interview, I changed out of my suit and hung out in the lobby for an hour or two until the Evans shuttle came to take me back to the airport. As with all forms of personalized transportation (taxis, etc.), remember to have some $1 bills on hand to tip the driver!

My trip was great because I didn't have to worry about travel directions, getting lost, where to park, filling up a rental car w/ gas, picking up/returning a rental car, BEING LATE to the interview!!! A round trip with the Evans shuttle might seem pricey, but when you consider all costs of renting a car and the extra worries I mentioned before, then $58 is well worth it. Just remember to look at the Evans shuttle schedule before booking flights to allow enough time to catch the next shuttle after your interview ends and get to the airport for your return flight later that day.

Hope this information is helpful. Bring a good book for the waiting periods, pack lightly, and your day will go by smoothly!