How To Beat San Francisco's Super Bowl Traffic

(synthesizer rap music)

[Alex] London did it.

New York did it.

And now, San Francisco's

doing it, sort of.

For a week,

the heart of the city

is going car-free,

turning into a pedestrian's paradise.

Once catch though,

it's for the Super Bowl,

and it's neat, if you can reach it.

(cars honking)

Traffic in San Francisco

is already a nightmare,

and now the big game

is bringing in a lot more people,

like a million more people.

(cars honking)

San Francisco says it'll ease

the horror with

pedestrian and cyclists detours,

extra subway service,

and re-routed buses.

But, we're not going to take

the city's word for it.

Instead, we're going

to put them to the test.

Here's the game,

get from San Francisco City Hall

to Super Bowl City as fast as possible.

The contestants, public transit,

car service, and bike.

So, normally San Francisco

runs street cars down this line

because everything's all screwed up.

Down by the Embarcadero,

they're running buses instead.

I'm not entirely sure

where this goes actually.

It was headed for Super Bowl City,

and at 2.25 a trip,

it's almost a steal.

But, it didn't take us

exactly where we wanted to go.

Because basically all of this

is now dedicated to

Super Bowl City.

we stopped right here

at Main Street,

which means that if we

want to get the rest of the way,

we've got to do it

on foot. Bummer.

Accessing the fanfare by foot

is tricky, too,

with only two access points

and loads of security.

Which means it's time

for round two,

the San Francisco taxi.

So yeah, and Uber.

It's cushy,

but it's pricey.

About 10 times the cost of the bus.

It's slower, too,

over 25 minutes.

But, it did drop us off

right at Super Bowl City's doorstep.

Last approach, bikes.

We used the city's bike share system,

seven speed commuters available

all over downtown,

just 9 bucks for a 24-hour pass.

But, again, unlike

a real pedestrian center,

Super Bowl City doesn't allow bikes

to get into, or across it.

At least, the bike station

was close to the entrance

of Sports Bowl town.

I have to say the bike is

almost certainly the best way to go.

The city could have mapped better

alternate routes that didn't

include some of San Francisco's

more famous hills,

but overall, this is the way to do it.

Super Bowl City gives us a glimpse

of a future San Francisco,

where public spaces

are designed for people,

not just cars.

But, most pedestrian zones

are easily-accessed,

and they don't place four blocks

of a major city on lockdown.

The bottom line is,

if you want to create a space

like Super Bowl City that's

pedestrian-friendly, civic-minded,

altogether a nice place to be,

without cars or buses

getting in your way,

cities need to more fundamentally

rethink how people move around.