Overcrowded buses, driving up Uber and Lyft fares, and frustrated friends bickering on the street stressed finding a way home. The Outside Lands music and arts festival has returned to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and with it comes the complicated travel logistics that bookend any music festival experience.
Because the festival, which began Friday and runs through Sunday evening, offers very little parking, public agencies have worked to maximize transportation options for the 75,000 concertgoers expected to enter and exit the park each day of the festival. .
“We’re asking people to take public transportation,” Mayor London Breed said at a news conference Thursday. “The ultimate goal is to keep people safe, make sure everyone has a good time.”
However, after the first night of the festival — featuring SZA, Phoebe Bridgers and Lil Uzi Vert, among other acts — ended Friday, concertgoers leaving the park were faced with limited and chaotic options. Fares for ride-hailing companies skyrocketed during rush hour as crowded Muni buses left long lines of customers waiting at pick-up points for the next vehicle. Some waited more than an hour for a ride home.
For those going to the festival tonight or Sunday, cycling may be the easiest way to get to and from the festival. And if home is more than a few miles away, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is improving Muni service on some routes and adding temporary taxi stands outside the park, according to their website.
An active transportation hub north of Hellmen Hollow near Transverse Drive and the Overlook is serving bikers all weekend from 10 a.m. until 1 hour after the last act ends. The Hub offers monitored bike valet and parking services and bike or scooter sharing services.
To provide a safe route for bikes, the city has created a two-way bike lane on Martin Luther King, according to the event’s website. And, for those without a bike to hand, Bay Wheels — a bike and ebike sharing service offered through Lyft — has set up a special station on JFK Drive, just east of Transverse Drive and near the festival entrance. On-site caretakers will make sure there’s an open parking bay and a bike when you’re ready to leave, according to the Outside Lands website.
Each night of the festival, Muni offers 5X Fulton Express service from Golden Gate Park to the Civic Center BART Station, along with additional service on the N Judah and 5R Fulton Rapid routes. Taxis are also available until 2 a.m. Monday on the south side of Fulton at either 28th and 29th streets or 24th and 25th streets.
The SFMTA warned that concertgoers should plan for additional travel time on the N Judah route and all bus lines serving Golden Gate Park in a news release. Increased travel and heavy traffic in the area may extend the journey.
While BART isn’t offering any direct service to Golden Gate Park, attendees can take BART and transfer to Muni or Outside Lands with a local prepayment to get to the event, the agency said on its blog. BART is continuing to run regular service until around midnight each night of the festival.
Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft can be convenient, but the constant surge in prices left some concertgoers stranded on the first night of the festival. Lyft fares for a ride for up to four people went up to $180. Pick-up and drop-off areas are limited to the south and north sides of the park. To the south, the areas are on the north side of Irving, between 25th and 27th streets. To the north, options include the north side of Balboa, between 30th and 31st streets, and the west side of 30th Ave, between Balboa and Anza.
Emma Talley is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @EmmaT332
