Warning to Marin frequent flyers who often arrive after 10 pm (what the hell, all the less frequent flyers, too)! The Marin Airporter you once knew and depended on to get to and from SFO is no longer. Like everything else in the county that was once so "marvy" this essential service has deteriorated seemingly in months to a system that operates according to who knows what kind of schedule and, more serious, has discontinued some services you likely depended on from previous experience. These simply don't happen.
The day shift guy who answers your questions is pretty professional, does what he can to find out if he doesn't already know, and is about as polite as you can get from a bus dispatcher. But sometime later when the sun begins sinking down in the sky, along comes some guy who apparently feels his job is beneath his capabilities. So instead of inquiring to check what he thinks is the case, he just repeats what he said and that's the end of it. My plane arrived about 20 minutes after the half hour, last gate in terminal 1. This means it's a long way to the airporters outside, but worth a hustle to avoid getting home after midnight.
So I began to hustle, but as the clock got past the half hour it became important to know if the bus had left terminal 1 yet. It may well have moved on to the other terminals, perhaps even left the airport entirely If so I'd stay inside security and have a drink, which you can't do once outside security. So I called the Airporter office to ask the guy there to call the driver and ask him his location. The dispatcher is often in communication with the drivers, and I've asked for this before. But it was different now, because the conversation went something like this: "I'm at terminal 1, can you find out if the bus has moved on or even left the airport?" The dispatch guy says in a voice belonging more to someone in the business of cleaning toilets than working with customers, "Terminal 1 is the second stop after the International terminal." "Yeah, I know that but can you find out if he has gone on to terminal 2 now?" "Terminal 2 is after Terminal 1." "Yes yes but has he gone on to terminal 2? I don't want to run to catch that bus if he's not even in this terminal anymore." "Sir, I think I answered your questions." and with that he simply hung up on me.
So I sat at a bar and drank a couple of chocolate milks, waiting for the next half hour bus to show up. When that finally came it was now half an hour to midnight, so I was only too grateful to see the damn rainbow bus lumbering up to the loading area. I told the driver where I was going and that I needed a cab. "We don't do that no more," he replied. "What d'ya mean don't do that, I just rode this bus a few months ago and you called the cab companies then, why not now?" "Them Uber drivers put the cabbies outa business," the driver said. "There are only a couple of cab companies left here and this time of night they won't have any drivers. You'll need to find another way home."
And that was that. I didn't see walking home at midnight after being in an airplane 6 hours earlier that evening. But what else was there to do, nobody else around and I didn't want to wake up my neighbor? except there was a woman who got off at my stop, and seemed to have car keys in hand. With my finest impersonation of a little boy lost in the woods I asked her if she'd help, and it turned out, deus ex machina, she was driving within a block of my house and was only too glad to drive me home. So problem solved and we made a date to get together later that week for a drink. All good.
But the main point is you may not be so lucky. But fortunately for you, you've been warned. You can get seriously stranded after 1 am if you aren't already sure what's happening to you once you step off that Marin Airporter. Of course if you have someone at home to call, that's great but some of us don't. And Uber is great, but my app that evening didn't work, corrupted somehow and battery strength wasn't enough to reinstall the app and get it to recognize my account. Just remember, NO cabs and no help from these bus drivers. You're better off just making a deal with uber or a cab at the airport to get home for about $120, in today's dollars anyway. Sometime in 2024 that price will be higher. That's today's Marvy Marin for ya. read more