It's not a reliable service. I sadly have to take SamTrans every sunday because the BART doesn't run early enough for me to get to work on time. I was at the 9th and mission stop for the 292 and 398 15 minutes early just in case. Both the 292 (7:48 am) and 398(8:10am) were no shows ( not the first time this has happened). Dont bother checking their app because it will say your bus is arriving now as you stare at an empty street. Terrible service wish I didnt have to take it read more

Difficult job. Vast majority of drivers are very nice. I use their buses often. read more

Dearest SamTrans (110 Bus in particular), We've been going out for a while now, and it's about time I start telling you how things are going for me. First off, you're clean - a definite plus in my book (especially after breaking things off with NYC's 1 Train). You have a schedule and are relatively on time for our meetings. I appreciate that. Sam (may I call you Sam?), you just get tired too easily. You're finished before 11 on the weekdays and 7 on the weekends! That's just cruel! In returning to the city by the bay, I assumed that public transportation would be accessible at all times - as it is in my beloved NYC. I was wrong. You make having a social life extremely difficult. Also, you don't allow me to transfer for free. That makes me sad. I will stay with you for a while, as you do afford me the opportunity to get into the city without getting my driver's license. For that reason alone, I will not give up on you just yet. Sincerely, ~Molly read more

People who think public transportation is a wonderful solution to environmental problems--need to ride the Samtrans ECR line. Seriously. It illustrates starkly what is wrong with that wishful idealistic attitude. In the real world, basically, public buses are homeless shelters on wheels. They are filled with disturbed, destitute people with mental and physical problems--and frequently, with overwhelming personal odors. To cite one delightful recent example, a pair of chubby deputies in brown shirts had to remove a scruffy individual from the bus due to his overpowering stench--a shocking mixture of dog-urine and dead-squirrel essences, which lingered in the bus for 20 minutes despite full-power ventilation with all windows wide (on a cold rainy night). The solution is simple. There needs to be a subsidized, free bus every hour. The homeless, penniless, and fragrant may take the free bus, along with anyone else who can stand it. Then, twice an hour, the pay bus will come by, so that everyone else can save our environment by riding it to work, free of demented babblers and dead-squirrel ambience. Is that elitist? No, just practical. If they want people to take the bus option seriously, they have to make it a reasonably pleasant experience. read more

If you use samtrans to commute to school or work on a daily basis I highly suggest spending extra money on a caltrain pass. At least caltrain comes on time. The ECR is supposed to run ever 15-20 minutes but it frequently is over 30 minutes late and today two buses never came at all! Wtf I waited for almost an hour. Avoid taking the ECR early in the morning or late at night without some kind of meds for naseau as your nostrils will be filled with the fumes of feces, feet and dead animals. There are some really nasty people who not only stink up the bus but disturb everyone by shouting crazy and sometimes racist things. The bus driver can only call the cops and wait for the crazies to be removed, throwing the entire schedule off. Not to mention the dozens of bags full of random crap that take up seats. Cliff notes: late, stinky and waste of money. read more

Oh yes this bus. I am not from the county of San Mateo but there were some times where I had to ride this thing to the mall and to random places in San Mateo and SF. Those were really good times and I must say if you take it at the right times you can virtually go anywhere but Daly City. I don't understand how this bus is cleaner than the public buses in my county. It can be crowded too but this is the only time I don't care about a bus being full. You can even feel the nostalgia when they put in the old buses. Words on the street is that they were the original from the 80s-90s. The seats on the bus are really comfortable and the ride is really relaxing. This bus is also good for if you want to transfer to a bus that goes to Daly City. The best time to ride is in the afternoon. read more

Luckily, the KX express bus is pretty much a 50 minute door-to-door ride from San Mateo to SF for me. It's $4 each way, which is not bad. Sometimes the people who ride the bus (including the bus driver) are so entertaining it's like you're watching a show. AND, it's cheaper than a $10 movie ticket at the Metreon. read more

YIKES! This line takes the" slow boat to China" euphemism to new heights, or durations. Talk about slow. It took 15 minutes to get from B'game Ave to Millbrae BART. By car, it takes maybe 5 minutes. This driver was going soooo slow, I wanted to chuck him aside and drive the bus myself! I took the bus this morning because I had to go and yell at the people in the service department where my daughter took her car because they couldn't explain how the calculated the labor costs. That, is another story altogether. Anyway, I had just missed the last MX Express to the City, so had to take the bus to BART. Waited 30 minutes in the rain and freaking cold for the bus to arrive. All of the people on the bus look so miserable, or drugged out or just plain extremely odd. So I take a seat next to this guy who obviously didn't really want to share it, oh well. Then the very slow journey to BART begins. This old man boards a stop from B'game Ave., fishes around his fanny-pack type thing and out flies what looks like his heart attack pills...all over the front of the bus. A kind woman near him collects his little pills. Finally, we get to BART station and I can start the next leg of my wondrous journey to work. read more

This review is for the KX Express (Palo Alto to San Francisco). Our original plan to get to SFO was to take CalTrain to Bart to the Air Shuttle. Unfortunately, and definitely most unfortunately for the poor soul who took his/her life, CalTrain was shut down in both directions. Plan B was to call our friend to drop us off on his way to work, but Plan B was already on the road! He did tell us to take the KX Line, which picks up right in front of the Belmont CalTrain station. Hurray! For $1.50 and less than a 30 minute ride, we arrived at the International terminal, lickity-split. P.S. This mode of transportation works quite well with a standard sized carry on. Leave the five extra pair of shoes at home so you don't have to lug and hoist the big suitcase. For those trips, you need a good friend to drive you! read more

I hate samtrans. I only use it because it's all I have to use in Daly City. The bus drivers are hit or miss. Some are really sweet and thoughtful while others are very rude and scathing or grouchy all the time (occasionally inappropriate). The bus service also varies per driver but I find that a lot of the buses arrive earlier than in the schedule (making me miss my bus) or they arrive way too late (latest for me was over ten minutes). Either way, those royally screw me over and ultimately make me late for wherever my destination is. It doesn't help that the waiting period for the next bus is generally 30 minutes. This gets especially worse on the weekends for some reason. Cleanliness of the buses have gotten better with new buses but I don't think cloth seats are totally an improvement. Cloth retains stains and bacteria more easily (as one may have noticed on bart trains). The seats were never really something to complain about though. I don't like that samtrans does not offer transfers. It makes it very difficult and expensive to travel if you don't have a bus pass. They improved a bit with the addition of clipper card usage but I think it would help customers a lot if they could get transfer tickets too. Another thing I don't like about samtrans is that the service stops too early--even earlier on weekends! I feel like I have a curfew because of that and that's too ridiculous. Overall, I hate using samtrans. It would be a lot better if the service could be more accomodating. read more

The best, most intuitive bus line there is. Absolutely beats Caltrain in every sense except speed. Only a buck fifty (even though I remember when it was 75 cents.) Well played Samtrans, well played. read more

Taking 122 South City Bart at 3:30pm is the equivalent to entering the seven gates of Hell. The bus never comes on time, the bus thats supposed to be leaving arrives and waits there already and just dicks around on their phone or talks to someone whilst telling the people waiting to 'wait for the next one', and by the time that one comes EVERYONE is annoying. The driver is always pissed and in a bad mood (and its always the same disgruntled old asian driver, not to be racist but it always seems to be that way) and some of the passengers always seem to be just as annoying as the driver. There were a couple of old people starting shit when they didn't need to (one was this old lady carrying a shitton of bags). The bus ride calms down once the passenger load lessens but still, these drivers are a big problem as to why taking SamTrans is the absolute worst. Weird because the drivers I have when going over there in the morning are usually fine but after 3:30 or so? It's like the drivers went from Mogwais to Gremlins. Beware taking SamTrans 122 South City Bart past 3:30pm. You'll never make it out alive. read more

I am giving Samtrans five stars because they are really the best when compared to MUNI. The buses are clean, even the older buses are in such great shape. Everything is in working order, the drivers are helpful and much more friendly, and buses are on time, what else can I say? Oh and Samtrans now accepts Clipper cards! What convenience! No more fussing around to find a dollar or extra change between transfers to the two bus systems. Oh and yeah, another feature that Samtrans has is if you use cash and let's say you don't have any ones, just a $5.00 or a $10.00 bill, the machine will accept it and the driver will issue you a ticket with the $ value on the ticket for you to use, just like a BART ticket. Isn't that great! I know its not a perfect transit system, but when compared to MUNI and others Samtrans is a gem. Give it a try sometime. read more

It's been a long time I rode the 122 at 3:22pm heading to Colma Bart station. While riding the bus, the bus driver came up to me said I should have my head sets on or I will stop the bus because my phone was loud. But it was those loud people talking next to me. He should know better that my hair was covering my headsets the whole time. He is rude ass hell and I feel embarrass for what he did wrong. read more

Holy crap...some kids just got busted when we were riding this bus back from BART. It's more reliable than some other modes of transportation and it's a decent deal if you don't feel like driving. One of the bad things about riding all public transportation is that you have to deal with a lot of things that are out of your control like unreliable schedules and people you'd rather not ride with on the bus. The seats are comfortable and they offer a direct shuttle from my boyfriend's place to the airport for less than you'd pay for BART, airport shuttle, and/or cab. Not bad...especially if you plan to go green for the day. read more

For 1.5 years, I relied soley on public transportation. I thought the pricing was right, the on-time percentage was extremely high. What I didn't like was the lack of service at night. Hey, more than one of us have night jobs. The main lines are pretty good. But try getting from a BART station to home at night? Forget it. One last problem, it's really hard to read or use a laptop on the bus... Some of those buses have some serious suspension issues! But, you can't complain about a $4 dollar r/t from South San Francisco to the Financial District. That's a pretty good deal. Getting from home to BART during the day is quite convenient. It's just that late night stuff... Drivers are pretty nice usually too. read more

So I learned that there are good and there are bad bus drivers. Thank you to 251 Operator (Operator id:1311 11:30 route time) for waiting for me. I had a rough day and his kindness and understanding made me feel like a person that was being helped. I hope he one day gets a promotion! read more

I've been screwed over multiple times now but the damn BART-Caltrain connection where you get three minutes to make it. Guess what? Once of the two is always late and of course I'll miss it. $40 cab ride or $1.50 in addition to the blown fare on the former systems? That's an easy choice. read more

An excellent resource. Integral to the planning and operations of the every day, in a pinch, or a just missed the train, option. The bus drivers, of ECR, are back to basics, people savvy and knowledgeable of what they are doing. Thank you, Sam Trans. read more

This is for the Clipper Card Department: Awful service!! Slow, unprofessional, mean, making irresponsible mistakes to waste your time to run back and forth to correct their mistakes (yet they showed you mean faces-both the clerk and the security guard as if you made them troubles)! They probably treat many, if not all, customers in such manner. Worst place! Don't deserve any star if I could! Stay away from them. This place should be closed for improvements...learning treating and serving people with professionalism and respect. A tragedy that this government has used our tax-payer's hard-earned money to produce these kind of hazards for us. Hope they will have changed hearts someday! read more

While the drivers are usually very nice, I don't think I've ever had a Samtrans bus be on time. Which is not good, because sometimes I need to get to a train and if the bus is late, my entire schedule is completely screwed. It doesn't help that buses in my area are infrequent, as well. Seriously, San Mateo County - with the economy the way it is, more people are going to have to use the bus as they lose their cars/can't afford gas. You need to step up your game. read more

Never arrived on time. Late for my school because of it. Especially the 121, they just come whenever they feel like . read more

I am really happy with SamTrans. SFO to Embarcadero via KX Express on a Sunday is a great alternative to the BART that I'm accustomed, $4.50 versus $8.10, and is quicker. You absolutely have to be punctual because the schedule is to the second. We missed the first bus by less than ten seconds. Courtyards (ground level) A and G are three flights from their respective terminals, and took us a good 12 minutes speed walking/jogging from the far end of the terminal. If not for the clueless people not keeping right on the escalator, we probably could have avoided the 30 minutes waiting for the next bus. oh well. Holla crazy bus driver man talking to your other bus driver friend and rarely keeping your hands on the wheel to gesture your equally crazy stories and drifting in the lanes. WILD RIDE! The Transbay Terminal is gross, desolate, dilapidated, and scary. The bulletins just inside do not have the same maps as point of departure, but there is an unmarked customer service white van parked with the buses (!!!??!?) with a very helpful, smiley man to answer your questions. Thanks to the nice officers in the police/security station for the tip. read more

If you're tired of cab drivers giving you a nasty attitude while yelling "SHORT!" at the taxi checkout station. If you are still feeling sick to your stomach from your last ride from SFO. I have the right fix for you. The 292 is a painless way to and from SFO. Sure you wont impress your travel companions, but it's Thanksgiving and your flight to the OC will be packed full of grumpy holiday travelers. This my friend, is your last gasp of sanity until you arrive. Cheap, efficient, fairly quick and an adventure in travel. read more

Samtrans is my best friend. It takes me to school, work, friends, jury duty and back home. The buses run on a schedule and are rarely late (from my experience) so I know exactly how long it takes to get where I need to go and what time to leave my house. You can't get that with muni....sometimes 3 munis come within 5 minutes of each other and then you're forced to wait 20 minutes for the next. Samtrans never does that! :D The drivers are almost always friendly and helpful. The buses are much cleaner than muni's. Oh and their lost and found/customer service is great! I lost my iPhone and was so lucky someone turned it in. I went to San Carlos and got it with no problem. AND they have discounted tokens at safeway. Special shout out to route ERC (previously 390). The first time I had jury duty i took samtrans, bart, and caltrain (and spent about $15 a day) to redwood city. Now I know I can just take the ERC (which stops half a mile from home) down there for $2 each way. Or take it to a caltrain stop and save money on BART. If only i'd known back then! Minus one star for not stopping close enough to my house. The 121 only stops on southill a few times a [week] day and that's just not enough. Would it kill them to expend the line another 3/4 of a mile or so? And they need to run later! Esp the 121. And new bus shelters. Samtrans also has regular meetings with the community to discuss potential changes and they absolutely take what you say into consideration, which is truly appreciated. read more

I really wish they allowed for 1/2 stars, Anyway it took me an hour to get from South San Francisco to San Mateo I hate being late. read more

Most mornings I leave the house forgetting something and running like a mad woman for the 8:57 DX bus for SF. And most mornings I miss the bus, realizing that thing that i couldnt remember that i forgot was my $4 for the bus. im just that kinda girl. but on those blessed days that i catch that last DX bus to SF i feel overjoyed. here is why: 1. DIRECT- my stop is the last stop before SF 2. CHEAP- compared to taking the bus to the BART and then the BART and then another bus from the BART... or gas $ 3. FRIENDLY- this is the #1 reason DX trumps BART. the driver and fellow commuters are such nice people. There is a little girl that takes the bus with her mom sometimes, and when she gets off the bus she says "Bye Everyone" and the bus in chorus says "Byeeee!" it is very endearing. positive way to start the day. its inspiring to witness a group of strangers preparing for work in the big city fall soft together in the face of a 5-year-old. THINGS TO CHANGE: more buses! longer buses! read more

This is a review specifically for FX Express (Foster City to San Francisco). I should really give it 5 stars since I don't have to do any of the following: 1) Drive in rush hour traffic 2) Walk far to my office 3) Sit next to anyone I don't want to sit next to 4) Stay awake if I just want to take a power nap However, some of your passengers can be a little too talky and this can get on my nerves. Maybe if they spoke in English it wouldn't be such a big deal. Otherwise great bus line to ride. read more

The schedules are very up and down. They're either extremely early or incredibly late. I'm talking 10 to 30 minutes late or non-existent. Just now there was a bus from work that took me almost double the time to get home. Mind you, I have to transfer. they were so late today just like many days, three buses of the same number came back to back instead of the scheduled transfer bus. I just wish they could upgrade their system somehow one day. There's times where I leave early for work an hour early and a lot of times they may not even come at all. Certain drivers seem afraid to drive over 15 miles per hr, while others are amazing. So when you find one you like, try sticking to that particular time slot/driver. There also almost was a fight that broke out on the ECR, and same slow driver I try to avoid after work (but have no choice many times as I just want to get home). didn't even Try to break it up, so many passengers, understandably felt unsafe and exited early. Just better organization when it comes to punctuality and safety is needed. Otherwise, super clean, and when running normally, many options. read more

Your service is getting worse & worse ; it han become a non reliable way of transportacion , schedule wise.

Just terrible. Busses scheduled for every 15 minutes dont show up for 45 many times per week. Useless for commuting or scheduling.

As a lot of people have stated, the hours are unreliable. From my experience, half the time the buses are 5-10 minutes late, and one out of ten times they don't show up. Don't rely on them for time sensitive transportation. read more

One of the most expensive rates and the worst service in the bay area. I take transit every day. At least twice a week is a no show. Everyday it's late. If you have option than find other means. If not file a complain everytime it happens because they need to be held responsible for giving poor service. read more

At 7:05am on August 4th Saturday I caught the number 292 with Alec. He was the bus driver and I just wanted to do a shout out he was very kind. He showed me how to properly put and secure my bike on the bike rack on the bus. I had never taken my bike with me and so he showed me that and I just want to do a call out he was very kind. read more

I could go on and on about the bad SamTrans stories of my youth. Once I got a car I said I would never go back, but now I have a son who needs to take the bus to school. Back in the day my mom would buy us monthly passes at the local Safeway, so that's where I went. Turns out you can only get them at Walgreens. So I go to the Walgreens on the other side of town and ask for a youth clipper card. But they don't sell youth clipper cards there, only adult. The closest place to buy a youth clipper card is in SAN CARLOS! Are you kidding me? You're telling me I have to drive for over an hour to buy my son a pass for local transportation. I'm sure SamTrans has changed in many ways since I was a kid, but remains consistent on their exceptionally bad service. read more

I am a younger human going to school and the bike rack was full and so the dude said there was nothing he could do and drove away leaving young me there. I had a bike and my money another driver let two people on with their bikes inside. It was rude and they left me in the cold. They were rude, especially since I was younger. read more

I have visited the Bay Area a few times and always like to take a ride on a Samtrans bus? Why? They are very comfortable compared with most transit agencies; (unfortunately, however, the newer ones are not quite as comfortable as the older buses). They are always clean. The drivers are usually great; esp some of the 292 drivers who like to entertain the passengers with talk and commentary. A pity about those homeless folks who start to ride the 390/391 from around 7.00 pm. Can't the authorities do something about that? read more

The absolute worst Public Transportation I have ever experienced. Line 251 to Foster City at 12:31pm never showed up and 8 people have been waiting on the next bus for more than an hour at this point. The most unreliable, shameless and obnoxious public transport I have ever experienced. It either shows up half an hour late or it just doesn't show up at all, which is not okay. I have also been late to school by more than 20 minutes once and got marked tardy because the bus was 20 minutes late. Gives no warnings or heads up on their website as to what bus is coming or isn't coming. Have had to take an uber we home last minute many more times than I can remember. read more

While my three sons have all been left stranded countless times trying to get home to Half Moon Bay to find the bus blow right passed them at Hillsdale, I wanted to make a special note about "Cowboy", who during Pumpkin Festival 2017, went well beyond expected service for so many people on Main Street who without him would've been stranded without much knowledge of the area and Uber not an option...he made every cab call necessary to ensure our out of town visitors made it safely to their destinations. I want SamTrans to be highly aware of outstanding employee of theirs and exemplary caring service he provided. Please do give him kudos as in this hustle and bustle world we find ourselves in, it is a growing rarity. read more

Feeble. Try to read one of their schedules, or even find the right schedule. Next, feast your eyes on the numbers. The last 260 bus that loops through Belmont, San Carlos, and Redwood Shores, connecting our little bayside surburban paradise with Caltrain, stops about 7:00PM. Who can get back from an office in the city that early on a regular basis?!? So, if you want to use Caltrain to commute, you have to drive your stupid car to the train station and park it rather than ride the bus. This is a perfect example of how the transit districts in this region are their own worst enemies, singly and collectively. read more