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The annual Bay to Breakers race returns to San Francisco this weekend with its legion of runners and spectators in\u00a0diverse colorful costumes.<\/p>\n
Manuel Orbegozo\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Bay to Breakers<\/a> is the once-a-year opportunity for San Francisco residents to don their Spandex shorts and chug up Hayes Hill, maneuvering around people dressed as bananas or fluffy birds, or those braving the elements in no clothes at all. But it\u2019s also a massive, bright, and famously obnoxious street party for revelers swarming in from the suburbs.<\/p>\n Which creates a quandary for transportation officials and planners of the 12-kilometer race<\/a>: How to get everyone to the city smoothly, avoiding a traffic jam that would snarl neighborhoods from Embarcadero to Ocean Beach.<\/p>\n The conventional wisdom is to refrain from driving, a difficult prospect for runners who want to hit the starting line at 8 a.m. Sunday. To help accommodate them, BART will offer four special event trains with limited stops, running from the Daly City, El Cerrito Del Norte, Dublin\/Pleasanton, 16th Street\/Mission, MacArthur, Millbrae, West Oakland, Pleasant Hill\/City Center and Bayfair stations. Each route is scheduled to drop people off at Embarcadero Station around 7 a.m., providing ample time to arrive at Howard and Main streets for the race.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A map showing the downtown San Francisco Muni lines that will be rerouted this weekend because of Bay to Breakers.<\/p>\n SFMTA<\/p>\n Caltrain will also add early-morning service on Sunday for runners and celebrants heading in from the Peninsula. Two northbound trains will depart shortly after 6 a.m. from Palo Alto and San Jose Diridon stations, aiming to arrive at the Caltrain depot in SoMa no later than 7:20 a.m.<\/p>\n Getting around San Francisco will be tough that day. The \u201cunique geography\u201d of Bay to Breakers, through downtown, Hayes Valley and Golden Gate Park, will effectively bifurcate the city, officials at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency warned in their pre-race advisories. Given that several Muni bus routes will be chopped in half, SFMTA recommends taking the subway instead, and \u201cwalking or rolling across the race route.\u201d<\/p>\n A\u00a0map showing the Muni lines in\u00a0San Francisco\u2019s Panhandle\u00a0that will be\u00a0rerouted this weekend because of\u00a0Bay to\u00a0Breakers.<\/p>\n SFMTA<\/p>\n Like other transit operators,\u00a0Muni will offer extra morning service on Sunday, with inbound N Judah trains departing every 20 minutes from Judah and La Playa streets between 5:30 and 6:50 a.m. S Shuttle trains will run every 12 minutes from West Portal and Embarcadero stations from 6 to 8 a.m.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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