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Meet halfway in San Francisco

For a group meeting in San Francisco, the fairest points are usually Powell St, Montgomery St, Civic Center or 16th St Mission - all on the Market Street corridor where BART and Muni Metro run together, so most of the city and the East Bay reaches them without a transfer. Which is fairest depends on where everyone starts: togather compares real door-to-door times per person.

  • BART
  • Muni Metro
  • Caltrain
  • Buses and cable cars
  • Cycling
  • Walking
Find your meeting pointSee the fairest spots

Where groups actually meet in San Francisco

Interchanges that work as a fair midpoint for most groups. togather will not always land on one of these - it answers for your actual starting points - but they are the ones that come up again and again.

  1. Powell St

    BART and Muni Metro, plus the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason cable cars

    The most central point on the Market Street corridor, where every BART line and every Muni Metro line stops. Almost nobody in the city or the East Bay needs a transfer to reach it.

  2. Montgomery St

    BART and Muni Metro

    The same combined BART and Muni platforms one stop closer to the Financial District, which makes it the fairer pick when part of the group is already downtown or coming off a ferry.

  3. Embarcadero

    BART and Muni Metro, plus ferries and the F Market streetcar

    The end of the shared corridor and the only hub that also takes ferries, so it becomes the fair point whenever someone is starting from Marin, Oakland or Alameda by boat.

  4. Civic Center / UN Plaza

    BART and Muni Metro

    Sits between downtown and the western neighbourhoods, which tips it over Powell for a group weighted towards Hayes Valley, the Fillmore or the Richmond.

  5. 16th St Mission

    BART, plus major bus corridors

    The fairest option for a group living in the Mission, Bernal Heights or Potrero - it saves everyone the trip up to Market Street, and it is the most walkable of these hubs once people arrive.

  6. 24th St Mission

    BART, plus major bus corridors

    Further down the same line, which makes it fairer still for a southern group, and it is the practical meeting point for anyone coming up from Daly City or Glen Park.

  7. West Portal

    Muni Metro K, L and M lines

    Where three Muni Metro lines converge west of Twin Peaks, so it is the fair answer for a group spread across the Sunset, Parkside and West Portal rather than one crossing the city.

How to pick a fair meeting point in San Francisco

San Francisco is small enough that people assume anywhere central is fair. Two things break that. The first is that BART and Muni Metro only run together along the Market Street corridor - off that spine you are on one network or the other, and a point that looks central can require a transfer for half the group. The second is the hills: distance is a poor predictor of walking or cycling time here in a way that is not true of flatter cities.

So the fair point is usually on the corridor. Powell St and Montgomery St work for almost any group because every BART line and every Muni Metro line stops at both. But it depends on the group’s centre of gravity: for people spread across the Mission and Bernal Heights, 16th St Mission is fairer, and pulling them up to Market Street adds a leg nobody needed.

The bay is the real constraint

The moment one person is starting in Oakland, Berkeley or Alameda, the answer stops being a city question. BART is the only rail crossing the bay, so the fair point lands on it - or, if they are coming from Marin, on a ferry terminal at Embarcadero. Averaging positions on a map produces a spot that is convenient for the four people already in the city and slow for the one who isn’t.

togather times each person on the network they actually use, hills included, and returns the spots that keep the trip even.

Add everyone’s starting point, set how each person travels, and share the result with the group.

Meeting halfway in San Francisco - questions

Where is a fair place to meet halfway in San Francisco?
Usually a station on the Market Street corridor where BART and Muni Metro share platforms - Powell St, Montgomery St or Civic Center. For a southern-weighted group, 16th St Mission is often fairer. togather works out which, from everyone's actual starting point.
What if some of the group is coming from the East Bay?
Then the fair point almost always lands on BART rather than on Muni, because that is the only network crossing the bay. togather times each person on the network they actually use, so an Oakland or Berkeley starting point pulls the answer towards a BART station.
Do the hills matter for walking and cycling?
Yes, a lot. A route that looks short on a map can climb Nob Hill or Twin Peaks, so walking and cycling times in San Francisco are poorly predicted by distance. Each person is timed on real routes for their own mode.

Other cities

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