Yes, the Bart+Caltrain connection is insane. Are there any other popular public transit routes that take an hour or more plus a transfer to go like a mile?

I came somewhat close to missing an international flight when I waited 30 minutes at Millbrae and then for 45 minutes at San Bruno. Never again. I'll take a cab from Millbrae to SFO from here on out. Damn do I miss the Caltrain shuttle.

Bart is fine, Caltrain is OK, but the Bart+Caltrain+Millbrae connection is putrid. They should have just run the AirTrain out there.

I once had BART break down on my way to the airport, and it was something straight out of a horror movie.

"Okay, so we're stopped. I'm going to get out and manually flip this switch. Then we have three more. Don't worry, I'll get you to the airport soon."

Every single part of my body was screaming "NO THIS IS LIKE A HORROR MOVIE, DON'T GET OUT OF THE TRAIN OR YOU'LL DIE!!!"

Oh, I was on that train. Ended up missing my flight.

Small world. I just happened to have left early enough that it was fine.

Cherry-picking!? What did I leave out? :)

It's true that most of those details are not so bad. I've exaggerated in an attempt to recapture the feeling of being a beginner faced with all of them at the same time.

Being a beginner in NYC, Boston or DC is just as daunting. I've had had to navigate transit systems as both a tourist and as a daily commuter, and calling Bart-Caltrain particularly worse than the equivalent worse parts of other metro systems is disingenuous.

It is pretty bad and could be a lot better, but the griping from Bay area people in this thread is ridiculous.

(and I get downvoted like this was Reddit?)

I didn't call Bart-Caltrain particularly worse, only hard to figure out for the first time, especially from the airport.