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Mineta San Jose International
Airport
to Stanford Area Transportation
Even
if you've made this trip many times, please note that there have been
significant changes between last year and this year! There is a significant
amount of construction going on, particularly involving the immediate
access roads to the airport, so do not be surprised by delays.
- Rental Cars – (New airport
location!) All of the on-airport rental cars have been
moved to a remote part of the airport (a "convenient central location"
in airport-speak); after collecting your luggage, you must take
a shuttle bus to the rental car center. (IEEE
Travel offers special discounts with some rental agencies
if you will be renting a car for your visit to this area.) Normal
non-rush hour driving time from SJC to Palo Alto is approximately
35 minutes.
- Taxi – Direct taxi fare is approximately $50 plus
tip to the Stanford area.
- Shuttle Van – South&East Bay Shuttle (1-800-548-4664)
and a number of competitors offer door-to-door service in shared vans.
A one-way trip on South&East Bay Shuttle is $29 for the first person
and $7 for each additional person to the same destination. While the
van is likely to make several stops on the way, generally the shared
shuttle van represents the best compromise between cost and travel
time expended. Reservations are not required when originating at the
airport.
- Bus Service – (Cheapest, but
also slowest) Santa Clara Valley Transit (www.vta.org)
operates a shuttle bus, route 10, from the airport to the Caltrain
station in Santa Clara. The VTA route #22 provides local service
on El Camino Real; as it stops every two blocks or so, it will
take considerably longer than most other transportation modes,
and the local busses (unlike the #10 shuttle bus) are not designed
for carrying luggage. One way fare is $1.50, no change provided.
Service is on a schedule (available at http://www.vta.org).
- Caltrain & VTA – (Never on
Sunday, or Saturday...) The free shuttle bus mentioned in 4,
drops customers at the Santa Clara Caltrain station. Note that there
is no Caltrain TRAIN service on Saturday or Sunday this Summer due to
major track re-construction work. Caltrain's service runs on a schedule
(every 30 minutes during the day, and once per hour during the evening).
San Francisco bound Caltrain serves stations at "Palo Alto" (approximately
one block from the Westin and Sheraton hotels) and "California Avenue"
(approximately a mile from Dinah's and the Hyatt). The train portion of
this journey will take about 35 minutes, and will cost approximately $5
purchased from vending machines before boarding the train. Note that
there is not a taxi stand at the train station, but there is a local bus
center at the Palo Alto station, from which one may catch the Valley Transit
Authority bus #22, which provides frequent local service on El Camino Real
(and stops near all of the hotels in our list). Both Caltrain stations are
also served by Stanford University's Marguerite Bus Service.
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