Getting to Stanford

Updated Jan 2001.
Stanford University is located just West of Palo Alto between San Francisco (SF) and San Jose (SJ) on the San Francisco peninsula. The boundary of Palo Alto downtown and Stanford is the Caltrain Rail road line and El Camino Real, a major road local north-south road.

Driving and Maps

Stanford is situated about 30 miles (~50 min) south of San Francisco and 20 miles (~35 min) north of San Jose; between the I280 freeway to the west and the US 101 Freeway to the east. At rush hour driving times may be twice the estimate. El Camino Real (CA 82) is the major local road between these cities, parallel to those freeways passes the main entry to Campus at Palo Alto; another local road: Junipero Serra (south) / A lameda de los Pulgas (north) passes at the rear (west side) of Campus. University avenue and Embarcadero Road provide (slow) access from US101, Alpine and Page Mill roads provide access from I280.

Global map of the Bay Area (html with gifs) (oriented actual north up -- El Camino runs up-left from San Francisco to down-right for San Jose), with
Palo Alto / Stanford overview (html and jpeg) (oriented logical north up -- El Camino runs up (SF) to down (SJ)).
Other Palo Alto Maps.
Stanford University map (pdf); the Gates building is in square C2, at the 90 degree curve of Campus Drive (oriented logical East up -- El Camino runs top-left (SF) to center-right (SJ)).
simplified Stanford map with Gates building (Ascii html) and parking indicated (oriented facing campus from the CalTrain station and Palo Alto, i.e., logical West up -- El Camino runs right (SJ) to left (SF)).
Stanford Parking map (pdf, huge -- 2.25 Mbytes) (oriented actual north up).

Public Transportation

Best check agency schedules if times are critical -- they change often.

Train

Caltrain to Palo Alto (hourly 5:00am to midnight and at least twice per hour 6:00am to 7:00pm weekdays on the half-hour) from and to San Francisco (time 1 hour, faster at rush hours), Milbrae (35 min), or San Jose (40 mins). Some trains start way south in Gilroy (1:20 hour). (Interactive map).
The free Stanford Marguerite shuttle bus meets each weekday train in Palo Alto.
There is a free shuttle bus from the SFO airport to the Milbrae train station, meeting every train.
In San Francisco there is a loop bus (#42) and streetcar service (N) at the Caltrain station. Connecting at Market street to the historic F trams gets you to also Fisherman's wharf.
There is a frequent free shuttle bus from the San Jose airport to the Santa Clara train station, on the web page look under `ground transportation', `rail service', `Rails to Wings'.
The Montain View Caltrain station has a connection with San Jose's light rail system. The light rail goes to the Santa Clara convention center, and to downtown San Jose, with its hotels and convention center.

Buses

Most buses stop at or near the Palo Alto train station, and from there the free Stanford Marguerite shuttle bus (lines A, B) can be taken (Marguerite Zoomable Map, oriented logical East down -- El Camino runs right (SF) to left (SJ)). The Gates building is near where the A, DE, and SLAC routes intersect, but the A and DE (lunch time from Palo Alto) line gets you closest.
The A bus continues to the CalTrain California Street station, and can be taken from the hotels and motels in that area on El Camino.

Some city buses also go to the center of campus (a 3 minute walk the to Gates building), others to the Stanford Shopping Center (a 10 minute walk), or to the Stanford Hospital (a 5 minute walk through the building and across the parking lot).
The times are average, best click on the specifics for schedules and routes.
The buses are listed from North to South.

SamTrans KX express bus from San Francisco downtown via Airport, San Mateo, San Carlos, Belmont, Redwood City, to Stanford Shopping Center (every half hour; 1:15 h., 1 hour from airport).
SamTrans RX commute express bus from San Francisco downtown direct to Stanford Shopping Center (3 buses, 3:48-4:57 pm south and 6:20-6:50 am north, 1 hour).

SamTrans 280 bus from downtown San Francisco, via Colma BART station -- connects from Eastbay and Berkeley-- to Hillsdale CALTRAIN station (two or threec times per hour; Colma to Hillsdale takes 1 hour). After ~6 pm only continues to and from Palo Alto (another 50 mins).

SamTrans 282 bus from Portola Valley, or Skylonda and Woodside (sparse: 6am, 2:15pm, 3:30pm to Stanford; 10am, 1:50pm, 5:30pm back).

SamTrans 280 bus from East Palo Alto to Stanford Shopping Center (every half hour) .

Dumbarton Express (DB) from the East Bay (Union City Bart station, Fremont) (half-hourly at commuting times, and infrequently during the day. Buses marked DB1 go via Pagemill Road. Get off at El Camino, then walk about 6 minutes north on El Camino to California street, where a free Stanford Marguerite shuttle bus can be taken.