Santa Barbara is a fairly small town and visitors find it very accessible. The main street is State St (map). and most of the restaurants and bars can be found on or just off of there.
Getting Around In Santa Barbara
The local bus station is located at Chapala/Carrillo St, next to the Greyhound station and is only 1 block from State St. The fare is 75¢ and transfer tickets are available for connecting buses. Bus routes include Shoreline-up to the Mesa, Mesa via Cliff Dr, Goleta, UCSB express, East side, Montecito, Carpinteria.
Click here for a complete list of routes and schedules.
Taxi
There are several companies in town, but the most established is Yellow Cab. They are the only company who operate 24 hours a day and have dispatcher service. Some of the other companies work strictly from the airport.
Yellow Cab - 965.5111
Crown Cab - 564.2101
City Cab - 968.6868
Orange Cab - 964.2800
Rose Cab - 681.8369
Downtown Shuttle
The Downtown Shuttle operates up and down State St. during the day, as well as along the waterfront.
The State St. service runs from Sola St. to Stearn's wharf, every 10 minutes between 10.15am-6.00pm.
The waterfront service runs every 30 minutes between 10.00am-5.45pm
The Zoo-Arlington Theatre route runs from 7.30am-10.00am M-F, and is good for someone living near Hot Springs Rd to get downtown.
On Friday and Saturday this route goes from 6.00pm-9.45pm every 15 minutes
The fare is 25 cents one way.
Bicycle
Now here's one of the best ways to explore downtown. Santa Barbara has bike lanes and also a bike path along the beach from the marina to Montecito. This ride is a nice cruise though the beach scene and past the pier to Hot Springs Rd. Actually if you continue, it's a pleasant trip to Summerland (a couple of miles from downtown). The fact that SB has so many watering holes with happy hour specials is another reason to leave the hire car and use the bike. With the endless good weather and ocean breezes, cycling around town is a very pleasant alternative.
Rollerblading
This form of transport usually takes place along the bike path which runs along the beach on Cabrillo Blvd.
Car Rental
There's an assortment of car hire places in town. If you want to do a day trip to Disneyland or get out to Solvang, it's an option. Most will require credit cards, but there are a couple who have some older cars and will let you have them provided you put down a deposit of a couple of hundred dollars.
Airbus
This service to LAX runs daily from behind the Sheraton Hotel. The fare from SB is $35.
Airbus 1-800.423.7759
805.564.2101
Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our North America Insiders page.
