Kaiser San Francisco ↔ SFO.

Kaiser's San Francisco medical center doesn't have on-site parking. The hospital entrance is on Geary Boulevard between Divisadero and Broderick, and the parking is elsewhere — a valet-assist lot on Post Street and a medical complex lot further down Geary. So the choice isn't "park here or take a car"; it's "park several blocks away and walk back, or be dropped at the door."

That single fact does more work than anything else on this page. If you're arriving for a procedure, or with someone who doesn't walk well, the door drop is the whole point. From SFO it's about 15 miles: up US-101 and then west across the city on surface streets, which is why it takes longer than the distance suggests — 30 minutes on a good run, nearer an hour when Geary is backed up. Flat $65 either direction.

Plenty of these rides are members who live elsewhere in Northern California and come to San Francisco for a specialist, a procedure, or a follow-up their local facility doesn't handle. They fly into SFO rather than drive, and they want the airport-to-hospital leg to be one decision, made in advance, at a known price.

That's what booking ahead gets you: a car assigned, a driver who texts you, and a fare already settled. Add your flight number and we track it, so an inbound delay moves the pickup instead of stranding you. We are an independent car service and not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente — we just drive there a lot.

Geary Boulevard is one of the least predictable crosstown routes in San Francisco. The same trip can take half an hour or nearly twice that, depending on the hour and whatever roadwork is running. It's the sort of corridor where a meter or a surge multiplier does real damage.

The fare doesn't move with the traffic. It's fixed when you book, so a slow crawl across town costs exactly what a clear Sunday morning costs. On this particular route that's the main practical difference from a metered ride.

Hospital days rarely end when the appointment card says. Rather than guess a return time, book the ride in and leave the way back open — text the number on your confirmation when you're done and we'll come then. Each leg is its own flat fare, so nothing is lost by booking them separately.

If you're staying over, the hotel guide covers options across the city, and downtown rides carry the same flat rate if your hotel is nearer Union Square.