Car service in San Mateo, on the clock.

Twelve minutes from the runway

San Mateo sits close enough to SFO that the ride is short, and far enough that the 101 can make it unpredictable. From downtown San Mateo the airport is roughly twelve to twenty minutes depending on the hour. We watch the corridor rather than assume it, and the pickup window is set against the real drive time on the day.

For departures, the chauffeur arrives before the scheduled time and waits. For arrivals, the flight number on the reservation is tracked, so an early landing or a two-hour delay moves the pickup with it at no charge.

Business travel on the Peninsula

San Mateo runs on office parks and headquarters — Bay Meadows, Bridgepointe, Franklin Parkway, the campuses along Concar and Delaware. Most of what we carry here is business: an executive to a morning flight, a visiting client from the airport to a hotel, a team moving between meetings in Foster City and Palo Alto.

Companies that move people regularly use a corporate account. Travelers book and ride with nothing charged to them, and the company is invoiced monthly, itemized by date, traveler, route and fare. Regular travel across the Peninsula runs on one account — Bay Area corporate transportation.

Evenings and longer runs

Dinner on B Street, a show at the Fox Theatre, a night in the city with a car waiting at the end of it. Hourly hire covers the trips that are not a straight A to B. Longer runs leave from San Mateo too — Napa for the day, Monterey down the coast, SJC when the flight is out of San Jose. TCP 46894-B is a statewide authority, so distance is not the limit.