More Bay Area Residents Flying, Driving to Holiday Destinations

Many Bay Area travelers will hop on planes and cars as part of a slight increase in year-end travel seen statewide, according to the American Automobile Association.

These next two weeks, which include Christmas and New Year's Eve, 11.7 million Californians are expected to travel—a 1.8 percent increase from this time last year, AAA officials report.

Some 10 million state residents will likely drive to their destinations, a 1.4 increase from 2011, while more than 950,000 residents might fly.

San Francisco International Airport spokesman Doug Yakel shared Friday could be the peak end-of-the-year travel day, with about 130,000 passengers flying in and out of the airport.

He added this year should be fairly similar to last year's travel trends around Christmastime, however overall in 2012 there has been an increase in travel at the airport.

In Oakland, the airport is expecting "business as usual," according to spokesman Brian Kidd.

He said travel plans have been spread out over a 19-day period this year keeping things calm at the airport with plenty of parking and mostly on-time arrivals and departures.

"We might see a slight up-tick at end of this week," Kidd said.

Throughout 2012, the airport has seen a 10 percent increase in travelers, however year-end travel will not see as high of a bump, Kidd said.

According to the AAA, nearly 400,000 Californians will find modes of transportation other than driving and flying to reach their destinations.

Beside the highways, travelers from Mountain View can take Caltrain to the airport.

They can get to SFO on weekdays by transferring at the shared Caltrain-BART Millbrae Intermodal Station to BART for a quick trip to the San Bruno station. Once there, travelers will board an SFO BART train. Evenings and weekends, BART offers direct service from Millbrae to the airport.

 For passengers flying out of San Jose, Caltrain connects with Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's free Route 10 Airport Flyer bus at the Santa Clara Caltrain Station.

What are your tips for holiday travel? Tell us in comment!

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