You don’t have to travel with everything. If bringing your own equipment to San Francisco isn’t practical — it won’t survive the flight, you only need it for part of the trip, or you need something heavier-duty than you own day-to-day — you can rent almost anything once you’re here and have it waiting at your hotel or rental.

San Francisco has a deep rental market: national delivery services, local Bay Area medical-supply shops, and on-site rentals at the big attractions. The one wrinkle that’s specific to this city is the terrain — what you rent, and how much power it needs, depends on where you’re headed. Here’s how each option works for a visitor.

In this Guide: Scooters & Chairs · WAV Rentals · Medical Gear · On-site Rentals · Delivery · A Note on the Hills · How to Choose

Wheelchairs, Scooters & Knee Walkers

This is the most common rental and the easiest to arrange. National delivery services and local Bay Area medical-supply shops rent manual wheelchairs, power chairs, mobility scooters, and knee walkers by the day, week, or month — most delivered to your hotel or rental before you arrive.

Wheelchair-Accessible Van Rentals

First, the thing most visitors don’t realize: you cannot rent a wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) from a standard rental-car counter at SFO. Hertz, Avis, and the rest don’t keep ramp- or lift-equipped vans in their fleets — that’s a specialist rental.

But the bigger question in San Francisco is whether you need one at all. Unlike a spread-out, car-dependent city, San Francisco is compact and its transit is fully accessible, and parking is genuinely difficult and expensive. Many disabled visitors skip the rental van entirely and rely on accessible Muni and BART, ramp taxis, and rideshare WAVs to get around the city itself.

Rent a WAV mainly if you’re driving beyond the transit network — Wine Country, the coast, or a wider Bay Area road trip.

Medical Equipment for Longer Stays

For a longer stay, or a vacation rental rather than a hotel, you can rent home medical equipment the same way — delivered and picked up.

What’s Available: hospital beds, oxygen concentrators, patient lifts, lift chairs, shower and commode chairs, transfer benches, rollators, and bedside tables.

On-Site Rentals at Attractions

Several of the city’s biggest attractions rent or loan mobility equipment on site, so you don’t have to bring your own just for the day.

• Pier 39 rents wheelchairs at the California Welcome Center on Level 2. Full accessibility details →
• The San Francisco Zoo rents wheelchairs and strollers at Guest Services. Full accessibility details →
• The major museums and gardens keep loaner wheelchairs at the door, first-come — the California Academy of Sciences, de Young, Legion of Honor, Asian Art Museum, SFMOMA, the Exploratorium, and the San Francisco Botanical Garden among them.

On-site equipment can’t leave the venue, and loaners are first-come with no reservations, so they can run out on busy days. If you want a scooter you can keep for the whole trip — at your hotel and between sights — rent from a delivery service instead. A length-of-stay rental usually costs less per day than piecing together day rentals.

Delivery to Hotels, AirBNBs & SFO

Mostly clean SF content, but it was built off the LA rentals page and three LA leftovers slipped through, plus one slug issue that matters more:

A Note on the Hills

San Francisco’s terrain is the one planning factor that’s different here from anywhere else, and it cuts two ways for rentals. A scooter or power chair gives you independence across the flat neighborhoods, the waterfront, and Golden Gate Park — but no rental scooter is a substitute for the accessible transit when it comes to the steep hills, where the smart move is to ride Muni Metro or BART underneath them and save your battery for the level streets. Rent for the flat city you’ll actually spend most of your time in, lean on transit and ramp taxis for the grades, and you’ll get the best of both. Full terrain-and-transit detail is in Getting Around San Francisco.

How to Choose — The Short Version

Renting fills the gaps your own equipment can’t — and in this city, the smartest setup is usually a rental for the flat neighborhoods paired with the accessible transit for the hills.

Prices, delivery areas, and availability change, and Only Everywhere isn’t affiliated with any company listed here — always confirm details directly with the provider before you book.

Related:

• Getting Around San Francisco
• Flying into SFO

SFO is one of the easier major US airports to travel through with a disability — it’s well-signed, has elevators everywhere, connects straight to fully accessible regional rail without going outside, and has invested in more than just wheelchair access. Whether your challenge is needing assistance through the terminal, managing the sensory load, catching information you can’t hear, or navigating signage you can’t see, SFO has something built for it. The two things to sort before you fly are wheelchair assistance (arranged through your airline, not the airport) and how you’ll get into the city (BART is the step-free answer for most people).

This guide covers the airport itself. Once you’re at the curb, see Getting Around San Francisco for accessible transport into the city.

In this Guide: Wheelchair Assistance · Arriving · Sensory, Hearing & Vision · Between Terminals · To the City · Departing · Services at a Glance

Requesting Wheelchair Assistance

The single most important thing to know: wheelchair assistance at SFO is provided by your airline, not the airport. Arrange it when you book, or by calling the airline directly — ideally at least 48–72 hours before your flight. You can request it on the spot, but you’ll wait.

The same advance request covers a sighted-guide escort if you’re blind or low vision — you don’t need to use a wheelchair to get an attendant through the terminal. Ask for it the same way.

What Airline Assistance Covers:

• An attendant from check-in or the gate, through the terminal, to your connection or the curb
• An aisle chair to board and deplane if you can’t walk to your seat
• Your own mobility device returned to you at the aircraft door on arrival — you’re entitled to this; ask for it if it doesn’t happen

Arriving at SFO

When you land, the flow is: deplane (with an aisle chair if needed), get your mobility device back at the jet-bridge door, then an attendant takes you through to baggage claim and out to ground transportation.

What to Plan Around:

• Ask for your device at the door, not at baggage claim. Gate-checked power chairs and scooters are supposed to come up to the aircraft door; if staff try to send you to oversize baggage, push back — that’s your right and it saves a long wait.
• Terminal 3 has electric carts in designated zones for travelers who need help along the longer walks — these can’t be reserved in advance but may be available on the day.
• Gate and baggage announcements have an audio component. If you’re Deaf or hard of hearing, watch the airport’s visual paging screens (see Beyond Mobility) and enable your airline app’s gate and carousel notifications.
• Service-animal relief areas are in every terminal, both before and after security.

Beyond Mobility

Accessibility at an airport isn’t only about wheels, and SFO is unusual in how much it has built for other needs. What makes a trip hard looks different depending on your disability — here’s what’s there for each.

Getting Between Terminals

Unlike sprawling airports where you go outside and around a loop, SFO is a connected single airport ringed by the AirTrain — and getting between terminals is genuinely easy.

Your Accessible Option:

• The AirTrain is free, runs 24/7 as often as every four minutes, has elevators at every station, and has designated wheelchair spaces at each end of the cars. Use it to move between all terminals, the garages, the rental-car center, and BART.

Build in a little extra time for a terminal change, but the AirTrain takes the stress out of it.

Getting From SFO to the City

SFO makes this easy: you can get from the gate to downtown San Francisco entirely step-free.

• BART — the step-free answer (and usually the fastest). The BART station is right at the airport; the ride to downtown (Powell, Montgomery, Embarcadero, Civic Center) takes about 30 minutes, and every station and train is fully accessible. From the International Terminal, BART is a direct connection; from Terminals 1, 2, and 3, take the free AirTrain to the Garage G AirTrain/BART station first.
• Ramp taxis & accessible vans. Wheelchair-accessible, ramp-equipped taxis serve SFO on demand at standard meter rates — request one at the taxi stand or by phone.
• Rideshare WAVs. Uber and Lyft offer wheelchair-accessible vehicle options from SFO’s designated rideshare pickup, but availability is thinner than standard cars, so allow extra time.
• Accessible parking & rental cars. Disabled-placard parking is in the terminal garages, and the consolidated rental-car center is reached by the accessible AirTrain.

For the full breakdown of accessible transport once you leave the airport, see Getting Around San Francisco.

Departing From SFO

Leaving is more controllable than arriving, because you set the timeline. Give yourself generous margin — the bigger the buffer, the calmer the trip.

The flow:

• Curbside drop-off: Have your driver pull to your airline’s terminal; with airline assistance requested, a skycap can bring a wheelchair. Curbside check-in (where offered) saves a trip inside.
• Special-assistance check-in: Use your airline’s assistance counter rather than the standard line; staff there arrange your attendant to the gate. Security screening: Request help in advance through TSA Cares (855-787-2227) — for mobility, sensory, cognitive, hearing, or vision needs. You won’t be separated from your mobility device; it’s screened with you, and you can ask for a private screening. Pre-boarding: Tell the gate agent you need to pre-board; passengers needing extra time, an aisle chair, or a quieter boarding go first.

SFO Accessibility Services at a Glance

For the full accessibility record — parking, restrooms, accessible entrances, and traveler reviews — see our SFO accessibility listing.

Details and contact numbers change, and Only Everywhere isn’t affiliated with SFO, any airline, or TSA — confirm current procedures with your airline and flysfo.com before you travel.

Related:

• San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• Getting Around San Francisco
• Mobility Rentals in San Francisco

San Francisco has a reputation as a hard city to get around, and the reason is the hills — some of the steepest graded streets in the country, concentrated in a handful of neighborhoods. But the city is also compact and has one of the deepest accessible transit networks in the western US: every Muni bus, train, and historic streetcar is wheelchair accessible, every BART station has elevators, and the whole system was designed to move people under and around the hills rather than over them. Plan around the grade and lean on the transit, and San Francisco opens up. Here’s the full picture.

Reading the City’s Terrain

The single most useful thing to know is that San Francisco’s terrain isn’t uniform — it’s a patchwork of steep hills and genuinely flat districts.

The flat parts are flatter than people expect. The entire eastern waterfront — the Embarcadero from the Ferry Building to Fisherman’s Wharf — is level and smooth. SoMa, the Marina and Crissy Field, the Mission flatlands, Golden Gate Park’s interior, and the Civic Center area are all manageable on the level. You can build a full trip out of flat neighborhoods.

The steep hills are concentrated and predictable: Nob Hill, Russian Hill (Lombard Street), Telegraph Hill (Coit Tower), Pacific Heights, and Twin Peaks. A few sidewalks on these hit grades no manual wheelchair or cane user should attempt, and some have stairs built into the sidewalk. The move isn’t to skip these sights — it’s to arrive at them differently (transit, accessible parking, or a ramp taxi to the top) rather than climbing from below.

Mobility: Muni Metro and BART run underground beneath the steepest downtown grades, so you can cross the city without ever touching a hill. Ride through the hills, don’t climb them.

Muni – Buses, Metro & Historic Streetcars

Muni is the city’s local network, and all of it is wheelchair accessible.

The F-line historic streetcars — the vintage trolleys along Market Street and the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf — are fully wheelchair accessible (unlike the cable cars), with lift or ramp boarding. They’re the accessible way to ride a piece of San Francisco transit history.

Buses lower (kneel) and deploy ramps or lifts; each has two wheelchair securement areas, priority seating, and audio stop announcements. The fleet can lift up to 600 pounds.

Muni Metro light rail (the J, K, L, M, N, and T lines) serves downtown and the neighborhoods. All ten underground stations — Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center, Van Ness, Union Square/Market, Church, Castro, Forest Hill, and Chinatown–Rose Pak — have street-to-platform elevators. The newer low-floor trains board level; at surface stops, accessible high-platform boarding islands are provided.

Hearing & Vision: Muni buses and trains have automated audio stop announcements and visual next-stop displays, so the same stop information reaches you whether you’re hard of hearing or blind.

For elevator and service status, check SFMTA’s live updates before you rely on a specific station.

BART – Regional Rail

BART is the regional system, and within the city it’s the fastest accessible way to cross town — it runs under Market Street and out to the Mission and Glen Park, and it’s the direct link to and from SFO.

• Every station has elevators (at some, you’ll use two — street-to-concourse, then concourse-to-platform), and every train has level boarding with designated wheelchair areas and green priority seats.
• See Flying into SFO for the step-free airport connection.

The Cable Cars — and the Accessible Alternatives

San Francisco’s three cable car lines are original 1870s equipment — and how accessible they are depends entirely on which access need you’re planning around.

Mobility — not step-free: The cable cars are not wheelchair accessible. You board by climbing steps, and a wheelchair, scooter, or walker can’t fit aboard — there’s no lift or ramp option on the cars themselves. If step-boarding is a barrier for you, use the alternatives below.

If steps aren’t a barrier for you, the cable cars are completely open to ride and worth doing. They’re open-air with handrails, the conductors call stops.

Sensory: Quieter early-morning runs are the calmest if you’re sensory-sensitive, and the Powell-Hyde line has the most scenic descent.

For wheelchair and scooter users, two satisfying alternatives capture the same experience:

• The F-line historic streetcars are fully accessible and scratch the same vintage-transit itch — restored 1900s trolleys running the flat waterfront and Market Street.
• The Cable Car Museum (free, step-free inside) on Nob Hill lets you watch the actual cable mechanism that hauls the cars and see historic cars up close. See the Landmarks guide.

Ramp Taxis

Wheelchair-accessible, ramp-equipped taxi vans operate citywide at standard meter rates — the same fare as a regular taxi. You can order one on demand, including at SFO, with wait times typically under 30 minutes. If you use a wheelchair and can’t transfer out of it, request a ramp taxi specifically; the driver will secure your chair.

Rideshare WAVs

Uber and Lyft both offer wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) options in San Francisco, but the supply is thinner than ramp taxis — you may wait longer, and one isn’t always minutes away. For a guaranteed accessible ride, a ramp taxi or pre-booked accessible van is the surer bet; treat rideshare WAV as a convenient option when it’s available rather than your only plan.

SF Paratransit

If you can’t use Muni’s accessible buses and trains some or all of the time because of a disability, SF Paratransit is the city’s van-and-taxi program — a shared, door-to-door service.

• Eligibility is functional, not automatic: you must be unable to use the accessible fixed-route system, or unable to get to and from a stop, some or all of the time. You apply and are assessed.
• The program includes a ramp-taxi option for same-day, direct trips — generally arriving within 30 minutes — once you’re determined ADA-eligible.
• Apply ahead of your trip: pick up an application at the SF Paratransit office (68 12th St., weekdays 9:00–4:45) or call 415-351-7000.

Driving & Accessible Parking

Driving is the least appealing option in San Francisco — parking is scarce, expensive, and the hills make it stressful — but it’s sometimes the right call for the steepest destinations.

• A disabled placard or plate works statewide in California; with a valid placard you can park in blue accessible zones, and at most metered spaces (confirm current city rules, which change).
• Many major attractions have accessible parking near a step-free entrance — the Music Concourse Garage in Golden Gate Park, the Pier 39 garage, the Civic Center and Performing Arts garages, and the summit lot at Twin Peaks among them.
• For the steep sights, drive to the destination’s own accessible lot or use a ramp taxi, rather than parking at the bottom of a hill and approaching on foot.

Quick Reference

The short version: ride the accessible transit through and around the hills, save a ramp taxi for the steep destinations, and you rarely need to fight the terrain at all.

Prices, delivery areas, and availability change, and Only Everywhere isn’t affiliated with any company listed here — always confirm details directly with the provider before you book.

Related:

Flying into SFO

Mobility Rentals in San Francisco