What's worse, most people who work "in San Francisco" don't, and commuting to south bay is untenable without a car (and even with the car, a good half of the market is at least a 90 minute daily commute away from SOMA).
Muni cars run on clean electric lines, and their busses are now electric hybrids. Each is outfitted with a GPS that updates boards at each stop to let you know in real-time how long before the next bus arrives. They have a phone number and a website that has this real-time info too. Hell, that website even has an iPhone version!
It costs 45 bucks a month to go anywhere you want. It runs 24 hours a day with plenty of frequency and services pretty much every inch of the city. What more can you ask for?
Ever checked out Atlanta's MARTA system? The bus service is random and wait times are often 30 minutes to 2 hours. Without a car, you're basically screwed.
But then, GPS or no GPS, it's going to be hard to impress people from cities with real public transit systems with a bus; there's nowhere in NYC or Chicago you'd reasonably want to go that you can't get to on a train that runs every 5-15 minutes.
I agree with you, I wouldn't put Atlanta on my list of awesome public transit cities either.
Wait... you're complaining that you have to share the bus with other people who can't afford a car? Perhaps you'd prefer two separate systems, so we can reserve one for those who are just too cool to use cars? :/
The trains are fine. The big bus lines like the 38 are pretty good. Some of the other bus lines, like the 19 which goes through the tenderloin to SOMA are gross and can be unpredictable.
[edit] I'm thinking of Mission. Sorry.