Transportation in San Diego County

Rail services

Local

an Diego Trolley

The San Diego Trolley is a light rail that serves the metropolitan area including Downtown San Diego, East County, South Bay, and San Ysidro.

an Diego Coaster

The San Diego Coast Express Rail, or Coaster is a commuter rail that connects the North County area to the Metro area. Most riders are commuters who live in North County and work downtown or in the city centre. Fact|date=July 2007.

printer

The Sprinter is a light rail line between Oceanside and Escondido, California. The service uses the 22-mile long Escondido Branch trackage of the San Diego Northern Railroad. Fifteen stations are served, including stops in the cities of Oceanside (western terminus), Vista, San Marcos, and Escondido (eastern terminus).

Sprinter service is operated with Siemens Sprinter diesel multiple units manufactured in Germany, where they are widely used.

Linking

Amtrak "Pacific Surfliner"

The "Pacific Surfliner" is a 350-mile (563 km) Amtrak passenger train route serving communities on the coast of Southern California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo with stops in Los Angeles.

Metrolink

Metrolink is a commuter rail network connecting major cities in Southern California including San Diego via transfers at Oceanside, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Riverside. Metrolink does not serve the immediate San Diego area.

Bus services

Buses in San Diego County are operated by three agencies.

Metropolitan Transit System

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is the public transit service provider for Central, South, Northeast and Southeast San Diego County. MTS operating subsidiaries include the San Diego Trolley, Incorporated (SDTI) and San Diego Transit, Corporation (SDTC). San Diego Transit directly operates approximately half of all fixed-route bus service within its service area. The remainder are provided under contractual agreements with Veolia Transportation Services or Southland Transportation Services. Some MTS bus routes connect to Breeze services in Escondido or Ramona in the NCTD service area. MTS has begun dowloading their route schedules to Google and this has spawned a new generation of trip planners such as [http://transittrips.com TransitTrips] .

The city of Chula Vista contracts with Veolia Transportation Services to provide fixed-route bus service.

North County Transit District

The North San Diego County Transit District's (NCTD) "BREEZE" operates 53 bus routes in the northern portion of the county from Del Mar, Escondido, and Ramona, to the Orange County and Riverside County lines. [http://www.gonctd.com/breeze/breeze.html] Routes are in the 300 and 400 series (with the exception of route 101).

Bus Passes and transfers may be used both on MTS and NCTD services including the bus and the trolley, but use of the COASTER may require and upgrade.

In addition, express buses from the Riverside Transit Agency connect Temecula with Oceanside.

Road services

Public roads

San Diego County has an extensive network of public roadways that allows vehicle drivers and bicyclists convenient direct access to all practical destinations in the county.

Bikeways

Public bikeways in San Diego County consist of Class 1 bike paths, which are separate from the public roads, Class 2 bike lanes, which are demarcated space on the roadways designated to be used primary by bicyclists, and Class 3 bike routes, which are regular surface streets designated as being particularly attractive to bicyclists. SANDAG publishes a map which shows all of these bikeways in the greater San Diego Metropolitan area annually, and it is available at most local bike shops.

Air services

San Diego International Airport is the second busiest single-runway commercial airport in the world, with approximately 600 departures and arrivals carrying 40,000 passengers each day, and over 18 million passengers a year.

However, it occupies a much smaller footprint compared to other airports in the United States. As a result, recently, numerous plans have been proposed to either add another airport in the area, or relocate it entirely.

Ferry services

The Coronado Commuter Ferry takes morning and afternoon commuters across San Diego Bay from the San Diego Broadway Pier, to the Naval Air Station North Island, and the San Diego Broadway Pier. The San Diego Harbor Excursions operates ferry shuttles directly to and from the San Diego Broadway Pier and the San Diego Broadway Pier.

References

* [http://www.sdmts.com San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS)] ; includes information on MTS Bus and Trolley services
* [http://www.gonctd.com/ North San Diego County Transit District] - includes information on the Coaster, Sprinter, and Breeze
* [http://www.san.org San Diego Airport]
* [http://amtrak.com Amtrak]
* [http://www.transit.511sd.com 511 Info] - includes information on San Diego Public Transportation, including trip planning