San Diego Transit Views

San Diego, like many other cities around the country are expanding their transit infrastructure to help improve mobility, access to jobs and reduce their carbon footprint.

On a recent Wednesday, around mid-morning, I found myself with some time to kill. The UTC Trolley Station was right outside of my office window so I decided to go and explore the new station that opened in November 2021. When I got to the top of the station I was delighted to see a real-time sign that let me know when the next train would arrive. I also got extra excited when I saw the next train would come in less than 10 minutes.

As I took in the views from the station platform I couldn't help and wonder how this area would look like in the coming years. I wondered:

• How busy will the station be at rush hour if there ever is a return to the traditional 9 to 5 workday?

• With a 29 minute travel time to Downtown from the station, will more people use the trolley throughout the day to travel from UTC to downtown for meetings?

• Will more people use the trolley for their shopping trips at the UTC Mall?

• Will UCSD students take the trolley to Ikea and bring back their finds on the train, like my friends and I often did when we went to college in New York City?

• How buzzing will the station get for Padres games or when Comic-Con comes to town?

Public transit ridership was hit hard by Covid-19, but it's making comeback like many other things that went dark during the height of the pandemic. Interestingly, as gas prices continue to rise because of the War in Ukraine, transit ridership is on the rise across the country. Even in auto-centric Southern California more and more people are motivated to save money and are turning to transit for their transportation needs.

I am hopeful that even once gas prices start to level off that transit ridership will continue to steadily grow as people begin to see the convenience of transit.