San Diego Airport Launches A New FREE Transit Shuttle

Great news for people traveling to San Diego! 

The airport is finally connected to mass transit via the new all-electric Flyer. 

 The San Diego Country Regional Airport Authority is providing FREE shuttle service called the San Diego Flyer from both Terminals 1 and 2 to the Old Town Transit Center. The FREE buses will operate daily every 20-30 minutes. First, pick up at 4:45am and the last drop off at 12:30am. The shuttles are meant to help travelers connect with Amtrak, Coaster, MTS bus, and the trolley. 

This is welcome news and will hopefully relieve some of the congestion at the airport. The MTS Route 992 bus also connects travelers from the airport to the Santa Fe Depot downtown.

And this weekend, San Diego opened the new blue line on its trolley system. It's a well-known fact that Southern California residents like their cars! It's been tough to get riders to take the relatively new LA subway and the San Diego trolley. But the cities keep trying since the traffic is tough. 

The blue line is a welcome addition because now UC San Diego is connected to the trolley system. Now, you can ride the trolley from UCSD all the way to the baseball stadium, Petco Park, downtown. Amazing. 

 The bus and trolley cost $2.50 per ride and there are discounts for children, seniors,. Friends fly FREE on all major holidays and on weekends, children are FREE with a paid adult.  

The trolley is a light rail system covering 53 miles around San Diego County and was created in 1981. 

Unfortunately, the trolley we were on announced that riders would have to change trolleys in Old Town instead of being able to ride all the way downtown, but in theory, you could do it. 

 Besides the blue line, MTS built parking lots at most of the new trolley stops including this one at the Balboa Avenue stop. The stop at Nobel has a five-story parking structure. Parking is FREE at all MTS parking lots, however, you can only park there for 24 hours. For a list of all the parking structures, click here. 

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MTS has a trip planner on the website to help you plan your route.  You can pay per ride or buy a Pronto pass online that you can swipe. There are day and monthly passes available as well. 

All in all, the blue line is a welcome addition and if you are in San Diego, it's a great outing for kids. Not quite as cool as the cable car in San Francisco and may not replace the need for a rental car, but fun. You can take the trolley up to UCSD, the UTC mall, Fashion Valley mall, Old Town, Little Italy, the Convention Center, and SDSU. Enjoy a nice lunch and ride on back.