San Diego – Added service on the busiest Trolley line in the region began Sunday as part of the January Service Changes by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). Transit officials celebrated the occasion this morning at the Iris Avenue Transit Center. The UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley, which connects the San Ysidro international border to Downtown San Diego, is now running 7.5-minute weekday service from 4:30 a.m. until 7 p.m., and 15-minute frequency until the end of service.
The increased Trolley service was initiated to accommodate a ridership that has grown from 15 million riders annually to 18 million annually—a 17% increase—over the past five years. The enhanced service will make trips more comfortable for some of the 60,000 daily passenger trips on the Blue Line by offering relief from crowded trains during late morning and early afternoon trips.
The added service is just the latest enhancement MTS has made on the Blue Line. In 2015, MTS wrapped up a $436 million dollar overhaul to renew the line and introduced low-floor, easy-boarding Trolley cars shortly after that.
“Since 1981, the Blue Line Trolley has provided critical connections to jobs and education for people in the South Bay and across the border,” said MTS Board Chair and San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. “Now we are providing more opportunities for people to reach their destinations sooner, without having to battle traffic.”
The added Trolley service will serve an area of the MTS territory where demand for transit has been the highest and ridership is growing. “With 60,000 daily passenger trips, the Blue Line is the backbone of the entire MTS system,” said MTS CEO, Paul Jablonski. “We’ve seen more trips taken on the Blue Line even during times when ridership in other parts of our system has remained steady. The increased frequency represents a 30% boost in service on a line that has grown over the last 40 years.”
Since 2014, the Blue Line Trolley has seen ridership increase from 15 million to 18 million annual passenger trips and has led the way in recent ridership gains in the MTS system. Transit ridership system-wide is up 3.4% from July – November over the same period last year.
Additionally, frequency on the Blue Line will increase to every 15 minutes the entirety of the service day on weekends—from 4:30am to 1:30am—up from the 30-minute service previously offered during the off-peak hours.
To accommodate the 30% service boost, MTS will provide the following additional Trolley trips:
Monday – Friday: 74 extra trips
Saturday: 16 extra trips
Sunday: 24 extra trips
Trolley schedules for the Sycuan Green Line and Orange Line remain at every 15-30 minutes throughout the day. The complete list of January Services Changes is available here.
MTS operates 95 bus routes and three Trolley lines on 53 miles of double-tracked railway. Every weekday, 300,000 passenger trips are taken on MTS bus and Trolley services in 10 cities and unincorporated areas of the county. In FY 2019, MTS served more than 85 million riders. For more information on how you can use public transportation and save money, go to www.sdmts.com.
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