San Diego Trolley, Very Dirty and Unsafe (San Francisco, Sacramento: neighborhoods, movie theater)

[beachrescue]

My Experience with the trolley.............very unsafe and unsanitary. Has anyone else had this experience.

[Gentoo]

Until somewhat recently, I used to ride the trolley everyday. Here's my take on it:

Green Line: Mostly homeless people and college students. Sports fans when there's an event at Qualcomm. Usually not very crowded. Wouldn't call it unsafe at all.

Blue Line: Everyone and their mother catches this line. The oldest of the trolley lines and almost always crowded. I still wouldn't say it's unsafe either.

Orange Line: the sketchiest line of the trolley. Goes through all the worse parts of the city. Maybe this one could make one feel uneasy at times. Even so, I haven't heard too many things happening on any of the trolley lines.

Overall, as with any public transportation, caution should be used. This isn't unique to the SD trolley. Overall, I find the trolley fairly clean. If you want to see an unsafe PT, go to San Francisco and ride MUNI and the trolley will seem almost high class.

MTS is currently installing surveillance cameras at it's stations (a little late IMO since most other public light and heavy rail systems had them since they opened). Again, it's all perspective I guess.

[scratchNsniff]

I feel safer on the SD trolley than I do on many of the other public transportation systems in America.

[tickyul]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Until somewhat recently, I used to ride the trolley everyday. Here's my take on it:

Green Line: Mostly homeless people and college students. Sports fans when there's an event at Qualcomm. Usually not very crowded. Wouldn't call it unsafe at all.

Blue Line: Everyone and their mother catches this line. The oldest of the trolley lines and almost always crowded. I still wouldn't say it's unsafe either.

Orange Line: the sketchiest line of the trolley. Goes through all the worse parts of the city. Maybe this one could make one feel uneasy at times. Even so, I haven't heard too many things happening on any of the trolley lines.

Overall, as with any public transportation, caution should be used. This isn't unique to the SD trolley. Overall, I find the trolley fairly clean. If you want to see an unsafe PT, go to San Francisco and ride MUNI and the trolley will seem almost high class.

MTS is currently installing surveillance cameras at it's stations (a little late IMO since most other public light and heavy rail systems had them since they opened). Again, it's all perspective I guess.

Well, it is hit and miss. The orange line has to be the worst, yikes
I hate the ride through SE Scum Diego. Blue line from old town through downtown is pretty nasty, many bums, tweekers and nuts on it.....gets better out of downtown. Green line has to be the best of them all......gets pretty creepy going from Grossmont through El Cajon......lots of punk gang-type kids.

[NYSD1995]

I sometimes ride from SDSU to downtown to see padre games with my 3yr old son, and he loves it. It's not even marginally sketchy, at least at 10AM on a sunday.

[tickyul]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

I sometimes ride from SDSU to downtown to see padre games with my 3yr old son, and he loves it. It's not even marginally sketchy, at least at 10AM on a sunday.

Yeah, you are missing the worst part......Orange line through SE San Diego.................pretty nasty.

[skeke]

I've only ridden the trolley to get back and forth to jury duty. Caught it in La Mesa. Didn't feel unsafe. Didn't seem dirty. I rode public transportation a lot more in Sacramento. Never felt unsafe or unclean. I did have a mentally ill woman object to me one day in Sacramento. She was harassing me because I was wearing gloves which she thought was hoity toity. Bus driver never said a word and I decided to keep looking straight ahead and not respond.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by beachrescue

My Experience with the trolley.............very unsafe and unsanitary. Has anyone else had this experience.

Nope. About as dirty as a movie theater. About as safe as going to a Padre game.

For the record, there is a staunch difference between "looking" unsafe and actually "being" unsafe. There are a lot of rough looking people and neighborhoods on the Orange line for sure. But for the hundreds of times I have taken it, never was threatened, EVER. Clearly some have thicker skin than others that have posted regarding the trolley.

Asked for money? Sure, plenty of homeless and drunks. This should be no surprise though at this point. It is what it is and its not like these people are hiding the fact that they may not have the means to own a car. Why is that a problem?
I cant help but note that some of the comments seem to suggest that these people or mass transit in general is below you. Maybe so, but for some people may be their only means of transit and IMHO they deserve some degree of respect.

I dont take the trolley in lieu of a beauty pageant contest or top 10 best views in SD for Conde Nast. Its to get from point A to point B with the convenience of not having to drive.

If you tried it and it didnt work for you, oh well. Now you know. Maybe when more "normal" folks start taking it, you can brag about how you took it years ago and it was as dirty as a movie theater and as dangerous as a Padre game.

[Pretzelogik]

Originally Posted by beachrescue

My Experience with the trolley.............very unsafe and unsanitary. Has anyone else had this experience.

MASS transit

[jksouthbay88]

Do it at least 4x a week.Get used to it;its public transportation.