Public Transportation (San Diego: crime, transfer, to buy)

[roblotp]

I am considering moving to San Diego and I need information about the public transportation. I am legally blind, so I am unable to drive. Luckily for me my girlfriend has a car. With that said, if we lived in the downtown area would I be able to get around on my own at any given time? Stores, grocery store, bar, restaurants and what ever else I might need on an everyday basis?

I am from Boston and to be honest I hate their public transportation. I have lived in NYC and I presently live in DC now and they both have top notch public transportation systems. My understanding is that SD is not as good at these two, but how good/reliable/safe is it?

Any advice would be great.

[kettlepot]

For the most part it's good, reliable, and safe. I've used it to travel downtown a few times. That particular bus route was CROWDED during the rush hours.

One poster here thought one of the trolley routes seemed to be frequented by a lot of shady characters. They might have been shady, or they just could have been 'dressed' to look shady.

The biggest problem I hear about is that the buses/trolleys don't run that frequently. I'd hate to have to do a transfer, because you'll probably just miss the bus or trolley you're transfering to, and have to wait 20 minutes for the next one.

As for the downtown area, if you mean RIGHT downtown, there are at least two big-chain grocery stores, and I hear another one is planned. Plenty of bars and restaurants that run the gamut from hole-in-the-wall greasy spoons, to top notch eateries. The city has done a pretty good job of bringing in the day-to-day amenities that people need to live downtown, but not all parts of downtown will have everything you need really close.

[leighland]

I take the trolley from la mesa to work downtown. I go through some of the rougher parts of san diego on the train. It is possible to casually rely on the trolley especially if you live downtown. The 20 minute drive from la mesa to my job takes me about 45 minutes oneway. The trolley system is an open system, meaning that it is up to you to buy a valid ticket and get on. Trolley ticket checkers only check for tickets periodically, I have been "carded" about 8 times in March. Thus homeless and shady characters will get on in parts and ride for as long as they feel lucky. Because it is almost baseball season and the trolley goes straight to Padres Park, I have noticed an increase of trolley checkers and they will kick you off if you do not have a valid ticket. As a handicapped person, your needs may be a bit different but I am from Chicago and the San Diego system, including buses is not as good, easy-to-use, reliable or safe-feeling as Chicago's loop and bus system. I have been told that DC's is far superior to Chicago's. Its sdcommute dot com and a monthly pass is 60 bucks.
Hope this helps...

[kettlepot]

I was listening to the radio this morning and they broadcast the following crime statistics for the San Diego Trolley in 2006:

31 Robberies
19 Assaults
74 Thefts

No specific numbers were given for the more minor offenses such as vandalism, and drunk and disorderly conduct.

This was about the same as previous years. I don't recall how many millions of trips were made on the trolley during the year.

[NYSD1995]

35 million trips this year up from 28 million