The story
Origins
San Diego's public transportation traces its roots back to the San Diego Street Car Company, which opened a single line on July 3, 1886, with cars drawn by two mules or horses. The system would eventually expand to five lines across downtown San Diego. At the same time as the first horse-drawn line was being inaugurated, there were already plans to start up an electric streetcar service in San Diego, with at least some service starting in November 1887.
The San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy), the direct predecessor of today's MTS, was founded in 1891 by John D. Spreckels (who would later go on to build the San Diego and Arizona Railway). The SDERy would greatly expand electric streetcar service by purchasing several existing transit companies and converted them to electric operation.
In 1910, Spreckels was able to force a ballot initiative that amended his charter with the City of San Diego to give him more than 25 years on his leases to operate streetcar service. Passage of the initiative allowed the SDERy to secure loans that led to service expansion.
The electric streetcar system took a big hit during the "Great Flood" of 1916 which washed out several lines. Rebuilding was a challenge as World War I increased the cost of railway construction materials by 50 to 150 percent. Simultaneously, private automobiles became more common, with many owners driving the streetcar routes and picking up fares as illegal taxi operations.
The first motor bus hit the San Diego area streets in 1922, operating between National City and Chula Vista. Over the next two decades, the rail lines would gradually be replaced by motor buses, and on April 24, 1949, the last rail service was discontinued, making San Diego the first major city in California to convert to an all-bus system.
In 1948, the Spreckels family sold the San Diego Electric Railway Company to Jesse L. Haugh, who renamed it the San Diego Transit System and invested in updating and improving the system. Despite the improvements, ridership dropped. Facing a financial crisis, the city of San Diego took control of the system in 1967, renaming it the San Diego Transit Corporation, which was to be operated as a non-profit. In 1970, to boost struggling ridership, fares that ranged from 35¢ to $1.15 were lowered to a flat 25¢ fare. By the end of the decade, annual ridership would improve from 18 million to 35 million.
Planning for mass transit
The Comprehensive Planning Organization (now known as SANDAG), an intergovernmental agency of 13 cities and San Diego County, was established in 1966. The group began planning a mass transit system for the area, studying technologies, alignments, and costs, but the plans went nowhere due to disagreements between stakeholders. San Diego councilman Leon Williams and former state senator Jim Mills helped formulate what would become the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board.
In 1975, California established the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) with a clear mission: plan, construct, and operate a mass transit system. The agency formally started operations on January 1, 1976. The MTDB also struggled to resolve stakeholders' disagreements over the same issues of technologies, alignments, and costs.
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On September 10, 1976, nature intervened, setting off a chain of events that would help decide the first mass transit line.
Hurricane Kathleen destroyed major sections of track and bridges on the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway's Desert Line east of San Diego. The Southern Pacific, which had previously purchased the line from the Spreckels family and renamed it the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (SD&AE), wanted to abandon the railway, a request that was denied by the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1978. The MTDB stepped in and offered to buy the SD&AE for $18.1 million if the Southern Pacific fully repaired the line. The deal closed on August 20, 1979.
The purchase gave MTDB two sections of right-of-way that could be used for mass transit: the SD&AE Main Line from downtown San Diego to the San Ysidro Port of Entry and the SD&AE La Mesa Branch from downtown San Diego to El Cajon. The MTDB decided to build a relatively low-cost light rail system over the tracks, a new idea for the United States, but one that was well established in Germany.
The MTDB also continued to operate the freight operations of the SD&AE. The board reached a deal with the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad to continue to move railcars from the end of the Santa Fe Railway in downtown San Diego to either industrial customers in the San Diego area or to the Mexico–United States border in San Ysidro.
The return of rail
In August 1980, the MTDB established San Diego Trolley, Inc. to operate and maintain the new light rail system. On July 26, 1981, electric trains began operating the South Line (today's Blue Line) between downtown San Diego and San Ysidro.
In 1985, the city of San Diego transferred control of the San Diego Transit Corporation to the MTDB. The MTDB also coordinated transit services operated by San Diego County and other local agencies. Starting in 1986, all of these services begin operating under a single brand, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS).
The San Diego Trolley added a second line on March 23, 1986, by redeveloping the La Mesa Branch of the SD&AE into the East Line (today's Orange Line). This line was extended to El Cajon by June 23, 1989. Service was expanded beyond the old SD&AE right-of-way when the line was extended further, going north, to Santee on August 26, 1995.
The East Line's Bayside extension to the San Diego Convention Center and the Gaslamp Quarter opened on June 30, 1990. Later in the decade, the South Line was extended to the north, reaching Little Italy on July 2, 1992, Old Town on June 16, 1996, and Mission San Diego on November 23, 1997. At that the same time, the South Line and East Line of the system were renamed the Blue Line and the Orange Line, respectively.
One of the system's most ambitious expansions opened on July 10, 2005. The Mission Valley East extension built the only underground station in the system at San Diego State University and inaugurated the third route in the San Diego Trolley system, the Green Line, going from the Blue Line at Old Town east through Mission Valley, San Diego State University, and merging with the Orange Line in La Mesa (and proceeding to El Cajon and Santee).
On January 1, 2003, the state consolidated the planning, development, and construction functions of the MTDB and the North San Diego County Transit Development Board into the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to create a consolidated regional transportation planning and development agency.
With the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board no longer in charge of developing future transit projects, the MTDB changed its name to the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) in 2005.
Modern history
In 2007, MTS completed a "Comprehensive Operational Analysis" that redesigned the area's bus network for the first time in 23 years. National City was reluctant to implement the findings of the analysis and instead opts to transfer control of its National City Transit system into MTS.
The major overhaul of the San Diego Trolley called the "Trolley Renewal Project" began in 2010. Over the next five years, all Trolley stations were renovated, making them capable of handling low-floor light rail vehicles that eliminate the stairs into the trains and allow faster boarding for people using wheelchairs. The renovations allowed the Green Line to be extended to downtown in 2012. Low-floor vehicles started operating on the Orange Line in 2013 and on the Blue Line in 2015.
In 2011, MTS opened the Silver Line, which operates renovated PCC streetcars around downtown San Diego in partnership with the San Diego Historic Streetcar Society.
MTS introduced its network of bus rapid transit routes in June 2014. The lines operate on exclusive roadways, dedicated lanes, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and in mixed-traffic with other vehicles.
In 2016, the San Diego Trolley began construction of the Mid-Coast Corridor Transit Project. It is an 11-mile (18 km) extension of the Blue Line from the Old Town Transit Center north to the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla Village, and University City. Ridership is projected at 34,700 trips in 2030. The extension was completed and opened for service on November 21, 2021, costing $2.1 billion.
In 2019, MTS began a zero-emissions pilot program testing electric buses. By 2025 it operated 25 electric busses and had committed to purchase only zero-emissions vehicles by 2029, with a plan to fully transition in 2040.
On September 29, 2024, MTS opened the Copper Line, a shuttle between El Cajon Transit Center and Santee station, and cut the Green and Orange lines back to El Cajon. The change was meant to stop delays on the single-track segment north of El Cajon from spreading through the system. Adding a third track at the transit center cost about $14 million.
Fares and finances
MTS and the North County Transit District replaced the Compass Card with the Pronto fare system on September 1, 2021. It caps what a rider pays in a day or a month. Riders 18 and younger ride free through the Youth Opportunity Pass, which runs until June 30, 2027.
Ridership reached 81 million trips in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, a post-pandemic high and 7 percent more than a year earlier. MTS projected a shortfall of about $120 million in coming years. CEO Sharon Cooney said subsidies and fares had not kept up with inflation, and that without new revenue, cuts of about 25 percent of the operating budget would be needed.
In July 2026 SANDAG approved what was described as the region's first significant fare increase since 2009. On October 1, 2026, a standard one-way fare rose from $2.50 to $3.00 and the monthly pass from $72 to $85. A second increase on October 1, 2027, will raise them to $3.25 and $95. Riders enrolled in CalFresh, Medi-Cal or CalWORKs can keep the $2.50 fare through the Pronto LIFE program.
From Wikipedia’s article on San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5