The current operating company of the San Diego Trolley system, San Diego Trolley Incorporated (SDTI), was not founded until 1980[2] when the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (now operating as San Diego's
MTS) began to plan a light-rail service along the Main Line of the former
San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (SD&AE Railway), which the MTDB purchased from the
Southern Pacific Railroad in 1979.[2] The Trolley began operations on July 19, 1981, with revenue service beginning on July 26, 1981.[2] Trains at that time operated on a single line between Centre City or
Downtown San Diego and
San Ysidro, with stops in some San Diego neighborhoods, and in the cities of
National City and
Chula Vista.
In March 1986, SDTI opened an extension east from Centre City San Diego to Euclid Avenue, along the La Mesa Branch of the former SD&AE Railway – this new second line of the Trolley was then called the East Line, while the original line opened in 1981 became the South Line.[2] Service was extended along the East Line to Spring Street on May 12, 1989[2] serving
Lemon Grove, and then to
La Mesa and
El Cajon on June 23, 1989.[2] Service between El Cajon and
Santee, which is not along the old SD&AE right-of-way, began on August 26, 1995.[2]
The "Bayside" extension of the Trolley in San Diego, which operates near the waterfront, opened on June 30, 1990.[3] The first phase of the extension to
Old Town, from C Street to
Little Italy in Downtown San Diego, opened on July 2, 1992.[3] The second phase of the Old Town extension, running from Little Italy to Old Town, opened on June 16, 1996.[3]
The "Mission Valley West" SDTI extension, which opened a new Trolley route between Old Town and
Mission San Diego (which included the
Qualcomm Stadium stop) commenced service on November 23, 1997,[3] just before San Diego's hosting of
Super Bowl XXXII in early 1998. It was at this time that the former South and East Trolley Lines were renamed the Blue Line and Orange Line, respectively.[2][3] The "Mission Valley East" extension between Mission San Diego and La Mesa opened for service on July 10, 2005, coinciding with the inauguration of the Green Line.[3]
Stations along the Blue and Orange lines were renovated during 2010–15 as part of the Trolley Renewal Project.[4][5][6][7]
Current system
The San Diego Trolley system has 62 operational stations serving its four Trolley lines.[8][9]
Fourteen of the Trolley system's stations operate as transfer stations, which allow passengers to transfer between lines. There is one universal transfer point (i.e. allowing for transfers among all four lines) in the system in downtown San Diego: the
12th & Imperial Transit Center station. The adjacent
Santa Fe Depot/
America Plaza/
Courthouse stations, which are within walking distance of each other, also allow for transfer among the four lines. Six Trolley stations are end-of-line stations. Of the 63 stations, 37 of them are within the city limits of San Diego, serving various
neighborhoods in San Diego; the other 16 stations are located in surrounding communities, such as El Cajon and National City.
Most stations in the San Diego Trolley system are 'at-grade' stations. There are ten aerial stations in the system and a single underground station (
the SDSU Transit Center station).
About half of San Diego Trolley stations offer free
park and ride lots.[10] Most Trolley stations offer connections to MTS bus lines.
Renamed stations
In 1986, the station on C Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, originally named Gaslamp North or Centre City station, was renamed
Fifth Avenue station and has been known as such ever since.
The Qualcomm Stadium stop was simply renamed "Stadium" after Qualcomm's naming rights to the stadium expired in June 2017. This location is now the site of SDSU's Snapdragon Stadium, and the future location of SDSU's West Campus.
The San Diego Square station, opened in 1981 on C Street between Seventh & Eighth Avenues downtown, was closed on March 23, 1986, due to low ridership, its close proximity to the (then renamed, see above) Fifth Avenue station, and the desire to eliminate a station in order to accommodate the soon-to-open infill station at E Street (which opened in October 1986) without adding to travel times along the line.
Remnants of this old station still remain on C Street between Seventh & Eighth Avenues.
Lines
As of 2021[update], trolley service operates on three main lines offering daily service: the Blue, Green, and Orange Lines, and travels through the 62 stations and 65 total miles of mostly double-track rail.[8] A fourth line, the
heritage streetcarSilver Line, operates more limited weekday and weekend service, in a clockwise 'circle-loop' around downtown San Diego only.[13]
Transfer station for
Blue and
Silver lines. Directly adjacent to
Santa Fe Depot (i.e. short walking distance) – so is also an "indirect" transfer point for the
Green Line. This was an infill station – added upon competition of the One America Plaza building in 1991. Terminus for some
Blue Line trains.
Directly adjacent to
America Plaza (i.e. short walking distance) – so is also an "indirect" transfer point for
Blue and
Silver lines. This was the original terminus for the original Trolley line.
^Carolina Worrell (December 7, 2015).
"Red and robust". Railway Age. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
^"Trolley Renewal". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
^
ab"Anout MTS". 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2021. Light rail service is operated by SDTI on four lines (the UC San Diego Blue, Orange, Green and Silver Lines) with a total of 62 stations and 65 miles of rail.
^"Vintage Trolley". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
^"Mid-Coast Corridor Transit Project"(PDF). San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). April 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2021 – via U.S. Department of Transportation.