San Diego on a Roll With New Trolley Line : Eastern Link Is an Extension of Nation’s Best Light Rail Transit System

With the opening of another 4.5-mile route Thursday, the San Diego Trolley consolidated its position as the most successful new “light rail” transit system in the nation.

San Diego now has in place a 16-mile line running between downtown and the Mexican border, and the new East Line connecting downtown with predominantly minority neighborhoods in the southeastern part of the city.

The two lines have been built for about $150 million. This is at least $80 million less than has been spent just on planning for Los Angeles’ 18-mile Metro Rail subway--which may never be built.

More Riders Expected

Ridership on the San Diego Trolley’s South Line, to the border, is now nearly 20,000 a day, and the new East Line is expected to draw an additional 3,500 to 4,000 daily riders. The Miami Metrorail, a “heavy rail” system that cost $1 billion to build, carries about the same number of riders.

(“Light rail” lines are like glorified street cars. They usually operate on surface streets or surface-level rights of way, and the vehicles are operated manually. The far more expensive “heavy rail” systems are built as subways or elevated lines. They carry more passengers and often are operated automatically.)

More than 90% of the trolley’s operating costs are met by its fares, which range from 50 cents to $1.50. Many urban transit systems cover less than half their operating costs with fares, and the trolley’s “fare box return” is the highest in the country, according to James R. Mills, chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, which built and operates the system.

Speaking at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Gov. George Deukmejian said that when the first San Diego Trolley route opened in July, 1981, “the rest of the nation sat up and took notice,” because the line was built for less than expected and without any federal money.

‘Success Story’

“Today that success story is repeating itself,” Deukmejian said. “Once again, this project has been completed on time and under budget.”

After his short speech, the governor and other politicians and transit officials boarded the bright-red trolley cars for their inaugural 15-minute run to downtown. Regular service begins Sunday.

Light rail has become increasingly popular around the country because of its cheaper cost.

“The reason for the recent success of light rail is economics,” said Washington transit consultant Kenneth Orski. “They have lower capital costs--they require no tunneling or expensive overhead structures. In today’s budget climate, that’s highly desirable.”

The state has paid about 85% of the trolley’s construction costs, and the rest has come from local sources.

In California, Sacramento expects to open the first part of an 18.3-mile light rail system about a year from now, while the 21-mile “Guadalupe Corridor” line in Santa Clara County is supposed to open in 1989. The 21-mile line between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles also is scheduled to open in late 1989. And a 17-mile line in the median of the new Century Freeway is expected to be ready when the freeway opens in 1992 or 1993.

Pittsburgh, Pa., Portland, Ore. and three Canadian cities--Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver--also have new light rail lines

Most Successful System

But the San Diego Trolley can lay claim to being the most successful of all, in terms of ridership and cost-effectiveness.

This came about as a result of wise decisions and a bit of luck, according to Mills, the Metropolitan Transportation Development Board chairman and former President Pro Tem of the California Senate.

Mills said in an interview that perhaps the most important decision came about 10 years ago when MTDB dropped a $2.5-billion plan for a highly automated transit system, modeled on the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) in Northern California, and decided on the much cheaper light rail approach instead.

They were prompted to do so by legislation authored by Mills when he was still in the state Senate. Mills anticipated then that the federal government would grow increasingly reluctant to finance 80% to 90% of the construction costs of transit systems. In fact, the Reagan Administration has been attempting to sharply curtail federal transit funds.

“I wanted to put (San Diego) in a position where they had to build something with state funds,” Mills said. “I thought the federal government would never put up 80% of a $2.5-billion project for San Diego.”

Light rail did not receive serious consideration in Los Angeles until the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission began to plan the Long Beach-Los Angeles and Century Freeway lines in the early 1980s.

“Even today, it doesn’t have much social acceptability,” said Paul Taylor, deputy director of the county Transportation Commission. “People remembered that the old Red Cars were always in the way of traffic. It was just assumed that light rail was out.”

The Southern California Rapid Transit District has concentrated on obtaining the money to build an 18-mile subway between downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood. This would serve the congested Wilshire Corridor, where about 200,000 people a day now ride buses.

“Light rail has a place in Los Angeles County and we are doing it in some places,” said RTD President Nikolas Patsaouras. “However, in the regional core, ridership requires a Metro subway. There is no way we could put a trolley line along Wilshire Boulevard.”

However, with the federal government increasingly unwilling to pay its $2-billion-plus share of Metro Rail funding, and no other sources of money appearing, the San Diego light rail decision looks better and better.

The Mills bill also required San Diego to buy cars and other equipment “off the shelf” and not invest in a new, untried system such as BART.

Legislation Criticized

At the time, San Diego elected officials and business leaders criticized the legislation because they wanted a more glamorous transit system. Now, however, said Mills, “Everybody agrees with me--that was a pipe dream and we’ve done the right thing.”

The right of way for the 20.5 miles built so far cost only $18.1 million. The West German-built cars are of a kind that has been in use around the world for many years. The 22 stops have bare-bones stations and there is little in the way of landscaping or other amenities.

“This is a low-frills system,” said General Manager Tom Larwin.

San Diego has been lucky, Mills said, because the route between downtown and the Mexican border “is a fortunate environment for a railroad line--we have a lot of off-hour patronage from tourists and shoppers on their way to Tijuana.”

“Instead of building a full-capacity system that is used only at peak hours on weekdays, we have a line that generates revenue all day long, every day of the week,” he added.

The San Diego Trolley has some disadvantages.

It cannot carry as many passengers as a heavy rail system, and speeds are slower because much of the route is along city streets.

Only six of the 30 cars are air-conditioned--a shortcoming that will become more serious when routes are extended into the warmer parts of eastern San Diego County.

Bus Routes Eliminated

Critics also contend that trolley ridership only looks good because the most heavily used bus routes serving the same area have been eliminated or sharply curtailed.

They also contend that the trolley costs significantly more per passenger than the bus when the cost of new cars and other equipment is included, a point San Diego transit officials do not dispute.

Critics also say the trolley has not reduced traffic congestion so far--to which Mills replies that “congestion is nowhere near as great as it would be if the line weren’t there.”