The Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) operates bus service to large portions of the county, although service in many areas is sparse and infrequent. The weakest points in the transit system are suburb-to-suburb travel and poor links between some of the individual coastal communities, both of which often require long trips to one of the transit hubs, then back out. If you will be mainly in the areas around downtown, the bus may be suitable, but service generally gets weaker the farther you are from the central area.
There is bus service every 15 minutes or so (at least on weekdays) between Downtown San Diego and a number of destinations useful to tourists. These include the Airport, the Zoo, and neighborhoods such as Hillcrest, North Park, and La Jolla (about an hour ride). There is frequent service to Sea World from the Old Town Transit Center, where the trolley stops. Service from Downtown to Coronado and Ocean Beach is about once every 30 minutes.
The fare is $2.25 for local/neighborhood routes, $2.25 for urban routes, and $2.50 for express routes. Transfers are not available. Day passes (which also include rides on the Trolley and a $2 discount on Coaster fares) cost $5. All downtown buses intersect with Broadway at some point. During the day all kinds of people will be taking the bus. At night some people might feel a little less comfortable, but generally not unsafe on the main parts of downtown. The MTS has offices in downtown, on Broadway.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about San Diego
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San Diego Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
