San Diego Transit
 

Yesterday I posted a thread of pictures from San Diego. Here is part 2, focusing on transit.

As I noted in the other thread, I began my tour at Santa Fe station:







The main waiting room:



The track area is to the side of the station and is uncovered. It's served by three different types of trains, all of which you can see in this picture. From left to right, light rail, Coaster commuter rail, and Amtrak.



The light rail tracks, sans train:


Most of the platforms have simple sheds for cover, but the far platform (used only by Amtrak) has a pergola. What a good idea.



The Coaster train is operated by North County Transit District and goes to Oceanside.





Amtrak trains come and go approximately hourly. San Diego is the southern terminal of the Pacific Surfliner, Amtrak's busiest route outside of the Northeast corridor.









I am a big fan of the simple bright red livery on the light rail. It is so much more eye-catching and classic than any stripe-on-a-white-background.





This is the main downtown station. I like it. They did a good job of making an otherwise normal street station look much more substantial and important.





They have obviously purchased railcars in three batches, since there are three different varieties. All are produced by Siemens and are relatively common vehicles seen around other cities in North America.

So far I've been primarily picturing the oldest of the three varieties, the U2 model. It's also used in Edmonton and Calgary, and is the oldest modern (as opposed to pre-war vintage) light rail train operating in North America. Here is another picture:



The second model is the SD-100, which is probably the most heavily-used LRT vehicle in North America. You see this same train (or almost identical models) in Baltimore, Denver, Salt Lake, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, Portland, Sacramento, Edmonton and Calgary.



The third model is the most recent, and seems to be the current vehicle of choice for North America. It is the S70, and is also used in Houston, Charlotte and Portland. You will soon see them operating in Norfolk and Salt Lake City.







Most of the stations aren't so grand, but rather are more typical street-side stops:







Inside one of the old U2 models:



I am a fan of the bus livery as well:





I didn't ride the bus and don't know if the service is decent or not, but I do like the route maps they have at major transit centers. We have something like this at every Metro station in DC too, but ours are much more geographic and less diagrammatic.



The Greyhound station does not look very nice. There's a shocker.



The downtown transit store, where you can pick up schedules and (presumably) buy tickets. In DC we call these Commuter Stores (there are lots of them in Arlington, and a handful elsewhere).


Taxis in San Diego, much like taxis in DC, appear to lack any rhyme or reason in color scheme.


This is the Sprinter train, operated by the same North County agency that operates the Coaster. It doesn't go to San Deigo, but runs between Oceanside and Escondido. I spent time in Escondido and wandered to the station to see the train.









North County buses are called "The Breeze".



Finally, last but not least, a much better way to travel:

Not bad.

SD transit porn :slob: Love it.

FYI, the One America Plaza LRT station you liked was designed by Helmut Jahn as part of the attached office tower project.

Best SD transit photo thread I've seen in quite awhile.

Now if the Sprinter and Trolley can connect via transit station in Santee I'd be one happy camper.:cool:

Nice thread!

Some of those photos in this thread kinda reminded me of Vancouver. Like San Diego was a tropical version of Vancouver.

Anyways, didn't San Diego have the first modern light rail in the USA? I know it was shortly after Edmonton, which was the first in NA.

And thanks for pointing that out about the new trains, I wouldn't have noticed, but yeah, they look exactly the same in shape to the new Portland MAX's. Kinda reminds me of the new Edmonton and Calgary cars. They are the same Siemens SD160s, but one has blue colors, the other red :). And I never noticed San Diego has the same old U2 trains as we (& Calgary) do. We're slowly going to be replacing them over 10+ yrs.

And my...does every city have those New Flyer Buses??

I like this thread! Now if only San Diego would expand their system more. I don't think they're actively planning expansion at this time. It would be nice to see a LRT line connecting Hillcrest and downtown.

Its the only SD transit photo thread I've ever seen. hahaha.

And great job again!

I'm going to miss the old U2's. They are my favorite of the three, even though it takes forever and a day to get a wheelchair on and off...

Beautiful thread I love it. Just to add a bit of information about the local commuter rail. A passenger has the option of connecting to L.A.'s commuter rail (Metrolink) at the Oceanside station and go directly into downtown L.A. Union Station. But one of course also can just take Amtrak as well.




And I thought I knew San Diego transit very well, being that I live less than two hours away and visit sometimes. I never knew about the Sprinter trains, I really like their cars.

the old U2's are also my favorite LRV, them and DART's units and also the new Breda ones in LA that are stainless steel. Something clean and classic about them lacking in the sleek but overly complex and plastic-looking designs of modern trains.

Of course that's only aesthetics, what matters more is usability such as the wheelchair thing, and on that end the newer ones are better and more advanced.

wow, I'm talking about fucking transit vehicles here. What the hell is wrong with me:haha:

the old U2's are also my favorite LRV, them and DART's units and also the new Breda ones in LA that are stainless steel. Something clean and classic about them lacking in the sleek but overly complex and plastic-looking designs of modern trains. Of course that's only aesthetics, what matters more is usability such as the wheelchair thing, and on that end the newer ones are better and more advanced.

wow, I'm talking about f'ing transit vehicles here. What the hell is wrong with me:haha:

Nice pictures and information.

Agreed. The U2s are classic in a way the sleeker new cars just aren't.

I think the S70s are good-looking too, but for different reasons. On the other hand I don't care for the SD100s at all; very ugly, IMO.

Those red trains are sweet. Thanks for sharing.

Wow this room has great scale and intamacy:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2679/...de5e10d9_b.jpg

Great thread! I too have always had a thing for those bright red trains!

Great thread! I was unaware and surprised to find out about the Sprinter line between Oceanside and Escondito. Such a strange connection... I wonder if has anything to do with Camp Pendleton?

More so I think because the train follows a very heavily traveled freeway and transit corner. Many people commute inter North County and never enter SD. Great thread!

I always thought that North Park should have a LR line on either University or El Cajon blvd. Seems like the densely settle area is prime for LRT.

It has nothing really to do with Pendleton. The last train stop in the west is downtown Oceanside, and that's a ways from the front gate of the base.

The highway 78 corridor is incredibly busy and a track system had already paralleled it when they proposed the Sprinter. There are 4 large cities along its route, all of them 80K+ (Oceanside and Escondido are at least 100K+ and at each end of the system). Add to the fact you have two large community colleges and a state university, then you've got the potential for LRT in North County.

It is an interesting system, not too popular now, but it has time to grow. They are using smart growth ideas around the stations to create denser infill projects in each city.

We'll just have to see if it works.