Free shuttle buses began ferrying passengers between the San Diego International Airport and the Old Town Transit Center this week in a bid to alleviate the longstanding need for public transport to and from the airport.
Six shuttles will run seven days a week from about 4:45 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. each day, stopping at Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and the transit center. These buses will come and go every 20 to 30 minutes on a schedule synced up with the trolley, Metropolitan Transit System buses, and Coaster and Amtrak trains that routinely drop off passengers at the Old Town Transit Center. The electric shuttles shouldn’t be hard to spot, as they bear plane images along their sides, an airport logo and the word “Flyer” in orange.
“The San Diego Flyer will provide a seamless connection between the airport and the Old Town Transit Center,” said Kimberly Becker, CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “This is one of the many ways the Airport Authority is working to improve passenger access to SAN (the airport) and we hope passengers coming or going from the airport will take advantage of this complimentary service.”
But things got off to a slow start on Sunday. Only 29 passengers took the shuttles, according to Airport Authority spokesperson Sabrina LoPiccolo. She added that the agency expects usage to pick up with Thanksgiving just days away.
The shuttle program is a short-term and partial fix for a deep and long-running problem: San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the United States, doesn’t have a mass transit system that connects to its main airport.
In 2019, the airport served more than 25 million passengers. While travel has dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been gradually rebounding and is eventually expected to return to pre-pandemic levels as business and international travel gradually pick up. In the meantime, the Airport Authority started construction this month on its $3 billion expansion and overhaul of Terminal 1.
The California Coastal Commission approved the project in September after the Airport Authority promised it would launch the free shuttle line.
In the long run, the Airport Authority, San Diego Association of Governments and San Diego Metropolitan Transit System are working on a high-speed transit connection to Terminals 1 and 2. The Coastal Commission is requiring that the airport specify where it will locate its onsite transit station, which will generally be on the west side of the Terminal 1 parking structure. The Airport Authority has obliged, setting aside space for a station that could easily serve both terminals.
For additional information about the Flyer shuttles, visit the public transportation page of the San Diego International Airport’s website, www.san.org, or call 619-694-7427.
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November 23, 2021 at 09:30AM
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