Old Town Transit Center, also known as San Diego–Old Town station, or Old Town San Diego station, is an intermodal transportation station in the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

neighborhood of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. It is served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's '' Pacific Surfliner'', the COASTER commuter rail service, and the San Diego Trolley, as well as numerous

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is a public transit service provider for San Diego County, California. The agency operates a transit system that includes the San Diego MTS bus system, San Diego Trolley, and Rapid (San Diego), Rap ...

bus lines. The station is located at the intersection of Rosecrans Street/Taylor Street and Pacific Highway, adjacent to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park and the freeway intersection of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

and Interstate 8. It is also located about two miles southeast of

SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego is a theme park in Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California. It is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, public aquarium, and marine animal rehabilitation center. SeaWorld, the theme park's proprietor, is owned and operated by Un ...

and Mission Bay, providing access to the northernmost beaches in the city of San Diego. Free parking (Park & Ride) for up to 24-hours is available in the Transit Center lots.

History

Old Town Transit Center was built in the early 1990s, and the San Diego Trolley's North/South Line (known until then as the South Line) was extended here on June 16, 1996. In November 1997, the line, renamed the Blue Line, was extended into Mission Valley. When the Green Line service was introduced with the opening of the Mission Valley East extension on July 10, 2005, the Blue Line's northern terminus was pushed back to this station, which also served as the Green Line's western terminus. During a system redesign on September 2, 2012, as part of the Trolley Renewal Project, MTS extended the western terminus of the Green Line from this station to 12th & Imperial Bayside Terminal and shortened the Blue Line's northern terminus to America Plaza. The Special Event Line was eliminated; and instead, the Green Line added cars and offer more frequent service to the San Diego Convention Center, Petco Park,

Snapdragon Stadium Snapdragon Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California, located on the campus of San Diego State University (SDSU). It is the home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team of the Mountain West Conference (MW), San Diego FC o ...

, and Viejas Arena when necessary. As part of the Mid Coast Trolley Project, on November 21, 2021, the Blue Line returned to service the Old Town station. The Blue Line provides access to places such as the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, Jacobs Medical Center, Westfield UTC, and the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

in San Ysidro.

Service

Commuter and intercity rail

The Old Town Transit Center hosts passenger trains operating on

's '' Pacific Surfliner'' intercity rail route and on the COASTER commuter rail service. Of the 22 weekday

''Pacific Surfliner'' trains operating in San Diego, 18 of them stop at the Old Town Transit Center, though the Surfliner trains operating at Old Town do not offer checked luggage service, and stop at Old Town to board passengers (northbound trains) or detrain passengers (southbound trains) only, respectively. Amtrak ridership at Old Town Transit Center has exploded between Fiscal Year 2011 and 2013. In Fiscal Year 2011, there were just 22,867 boardings and detrainings at Old Town (which was a 5.79% increase over Fiscal Year 2010). In Fiscal Year 2012, boardings and detrainings at Old Town rose to 61,118, a 167% increase over FY2011. As of Fiscal Year 2013, the Amtrak ridership figure has continued to rise, to 135,749 boardings and detrainings, a further 122% increase over FY2012. (There has been a corresponding decrease in Amtrak boardings at Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego over this same period, possibly indicating that some Amtrak boardings have been relocating from Santa Fe Depot to Old Town over the past two years.) Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, the Old Town Transit Center was the 25th-busiest in Fiscal Year 2013, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 372 passengers daily.

San Diego Trolley

Old Town Transit Center is also a light rail station on the San Diego Trolley's Green Line. This station originally served as that line's terminus, until a system realignment in September 2012 extended the Green Line though Old Town to downtown San Diego. The Trolley's Mid-Coast extension that was completed in November 2021 extends to serve the University City area.

Bus service

Old Town also operates as a bus transit center for

's routes 8, 9, 10, 28, 30, 35, 44, 83, 88, and 105. There is an underground pedestrian tunnel linking bus terminals on both sides of the station with the trolley/train areas. The station is also served by San Diego International Airport's San Diego Flyer shuttle which operates every 20 to 30 minutes between the Old Town Transit Center, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The station also sees service from UC San Diego's Triton Transit Hillcrest Express, which connects passengers with the UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest,

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

shuttles, and FlixBus intercity motorcoaches.

Station layout

There are four tracks; two tracks are designated for the San Diego Trolley services, while the other two tracks are used for COASTER, Amtrak, and BNSF freight service.

References

External links

COASTER StationsOld Town Transit Center – SDMTS
* ttp://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=663 Old Town San Diego State Historic Park (California State Parks) {{Amtrak California stations Amtrak stations in San Diego County, California Blue Line (San Diego Trolley) Green Line (San Diego Trolley) North County Transit District stations San Diego Trolley stations in San Diego Transit centers in the United States Bus stations in San Diego County, California Railway stations in San Diego 1994 establishments in California