MTS – Metropolitan Transit System

If I could give a rating in negatives numbers I would. Some of your employees are incompetent. My experience on the Green Line was horrible today. Leaving Santee bound to 12^th & Imperial. Communication breakdown, a delay that caused a 40 minute delay. San Diego Transit needs to learn from cities such as New York, Chicago & Washington D. C! MTS SUCKS!!!

To my amazement, the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is relatively efficient public transportation system in San Diego. They operate buses and trolley within the San Diego vicinity. If you work in downtown, there are so many routes leading into downtown. Not only that, you can check in real time where your bus is at since they track their buses via GPS. A monthly pass is $ 72. However, if you don’t have a monthly pass, it costs approximately $ 2.25 for a one way ticket. It may be a little rough riding the bus in San Diego with the interesting characters that use public transportation, but it does get you from point A to B consistently.

Perhaps the 7^th time I’m heading downtown via 150 Downtown Express and the 2 to 14^th street. I decide to head out early and wait in the rain for the 150 scheduled for 9:30. I’m waiting for 10 minutes, and a bus shoots by me, «OUT OF SERVICE.»
I think to myself, why that’s alright, I can catch the next one. Cold wind and rain at a stop which has no canopy or directions or seating.
40 minutes later, another bus with the same markings splashes by, «OUT OF SERVICE.»
I have a place to be, and I am determined to get there. Soon enough, a 150 stops, doors swing open and a shrill, retired voice asks me if I have a ticket.
This is the biggest joke I have ever witnessed. Unpredictable, rude, and unpleasant overall. Public transit will cost you more than a monthly to yearly fee. It will cost you your integrity, your ability to say to another person that you will be there on time.

Talking and hr just for the 875… while other buses have come through twice. Pisses me off every time I use MTS.

We were docked for the day at the cruise ship port and we wanted to see as much of the city as possible. Someone suggested that we ride the Trolly from one end to the other for $ 5. It was a great ride and gave us some really good views all the way down to the bridge.

I have been riding the trolley since September and I must say sometimes it’s scary as h – l! The 3-​zone pass cost 165 dollars and I’m sure there are many who bought the pass I carry… is some of the money going toward security???
I’ve seen drug deals and an extreme amount of crazies bothering passengers all the time! The straw that broke the camels back was seeing a guy get beat up by a random homeless crazy man! I was stuck in my seat forced to view this because he was blocking my escape! Honestly, why isn’t there security on the trolleys in the morning and during after work rush hours?!? Please do something about the security of the passengers, please!!!

MTS is by far the worst public transportation system I have ever experienced.
The trolleys are always late and they don’t care about their customers only about making money. The transportation system is incredibly inefficient. I highly would not recommend the MTS transit system as your main means of transportation.
Their Security Guards makes people feel uncomfortable base on their approach. They think they are cops which they are not.

It was our first time taking the trolley from Qualcomm back to Fashion Valley mall. The trains were frequent but super packed. I was surprised at how clean they were. I happen to work for Metro in Los Angeles and our trains don’t look that nice.
I only found out after I purchased my tickets that I could have purchased them on the phone and saved myself the wait in line, but now I know for next time.

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
Wonderful Experience! We took Amtrak to San Diego and used the transit system to see all the attractions. First of all I ordered a Compass Card with a 4 day pass online, so we traveled everywhere for 4 days for only $ 17! (includes $ 2 for the card itself) You can purchase these cards at most trolley stations too. Right from the Amtrak station we got on the trolley to a trolley station nearest our motel. The pass is good for buses too, so if the trolley does not get you where you want to go, you can transfer to a bus. San Diego is a beautiful place and SDMTS makes it easy to see the sites.

I was stranded & needed a ride when my car broke down. All I did was just call the phone # or text the # on the bus stop sign & they’ll tell you how soon the next bus will come. For $ 2.25 MTS saved me from walking a few miles in the HOT August sun. Thanks MTS.

I’ve used the transit as a visitor here several times. For what the drivers get paid, you’d think they’d be at least vaguely friendly. Nope. We just had a smug trolley driver give us a sarcastic answer before he left us behind as we clearly were struggling with the fare machine. In other cities, transit employees have been helpful, maybe even smiling when you ask a question. Apparently not at MTS. Next time I’ll rent a car and save the money and the sarcasm.

If your destination is lucky enough to be near a route it’s not too bad. I’m sure their are worse transportation systems in other cities. Good for trips to the Q, Downtown, Petco & Balboa park
If I’m out and about on a Sat night and the routes line up I’ll bus it. Not paying 15 dollars to über.

While the busses /​trolley are modern and clean, the fare system is … I just don’t get it. After moving here from Toronto, I can see why people drive everywhere.
No bus transfers?
Your compass card can’t be refilled on a bus, and when done online or over the phone, it takes 1 – 3 days.
You can refill the card at trolley stations, but then you need to pay for a bus there and THEN put money on the card.
You can refill at Albertsons… of which there are 1 in San Diego city proper.
Kudos for MTS for not runnning a deficit year after year, but I just can’t justify myself taking this system anywhere — unfortunate.

That’s it. I was just kicked off the number (2311) 3 bus for… get this making the driver «feel unsafe».
Hey driver have you seen the spill all over the entire floor? The reason why my steps were cautious.
I hate you people who are stupid.
It doesn’t matter. You always treat me like crap and blame me!

Its a mass transit people !!! Ever ride the metro in Los Angeles now that is a messed up service all around. I have been from coast to coast and San Diego’s transit system is pretty damn good considering how big the city is. You can basically go anywhere on the trolley and if not u got the bus. I must admit though the transit security is pretty annoying exp when its 6 am and your trying to take a quick nap on the way to work and you hear tickets please!!! Other than that the system they got is pretty solid overall. Now I’m sure a lot of people can agree with me.

MTS is by far the worst public transportation system I have ever experienced.
Beside their schedule being the worst, their ways of handling the masses It’s incredibly inefficient, and their ticket purchase system is definitely not practical.
Some locations apply:
— No bus during the weekends, I guess this works because «nobody works» during the weekends every business is close
— The bus drives drive at 60mph on a 45mph zone
— Their stops are 45 minutes to an hours apart
— Some bus lines stop at 5pm, are you kidding me!
— Some people have to walk hours to get to a bus stop on top of that let’s including the SD heat. I can’t imagine how people do this without requesting otherwise
The trolley officers are constantly checking people for tickets even when their not anywhere near the door of a bus or a trolley.
— The trolley smells horrible
— The ticket machines often take your money
— Who knows how fast it goes because I can never fell it moving.
It takes min 2 hrs to get anywhere in SD
Constructive Criticism, NP

First time taking the Rapid during new years eve San Diego break! It was an awesome experience and I was not expecting the punctuality, cleanliness, courtesy and, yes, no weirdos during my trip! I confess taking the bus in San Diego was not in my plans, but ‘ubering’ to 4SRanch to see the Italian friends who were inviting me for a stupendous Sicilian post New Year’s lunch was a too expensive option. I was staying in downtown and the friend hosting me convinced me to take the Rapid (I thought this line was only active during the week but Saturdays too, only different schedule).
I took the bus from Broadway across from the trolley station/​Smartcorner building and in less than an hour I arrived to the Rancho Bernardo main bus stop. Only a few stops on the way and it was very pleasant. The bus was very new and seats very comfortable. Still, you always need a car or someone to pick you up to the final destination as nothing is designed here to go places by bus only. Good experience, very safe.

Public mass transit. Always testing my social and microbial phobias. I’m not a full blown germaphobe since I don’t carry personal antibacterial gel or a filter mask, but a lack of basic hygiene skeeves me out. I’ve had the displeasure of riding a packed subway car with the inescapable odor of involuntary fluid spills.
The MTS Blue Line was our round trip party train between Petco Park in downtown San Diego and the international border into Tijuana, Mexico. Trains left regularly throughout the day and security made their rounds checking tickets after the trolley left the station. A day pass is $ 5 and the last trains usually depart near midnight, so have a backup plan if your carriage turns into a pumpkin, Snow White.
Although San Diego’s MTS isn’t the most complex or extensive when compared to other major metropolitan cities, the trolley (along with the Coaster train and local bus lines) does a pretty good job of connecting downtown to the East County and South Bay areas allowing access to some of the city’s popular venues and helping to ease traffic, congestion, and pollution.
It’s faster than walking.

I don’t give very many listings a 1 star review, but MTS is pretty terrible. Reason being dependability. Buses and trains don’t arrive on time. In one instance, a bus completely did not show up and I was waiting a whole hour.
It was the worst case possible since I was trying to get to Old Town to take a Coaster train up north to Oceanside and then a Metrolink train onward to the OC. I totally missed it and ended up having to take an Amtrak.
The Trolley system is a bit better than the buses since they are more dependable to show up when they are supposed to, but the transit cops are a bit over aggressive. There are transit cops in Seattle on Sound Transit trains, but not as rabid and ticket happy as the ones in SD.
If you are taking MTS, make sure to give yourself sufficient time to get where you need to. I would not even look at the schedules. I would just text the number on the MTS stop sign to see when the next bus is arriving.

The new Rapid 235 service between Escondido and downtown San Diego mostly lives up to its billing, though a «trolley on rubber tires» is a stretch.
But it delivers on the most important aspects of the new service:
— It’s fast, faster than a trolley, and significantly faster than the service it replaced.
— Service frequency is excellent (every 30 minutes for normal MTS hours 7 days a week, every 15 minutes during peak weekday hours).
— Reliability — It’s been so continually punctual that you could literally set your watch by the arrival and departure times at each stop.
Where it’s not quite a trolley equivalent:
— It’s not as quiet, especially at freeway speeds.
— Even with well-​padded seats compared to regular MTS buses, the ride is somewhat rough on some freeway sections with a noticeable vibration in some seats, especially in the middle and front with less in the back.
With this new faster service, and a one bus connection, I can now commute from home to work in Rancho Bernardo in less than 90 minutes each way and sometimes in 75 minutes, including a short walk at each end. The previous service would have taken up to 2.5 hours each way which meant it simply wasn’t a viable option. And the cost of the monthly pass is less than the cost of gas I would spend just for commuting each month.