A history of the San Diego light rail system

What is it about?

This article provides a history of San Diego's switch from rail to bus transit, and the subsequent history of San Diego's path back to light rail transportation. It synthesizes primary and secondary sources from the first regional transit plan to the opening of the new light rail to the border with Mexico, and critically examines the attention to the binational nature of the region in the transit planning process.

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Why is it important?

It documents the history of an important project in transportation planning history -- the "San Diego Trolley" was one of the earliest post-WWII light rail projects in North America, and made ripples across the globe for being delivered on time and under budget, without Federal dollars. It provided a model for other projects to follow. Yet simultaneously, this project was planned with insufficient attention to the binational nature of the region -- by far the busiest station in the system when it launched was the station just a few hundred feet from the border, yet Mexican agencies were not deeply involved in the planning process. Improving transit connections and moving people efficiently across the border at this, the busiest land crossing in the world, continues to be a challenge to this day.