Public Service Announcement
By David Garrick / SD U-T/ April 28, 2024
Ridership is surging on a free airport shuttle from the Old Town Transit Center, showing growing local demand for the more direct airport-transit connection that regional planners have been studying for years.
Despite no marketing campaign and minimal promotion, annual ridership rose by 73 percent on the shuttle from 2022 to 2023 — 75,680 passenger trips in 2022 versus 130,912 passenger trips in 2023.
And that momentum has continued into 2024, with trips in January 2024 more than 57 percent higher than January 2023 — and even larger increases when this February and March are compared to the same months in 2023.
The nearly 800 average trips per day represent only a tiny fraction of the 40,000 to 50,000 passengers who use San Diego International Airport in a typical day.
But that has risen steadily from an average of fewer than 100 trips per day when the Airport Authority launched the shuttle in November 2021. And riders interviewed last week said they intend to spread the word.
“I thought it would take a long time, but it’s actually very smooth and very quick,” said Angelica Ramos, who was using the shuttle for the second time Wednesday. “Usually it’s there when I come out of the airport, and if it’s not, it takes about five minutes (to arrive).”
The shuttle, formally called the San Diego Flyer, also saves people money. Depending on time of day and other factors, Uber and Lyft can charge roughly $20 for the 4-mile trip from Old Town Transit Center to the airport.
If a passenger chooses to use Uber or Lyft from their home instead of taking transit to Old Town, or to park their own car at the airport, the cost can be significantly more. Taking the trolley or bus to Old Town and then using the airport shuttle costs $2.50 in total.
“I’m always pro public transit, but I love saving money too,” said La Jolla resident Maia Kirkegaard, who took the free shuttle for the first time last week. “It’s just $2.50 — the cost of a trolley ride.”
The cost is a bit higher for Molly Williams, a Kansas City resident who frequently visits her long-distance boyfriend in North County. She takes the airport shuttle to Old Town and catches a Coaster train, which costs $6.50.
Because the Airport Authority doesn’t promote or market the shuttle, most riders say they heard about it through word of mouth. There are no posters in the airport advertising the shuttle, and signage is minimal at both the airport and the Old Town Transit Center.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This is great to hear, but this systems can still be improved.
First thing is to get travel times down to every 15 to 20 minutes, with four busses this is doable. They need put up screens at each stop providing the ETA of the next shuttle. This can be done in real time just like the messages you get providing an Uber pick up ETA. This will help people know immediately how long their wait will be. As it stands now, you arrive and you wait and hope the shuttle is coming.
I hope it expands based on need and not get trapped by an expensive trolley extention going only to the airport for more money to pay for it.
I’ve said from the beginning that, rather than commit to a $4 Billion people mover or trolley extension, run a free shuttle from the Old Town trolley station to the airport to see if there is actually a market for this service. I say this in the context of the two existing rail transit services to airports in California (SFO and OAK) losing ridership on their airport extensions even prior to the pandemic. Why spend billions when we don’t know if anyone will ride it?
It seems to be somewhat popular, but it works out to be only about 2% of airport bound passengers are using the shuttle. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure that the numbers Mr. Garrick reported are correct. I hope the numbers will grow, but who knows?
I would also point out that at the current cost of operating the shuttle, the airport could keep in going for over three thousand years at the rate of $1.2 million per year. Of course, expanding service would cost more, but…
I should have been a little clearer in my previous comment. At the cost of $1.2 Million per year, the proposed $4 Billion trolley/people mover would pay for the shuttle for over 3,000 years. Even if expanded service ended up costing ten times as much, it would still pay for 300 years of shuttle service.