Drive Easy

Public
Transportation in San Diego

There
are over 3,251,000 million people living in San Diego as of today,
though it’s amazing that we live in such a populated city that brings
culture, festivals, and a huge community. However, with such a huge
population brings big issues, such as transportation. In California,
it’s a necessity to have a car if you want to get around places
such as schools since many schools don’t provide bus
transportation, jobs, and leisure activities. By providing residents
in San Diego more opportunities for transportation it can improve the
barrier for distance that many Californians struggle with.

As
the population increases, more opportunities are to come. However,
roads in California are not being built to sustain the huge
population, causing huge traffic jams that California is known for.
These traffic issues can cost residents their job, meetings, sports,
and being late to school. Also, a huge issue that younger residents
have faced are fares for travelling, such as buses, ubers, and
lyfts.In some school districts, the prices of bus tickets just from
to and from school can be up to $250 or $400 per semester. By raising
these fares, students struggle to get to school and even are often
given consequences at school since fast convenient transport is not
always an option for students.

There
are programs such as Elevate SD who volunteer in solving community
problems in San Diego. They advocated for MTS for discounted bus
passes for their monthly pass which is $72 a month and after the
discount for Youth and Senior/Disabled/Medicare, it would be
discounted 50% ($36) and 75% ($18). Another possible project that
relates to this is they are trying to further reduce or free
Youth/Young Adult passes, and Senior, Disabled and Medicare passes,
reduced military passes and also expand pass discount for employers.
MTS has also provided Bus Rapid Transit, which is a faster means of
travel in which there are shorter red lights, longer green lights
and/or jump-starts at intersections. They also are providing
comfortable seating which will be expanded in the near future to fit
more passengers. Elevate SD is also trying to accommodate new routes
and add more Bus Rapid Transits and Rapid routes.