jlee

Hello,

I will be spending a weekend in SD in the upcoming weeks. I live in the Los Angeles area and would like your suggestions as to public transportation in SD. My family (2 kids ages 5 and 2) wants to visit SD zoo and Balboa Park, but we would also like to hang out at night in the Gaslamp district too or any areas close to SD Zoo that has fun attractions night life activities for both adults and kids.
What public transportation would you recommend? If train, what would be the train line? Thanks in advance for your input.

mlgb

Are you not bringing a car down?

When I've wanted to avoid parking charges I use Google Maps which has a "transit" directions option (click the bus icon). There is also a function called "Schedule Explorer"

How well transit will work for you depends on your hotel location.

dbdurand

Like LA, San Diego has an online "Trip Planner" that you can use to find a route for where you want go.

https://www.sdmts.com/schedules-real-time/trip-planner

nanabee

Buses are pretty much your only choice. If you stay in the Gaslamp or downtown area you can catch city buses to the zoo and Balboa Park, the Midway Museum and a ferry boat over to Coronado.

Buses unfortunately are not efficient here so waiting will eat up a bit of your time during the day.

nanabee

For example to take the bus from La Jolla to downtown San Diego by bus takes 60 min. By car/taxi is 25 min.

You'll probably sit at the bus stop for a while too just waiting especially on any route where you have to transfer.

The trolley runs through downtown and is good for going to Mission Valley to to shopping malls.

doug_stallings

If you want to rely on something other than a car in San Diego, the best place to base yourself is the Gaslamp Quarter or at least the larger downtown area. Yes, there are buses and trolleys, but they aren't so tourist-friendly, and they are slow.

Uber (or Lyft) is going to be one of your best resources. For four people, I suspect most rides on Uber are going to be about the same cost as public transit unless you are going to someplace further out like La Jolla, which might be $50 or more (or $30 or $35 by Uber or Lyft). The good thing about basing yourself downtown is that the transit center is there, so you can actually catch a city bus to La Jolla or elsewhere for a fraction of the cost so long as you are willing to spend an hour or more getting there. So it's a trade-off.

If you're in LA, though, I would just drive. Most hotels charge for parking but offer in-out privileges.

MichelleY

With young kids, I would take my own car. That way, the kids will have their safety seats.

jlee

Thanks so much for your advises. I think you are right about safety seats for my kids. I'll just drive.