County Mass Transit Sees End of Tunnel

After a sometimes maddening two-year delay--during which smog-producing cars increasingly jammed onto freeways--the future of mass transit rail service for San Diego County was finally assured Thursday.

Rough negotiations between the Santa Fe Railway Co. and regional transportation officials at last produced an agreement to buy 82 miles of local railroad right of way and tracks that is expected to result in thousands of commuters, students, shoppers and recreation-seekers forsaking their cars for alternative rail service.

Commenting on the long and tortuous haggling with Santa Fe, a relieved Carlsbad Mayor Pro Tem Ann Kulchin commented when the deal was announced Thursday, “We’ve gotten to the end of the tunnel.”

What happens next is bidding on and testing rail cars and building the stations. Transportation officials say commuter rail service will begin between Oceanside and San Diego by autumn of 1994. A light rail “trolley” route will start up between Oceanside and Escondido by 1999.

In a county with a state-declared severe air quality problem, the Oceanside-San Diego commuter rail is predicted to carry 3,500 riders daily when service begins. The number of commuters is expected to reach 10,000 a day by the year 2010.

The light rail service is expected to carry a different kind of rider: far fewer people going to jobs, but many heading for Cal State San Marcos, major regional shopping malls in Oceanside, Escondido, and other destinations. About 17,000 riders a day are anticipated when the service begins. There is no long-term estimate of light rail patronage.

Traditionally, most San Diego commuters have spurned car-pooling and remained loyal to their cars. To the despair of transit planners, data from the latest census showed that 71% of commuters drove alone to work in 1990, up from 64% in 1980. Such solo commuters are considered major contributors to air pollution.

However, transit officials Thursday were confident that commuter rail will successfully compete with the car in cost, travel time and safety.

“We’ll beat the car,” said Paul Price, director of service development for the North County Transportation District, which will operate both commuter rail and light rail systems.

He said a round trip from Oceanside to San Diego will cost about $6, and the peak hour trek will take 52 minutes. The trip downtown will be cheaper and quicker from communities closer to San Diego. Nine commuter rail stations are planned or exist along the coastal route. A special platform will allow direct service from North County to the downtown Convention Center area.

At first, the double-decker commuter trains will make four round trips a day during peak hours, with each car carrying 160 passengers. Transit authorities plan to hook up 10 cars per train, and Price said one train can convey as many people as an additional freeway lane.

Although millions of dollars will be spent to repair and improve highways, the county’s continuing population growth has already clogged some freeways and left the county no choice but to provide mass transit rail service.

“We’ve got a freeway system that’s built out with no expansion capacity left,” said Mike Zdon, a senior planner with the San Diego Assn. of Governments, a regional planning agency.

San Diego County is expected to grow to 3.1 million people by year 2010, almost a million more than now, and two-thirds of the growth will occur north of Interstate 8. That means the bulk of North County’s work force will continue to commute to employment downtown.

The commuter rail cars will be heavy and fast, but the light rail cars will look like trolleys and travel more slowly--averaging 30 m.p.h.--in order to stop more frequently along the Oceanside-Escondido route. Seventeen stations are planned, from the Oceanside Transit Center to North County Fair shopping mall in Escondido.

Despite the ambitious projects, there’s a big missing link in the rail system--along Interstate 15 from Escondido to San Diego.

Former state Sen. Jim Mills, chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, said studies are being made to determine whether that link would be best served by rail or express buses. However, new funding will be needed if rail service is the chosen alternative.

Proposed Light Rail 1. Oceanside Transit Center 2. Oceanside Boulevard 3. Crouch Street 4. El Camino 5. Rancho Del Oro 6. College Boulevard 7. Melrose Drive 8. Vista Transit Center 9. Escondido Avenue 10. Sycamore Avenue 11. Palomar College 12. San Marcos Civic Center 13. California State University 14. Nordahl Road 15. Escondido Transit Center 16. Felicita Station 17. North County Fair

Commuter Rail 1. Oceanside Transit Center 2. Carlsbad Village Transit Center 3. Poinsettia Station 4. Encinitas Transit Center 5. Solana Beach Station 6. Sorrento Valley Station 7. Miramar Road Station 8. Old Town Station 9. Santa Fe Station 10. Convention Center Platform