The Mid-Coast Trolley, which extends through much of San Diego, has been under construction since 2016 and is intended to relieve traffic for citizens in congested areas of San Diego, including University City.

   UC High Sophomore Spencer Anthes stated, “The new trolley will be a good addition to public transportation in University City.”

    “In terms of the trolley just being there; I don’t mind it and I hope that people use it but I don’t think I’m going to be using it to commute since the trolley doesn’t always go everywhere that I want to go,” stated UC High Teacher Aaron Pores.         

   According to the official NBC7 website, “The project is predicted to cost as much as 2.17 billion dollars to construct… and is scheduled for completion by Fall 2021” (nbcsandiego.com).

   The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) predicts that the trolley will help the county’s economy by reducing the need for parking, relieving traffic in congested areas, and making jobs more accessible (nbcsandiego.com).

  The project is also expected to have  directly increased the number of jobs in San Diego, as NBC7 stated, “SANDAG officials say the project will generate over 14,000 jobs during the construction period” (nbcsandiego.com).

   The Mid-Coast Trolley will make activity centers such as Old Town, UC San Diego, and Westfield UTC, more accessible to the public, according to the official SANDAG website (sandag.org).

   SANDAG claims that the trolley is necessary to keep up with the increasing employment and population rates, stating, “The population along the corridor is predicted to increase 19 percent by the year 2030, while employment is predicted to increase 12 percent” (sandag.org).

   According to SANDAG, “Although University City is considered San Diego’s second downtown and UC San Diego is one of the region’s largest trip generators, neither is directly served by regional transit” (sandag.org).

   According to the Mid-Coast corridor website, “The project will connect corridor residents with other Trolley lines serving Mission Valley, East County, and South County” (keepsandiegomoving.com).

   To stress the point of the purpose of this trolley being to connect San Diego, the same website stated, “As an extension of the existing Metropolitan Transit System Trolley Blue Line, the Mid-Coast Trolley will offer a one-seat (no transfer) ride from the international border and communities south of Downtown San Diego all the way to University City” (keepsandiegomoving.com).

   The route of this extension starts “just North of the Old Town Transit Center,” traveling along the I-5 until crossing west of it “just South of Nobel Drive,” before arriving at the center of the UC San Diego campus, and ends at the Westfield UTC Transit Center (keepsandiegomoving.com).