A transportation system to support our livelihoods
San Diego families need and deserve a safe and reliable ride to work, to the store, to the doctor, and to our homes. Public transit supports our freedom to thrive, threading our communities together, and making us one trip away from connection with each other and our livelihoods. With a stronger transit system, we can clean the air–especially in neighborhoods where pollution is most severe, build a healthy community, and a healthy economy together.
Disconnection isolates and weakens San Diego
Our current transit system doesn’t work for our families, economy, health, or environment. It makes it hard for working families to access opportunities, contributes to the climate crisis, and pollutes the air we breathe.
More than 70% of our community members can’t access jobs on public transit. Overall, fast and frequent transit isn’t available for 93% of San Diego’s low-income residents. 80% of MTS riders live south of the 8, and most MTS riders do not have another choice to get to work, and school–78% have no car available.
San Diego has the seventh-worst ozone pollution in the U.S, and EJ communities are disproportionately impacted. Passenger car and light-duty vehicles emissions category is the largest contributor of greenhouse (GHG) emissions in the San Diego region. Now more than ever, we need to protect our health, particularly when it comes to our lungs and our ability to breathe. Transit can reduce lung-damaging pollution. We depend on each other to thrive and stay safe, and that’s magnified in a crisis like the pandemic. COVID-19 has shown us the health of our economy is directly tied to the health of our families and our neighbors. One unexpected bill or ER visit can cause financial ruin, and that’s the last thing anyone wants to face.
Make San Diego stronger by investing in a public transit system that nurtures healthy communities
This is the moment to choose a pathway to our future with both community health and economic vitality in mind. By increasing access to public transit, we will make our lungs less vulnerable to deadly respiratory illness. Transit also makes our economy more resilient, opening pathways to a prosperous, healthy, and sustainable future. To get us where we need to go, we’re turning to San Diego’s 10 Transit Lifelines.
Transit Lifeline 1
A REGIONAL PLAN THAT PRIORITIZES ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: WHEN TRANSPORTATION PROMOTES ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, EVERYONE BENEFITS
TRANSIT LIFELINE 2
YOUTH OPPORTUNITY PASSES: INVEST IN YOUNG PEOPLE
DENISSE, CITY HEIGHTS
Denisse, an 18-year-old student, was forced to choose between buying a book and getting home.
"We have to implement a program for the youth. We need youth opportunity passes that will allow the youth to move around, as they see necessary. That's a basic need for a human to have, and we all need to have transportation."
TRANSIT LIFELINE 3
BUS SERVICE EVERY 10 MINUTES: SET THE STAGE FOR A NEW TRANSIT ERA
TRANSIT LIFELINE 4
BLUE LINE EXPRESS: THE BLUE LINE SHOULD BE THE REGION’S BIGGEST MOVE
NAHOMI, BARRIO LOGAN
Nahomi missed an important doctor’s appointment due to a delay in the Blue Line trolley service.
"We need a Blue Line Express that operates 24 hours so that there’s more access to the trolley and that we can ensure that people get to their important appointments and their places on time."
TRANSIT LIFELINE 5
24-HOUR SERVICE: CONNECT LATE-NIGHT AND EARLY-MORNING WORKERS
TRANSIT LIFELINE 6
THE PURPLE LINE: CONNECT OUR COMMUNITIES TO BOOST ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
TRANSIT LIFELINE 7
AN ALL-ELECTRIC BUS FLEET BY 2030: GOOD AIR QUALITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
TRANSIT LIFELINE 8
ANTI-DISPLACEMENT STRATEGIES: WE ARE HERE TO STAY!
ADRIANA, LEMON GROVE
Increased living costs forced Adriana and her family to move from their home in National City to Lemon Grove, a neighborhood with less public transit options.
"What they need to do is take measures so they don’t increase rent, we need more transit, that they listen to the community, that they listen so that they take those measures and there aren’t so many displaced people."
TRANSIT LIFELINE 9
RESTROOM ACCESS: DIGNITY AND HYGIENE ARE FUNDAMENTAL
TRANSIT LIFELINE 10
EMERGENCY-READY TRANSIT SYSTEM: PROTECT RESIDENTS LIVING NEAR HAZARDOUS SITES DURING DISASTERS
We can build a healthy community with a dependable transit system. It will provide our community with safe transportation, connect us to jobs, protect our health, and strengthen our economy. We need a transit system that serves us while also promoting prosperous sustainable communities for all.
Join the movement
San Diego deserves healthy communities and a healthy economy. It’s time to invest in making public transit equitable and sustainable, to transform San Diego into a model region with a world-class public transit network that works for every San Diegan.
Our fellow transportation and climate justice supporters
Center on Policy Initiatives, City Heights Community Development, Environmental Health Coalition, Mid-City CAN, and San Diego 350. Supporting organizations include Casa Familiar and the Urban Collaborative Project.
Credits:
Photography by Evan Apodaca