If your New Year’s resolution was to complete my epic transit journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles popularized by Joe Eskenazi’s SF Weekly cover story, you might want to instead dust off your passport and be the first to complete this international public transit trip of more than 550 miles from San Francisco to Mexico via Los Angeles and San Diego.
The North County Coaster is one of more than a dozen transit services used in our S.F. to Mexico itinerary.
Journeying between the northern and southern halves of California using an interconnecting mishmash of public transit agencies was a dream that only became feasible in 2010 with the introduction of two new bus lines by Monterey-Salinas Transit connecting Salinas and Fort Hunter Liggett to Paso Robles. Before the new service was introduced, there was no service between King City and Paso making the trip impossible without including Greyhound or Amtrak.
If you don’t want to do the trip and find out for yourself, here it is by the numbers: this journey from San Francisco to Mexico costs $64.25. You travel on six local trains and 12 local buses operated by 10 different local transit agencies. From the first Muni ride until you reach San Ysidro Trolley Station, you make 17 transfers and are traveling for 49 hours including layovers. Without the layovers, you are on buses or trains for a total of approximately 18 hours and 31 minutes.
Without further ado, here is the extensive itinerary to travel from San Francisco to Mexico on local public transit. For this to work, day one must be between Monday and Thursday and day two must be between Tuesday and Friday – neither day should be a holiday. All times and fares are based on published information as of January 16th, 2012, and may be subject to service changes by the operators or travel conditions that might cause you to miss a transfer.
Day 1: San Francisco to Santa Maria
First leg: San Francisco to King City with four transfers for $20.75
Operators used: Muni, Caltrain, & Monterey-Salinas Transit
This leg of the trip is perhaps the least stressful with comfortable layovers between buses, and the relatively frequent transit of the Bay Area means that a missed connection might not necessarily doom your trip.
5:41 am: From Powell Muni Metro Station near Union Square, take the inbound N-Judah train to 4th and King. Arrive at 4th and King streets at 5:54 am. Fare: $2.00.
6:11 am: From the Caltrain Depot also at 4th and King streets, board southbound Caltrain 206 Limited to San Jose. Arrive at San Jose Diridon Station at 7:24 am. Fare: $8.75.
7:55 am: From the bus terminal bays in front of Diridon Station, board MST’s 55-Monterey Express bus. Arrive at the Prunedale Park & Ride lot at 9:22 am. Fare: $10 for MST Day Pass on commuter routes.
10:02 am: From the Park & Ride bus stop, board MST’s 29-Salinas bus. Arrive at the Salinas Transit Center at 10:35 am. Fare: use MST Day Pass.
10:45 am: From the Salinas Transit Center, board MST’s 23-King City bus. Arrive at King City’s Mee Memorial Hospital at 12:18 pm. With nearly four hours until your next transfer, you can visit the nearby King City Shopping Center or the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds. If you’re having second thoughts about this journey, you can shop for a used car at the nearby South Valley Auto Plaza. Fare: use MST Day Pass.
Monterey-Salinas Transit is a workhorse of a transit agency that made this long-haul trip possible. Photo by Richard Masoner on Flickr.
Second leg: King City to Santa Maria with three transfers for $5.00
Operators used: MST & San Luis Obispo RTA
If your trip breaks down due to a missed connection, it will most likely be on this particularly precarious leg of the journey. These routes only offer a handful of trips per day and missing any one of the connections could leave you stranded. Also, as the layover in Santa Maria is nearly eight hours, you’ll need to find overnight accommodations.
4:15 pm: From the hospital bus stop, board MST’s 82-Fort Hunter Liggett Express. Get off the bus outside the gate of Fort Hunter Liggett at approximately 4:40 pm. Fare: use MST Day Pass.
5:10 pm: From the bus stop outside the base, take MST’s 83-Paso Robles Express. Get off the bus at the Paso Robles Transit Center at 6:12 pm. Fare: use MST Day Pass.
6:20 pm: From the Paso Robles Transit Center, take SLORTA’s 9-San Luis Obispo bus. Get off at the San Luis Obispo Transit Center at 7:27 pm. Fare: $5 for Regional Day Pass.
8:33 pm: From the transit center, take SLORTA’s 10-Santa Maria bus. Get off at the Santa Maria Town Mall Transit Center at 9:43 pm. This is the only indirect transfer of the trip, as the next bus leaves about four miles from here. Fare: use Regional Day Pass.
Day 2: Santa Maria to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Mexico
Third leg: Santa Maria to Los Angeles with five transfers for $16.00
Operators used: Clean Air Express, Vista, & Metro
This first part of this leg of the trip is a little frustrating for me, as an advocate for transit that works. The trip directly from the Santa Maria Town Mall Transit Center to the Clean Air Express terminal (the next departure point in our journey) is about four miles, certainly walkable for the able-bodied – or you could bring a folding bike. Unfortunately, Santa Maria Area Transit’s first trip doesn’t connect to the last morning bus to Santa Barbara, and the Breeze bus to Lompoc and that city’s COLT system don’t connnect to their last Santa Barbara bus. I’m not sure whether to blame Clean Air Express for locating terminals away from existing transit hubs or Santa Maria and Lompoc for not adequately serving those terminals. Either way, it is a somewhat frustrating exchange at this essential juncture for our southbound California traveler – think of how frustrating it must be for those who rely on transit in this area?
5:40 am: From Hagerman Softball Complex in Santa Maria, board the Clean Air Express to Santa Barbara. Get off the bus at Anacapa and Anapamu in Santa Barbara at 7:09 am. Fare: $7.00.
7:23 am: From the bus stop at Anacapa and Anapamu, board the VISTA Coastal Express. Get off at the Pacific View Mall in Ventura at 8:05 am. Fare: $3.00.
8:20 am: From the Pacific View Mall bus stop, board the VISTA Highway 101 bus. Get off at the Thousand Oaks Transit Center at 9:24 am. Fare: $1.50.
9:28 am: From the Thousand Oaks Transit Center, board the Metro Local 161 bus. Get off at Warner Center Transit Hub at 10:45 am. Fare: $1.50.
10:55 am: From Warner Center, board the Metro Orange Line bus rapid transit service. Get off at North Hollywood Station at 11:38 am. Fare: $1.50.
11:49: From North Hollywood Station, take the Metro subway Red Line. Get off at Los Angeles Union Station at 12:19 pm. Fare: $1.50.
L.A. Metro wins the award for lowest fare on this journey. Photo by fredcamino on flickr.
Fourth Leg: Los Angeles to San Diego with one transfer for $20.00
Operators used: Metrolink & NCTD
When this blog first pushed the boundaries of how public transit should be used, the trip ended here in the cultural capitol of California and the world – the City of Angels. But I wanted to push it further. As I always say, why stop when you can keep going? By taking this leg south of Los Angeles, you can now take public transit all the way to Comic-Con (What can I say, I know my audience).
3:20 pm: Take the Metrolink Orange Line from Union Station. Arrive at Oceanside at 5:30 pm. Fare: $14.50.
5:40 pm: Take the North County Coaster from Oceanside. Arrive at San Diego Santa Fe Depot at 6:44 pm. Fare: $5.50.
Fifth leg: San Diego to Tijuana, Mexico for $2.50
Operator used: MTS
This leg achieves the completely made-up Holy Grail of transit geekery, the international public transit trip. You will need either a passport or a U.S. Passport Card to come back across the border after your trip.
6:54 pm: Take the MTS Blue Line Trolley from the Santa Fe Depot. Get off at San Ysidro at 7:41 pm. Stroll through the nearby pedestrian border crossing and you’re in Mexico. There are many buses and cabs that can take you further into Tijuana, or you can walk to many popular destinations. Fare: $2.50.
Will you be the first to try it? Let me know in the comments or write me – I love hearing stories about how you push transit to its limits.
I love reading about your epic transit journeys! I appreciate you doing the research so I don’t have to. Please consider more in this series. I’d be interested in stories using public transit from San Francisco to other parts of the States. One suggestion SF to Alaska which is actually quite doable using public transportation.
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