Ridership on the San Diego trolley set a new monthly record in July with 4.1 million passenger trips – the most during any month since the trolley began operations in 1981.
A “special event” trolley line that operated during Comic-Con helped push ridership over 4 million, but local transit officials stressed that July would have been an all-time record for ridership even without the special line.
Without the 132,315 trips on the special event line, ridership in July was 3.973 million – nearly 40,000 higher than the previous record of 3.938 million in October 2024.
The new record comes with the trolley system and the agency that runs it – the Metropolitan Transit System – at a crossroads. Ridership is on the rise, but a looming financial crisis might require drastic service cuts.
To soften those cuts, MTS will raise one-way fares from $2.50 to $3 Oct. 1. Monthly and daily passes will also increase in cost.
MTS officials have also begun exploring a possible November 2028 ballot measure that could raise the local sales tax by a half-cent to generate revenue only for transit projects.
The new monthly ridership record continues strong ridership trends since the aftermath of the pandemic.
In the fiscal year that ended in June 2025, ridership surpassed 80 million for the first time since before the pandemic and returned to 95% of pre-pandemic levels. In the fiscal that ended this June, ridership stayed above 80 million at 81.2 million.
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MTS officials attribute the strong numbers to new services — including an express bus connecting downtown and the U.S.-Mexico border — and to more frequent trolley service and enhanced security at stations and on trains.
“Record-breaking ridership reflects the region’s growing reliance on fast, frequent and reliable public transit,” said San Diego Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who serves as chair of the MTS Board. “More people are choosing the trolley to get to work, school, sporting events and major destinations throughout the region.”
The trolley’s blue line, which was extended to University City five years ago, recorded the most ridership in July with more than 2.36 million passenger trips. It was followed by the green line with 971,266 trips and the orange line with 587,174 trips.
“This achievement reflects years of work to make transit a more attractive option for people across our region,” said MTS chief executive Sharon Cooney. “Surpassing 4 million trolley trips in a single month is a powerful sign that public transit is thriving in San Diego.”
Ridership in July surpassed the previous two Julys, when ridership was 3.87 million and 3.92 million.
MTS buses recorded 3,082,492 passenger trips in July. Officials did not provide comparison numbers for bus ridership.
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