<p>I'm wondering about the public transportation system in UCSD</p>
<p>Is it easy to use public transportation to get to places? downtown SD, LA, etc?</p>
<p>More specifically, I have a friend who's going to USC and I'd like to visit her occasionally, I wonder what's the best method to get there?
I heard amtrak is a good option, but it also seems a bit expensive, about $25 one way?</p>
<p>My mom briefly mentioned Amtrac to me (since I live in the LA area), and apparently the “LA” Amtrac stop station or whatever you call it is in Fullerton which is still some drive away from USC I believe. I suggest you simply piggyback and see if someone can carpool as long as you offer to chip in for gas or the like.</p>
<p>that’s what i’m planning on doing, I’m an incoming freshman as well</p>
<p>Ugh, I’m going to hate not having a car to drive around…</p>
<p>So are there any other buses and trains that are useful?
I live in the bay area, and we have a handful trains and buses that will take us just about anywhere, I was hoping it would be the same around SD too…</p>
<p>public transportation in SD kind of sucks.</p>
<p>You could take the coaster to Oceanside and then take a regular train to LA.</p>
<p>Take the 101 bus from La Jolla Village Drive northbound towards the Oceanside transit center (Free with UCSD ID) and then catch the Metrolink to LA Union Station.</p>
<p>Public transit in San Diego isn’t as good as it is in other large cities, but if you’re careful with bus schedules and stuff, you can make it work for you pretty effectively.</p>
<p>Oh I see, that doesn’t seem too difficult.
Thanks!</p>
<p>sooo…would the fastest way from UCSD to LAX be to LA union station, and then take the metro to LAX? or is there a faster way. I live in NJ so there are usually more/cheaper flights from lax, but i’m sure the train tickets usually even out the prices…but you never know =)</p>
<p>Why not fly from San Diego (SAN)?</p>
<p>You can get flights to LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark pretty easily from there</p>
<p>What about any cheaper routes from SD to the Bay Area, besides flights? I was thinking about buses but Greyhound kind of scares me given past, um, news stories.</p>
<p>
If you plan ahead flying there isn’t that expensive and it’s quick. You could also take the train but it’ll be a loooong trip.</p>
<p>The other thing to do is to meet some fellow students from the Bay Area and see if you can share a ride with them if you pitch in for gas. There are lots of students at UCSD from the Bay Area with a car - especially if they’re second year on up.</p>
<p>Eric884:
It’s a pain to go to LAX to save a few bucks assuming you’d even save much. If you book in advance you s/b able to get a decent price. I just randomly checked flying JetBlue from SAN-JFK vs. LAX-JFK and the price ($240 round trip - some random date in October - holidays’ll probably be worse) was the same (depending on particular flights).</p>
<p>Unless you can carpool with people, flying is the best way to get back to the Bay Area.</p>
<p>Just make sure you check the Holiday Shuttle schedule so you don’t have to pay/bus to get to the airport. I usually pay around $130 round trip to get back to San Francisco.</p>
<p>if you guys ever need a ride to la (626 to be more specific), i usually go back once a month. ill just split gas equally unless you live outside my area code</p>
<p>^^oooooooo!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmm… I’ve read some threads here with differing advice. Some say Oceanside (a fairly long bus ride away), others say Solana Beach (like 15 minutes away, the next town up from La Jolla).</p>
<p>Is there any reason not to catch the train in Solana Beach and mimize the bus ride?</p>
<p>When going from SD to LA, I always take the free bus to Solana Beach and Amtrak it to Union Station or whatever.</p>
<p>Also… be careful. The area around USC is scary</p>
<p>Personally, I’d go to Solana Beach. The bus ride all the way to Oceanside is kind of a drag, and you’re not saving that much money. That said, pretty much everyone goes to Solana Beach so its packed on holidays and such. </p>
<p>(The trick there is that when you are getting back from the train in Solana Beach, go to the previous bus stop, its not that far of a walk, if its really busy because buses fill up.)</p>
<p>That said, I also drive to LA about once a month (818 area)…</p>
<p>@eric884 : what ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad said is true, I also suggest that you look at other airports that are closer than lax, there’s irvine and long beach. And if you’re looking to save money then you’d probably save more flying from SD considering the Amtrak fee ($50 round) and the cab fee that you’ll take between Union Station and LAX, not to mention the time wasted!
x3anna… I go to USC from La Jolla about once or twice a month. PM if you wanna catch a ride and split gas.</p>