<p>I'm going to be going down to San Diego almost every Friday around 3 p.m., but I'm not sure how the whole bus/train station system works. I've heard there's a bus that goes from UCLA to the Amtrak station in Burbank (which then goes to SD.) Is there anything closer? Any information would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Union Station should be easier and quicker to get to than Burbank.</p>
<p>[Union</a> Station (Los Angeles) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_(Los_Angeles)]Union”>Union Station (Los Angeles) - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>And where do you need to get to in San Diego? The Metrolink is super cheap (or at least it was several years ago when I last took it) and goes all the way down to Oceanside. </p>
<p>Otherwise, the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner should get you further into San Diego.</p>
<p>You might want to see [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/706275-cant-have-car-how-does-one-get-home-san-diego.html]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/706275-cant-have-car-how-does-one-get-home-san-diego.html) for more details.</p>
<p>Getting to Union Station is a pain, but I’m not sure that going to Burbank(?) (you probably mean bus 761 to Van Nuys) will be any faster in the end.</p>
<p>I think Bus 2 goes all the way to Union Station (1 hour), then take Metrolink to Oceanside
(takes around 2 hours).</p>
<p>Amtrak will take you to Oceanside from Union Station as well, but costs more (should be at least $25, takes slightly less than 2 hours)</p>
<p>themoonisdown, i’ve been commuting nearly every weekend down to sd for the last year from ucla, here’s my advice. </p>
<p>if you absolutely have to be somewhere by a certain time and need it to be reliable, metrolink or amtrak are your best options. they’re a bit expensive (one-way from union station to sd is $30 and one-way with metrolink to oceanside is $13), but if you buy a student advantage card you get 15% off your amtrak fare (which adds up really quickly), and if you don’t mind getting off at solona beach or oceanside, you can cut your fare by nearly $10 each direction. just make sure if you buy your ticket with your discount that you buy it online 3 days in advance. the only problem with taking metrolink instead of amtrak is that the only train that leaves on fridays that goes all the way to oceanside leaves at 3:20pm. amtrak has a train leaving for sd pretty much every hour. going back home on metrolink on sunday means you have to get up really, really early in the morning (I think the train leaves at 7am or sometime around there), so I don’t recommend it. </p>
<p>If you’re dead set on taking the train, def go to union station instead of burbank, it’s faster and it’ll cost you less (you’ll likely have to sit at union station for awhile waiting for the train to san diego on top of it). getting to union station is kind of a pain, the fastest route is to take the 720 rapid metro bus from wilshire, get off at wilshire and western and take the metro purple line (which starts at wilshire and western and ends at union station) from there. each ride on metro costs $1.25. it’s a pretty safe ride i haven’t had any problems with it. the only variable is how long it’ll take you on the 720, depending on traffic it can take you 15 minutes or 60 minutes to get to the purple line. In my experience, I’ve generally left my dorm 2 hours before my train was scheduled to leave (it takes awhile just to walk down to wilshire) just to be sure I got there on time.</p>
<p>If you don’t have to leave a be somewhere at a specific time, my suggestion is to use zimride on facebook to find a ride down. It’ll cost you about $15 round trip in gas money, usually saves you a bit of time (depending on when you leave). You can check the people’s profiles so you know they aren’t too weird. My rides have been kind of hit or miss, I got their safely every time, but you don’t usually leave to come back at anywhere near the time you thought you would (I always end up leaving san diego around 9pm sunday). Just make sure you start asking people that are offering rides pretty much on monday of that week. There’s a lot of people looking to go to san diego, and not very many driving down. You should have no problem finding a ride as long as you don’t put it off until Thursday night.</p>
<p>The bus you’re referring to is fairly new and I haven’t tried it yet because it was going to nearly double my cost and the time it takes to get there.</p>
<p>hope this helps!</p>
<p>By the way there is also this Amtrak bus that goes to UCLA: [Amtrak</a> California Thruway Service to Westwood (1004075)](<a href=“http://map.ais.ucla.edu/portal/site/UCLA/menuitem.789d0eb6c76e7ef0d66b02ddf848344a/?vgnextoid=6c081ed12182e110VgnVCM300000e3d76180RCRD]Amtrak”>http://map.ais.ucla.edu/portal/site/UCLA/menuitem.789d0eb6c76e7ef0d66b02ddf848344a/?vgnextoid=6c081ed12182e110VgnVCM300000e3d76180RCRD)
Is this the bus you were referring to?</p>
<p>The way I’ve been going to UCSD is take the 2 to sunset and veteran and take the metro red line to union station and then taking metrolink to oceanside and go on the 101 bus in SD.</p>
<p>Once you get down to Oceanside (and I do recommend getting off at Oceanside, not Solana Beach if you’re taking Amtrak. Metrolink doesn’t have a stop at Solana Beach, btw, which is further south), I would take the 101 as the person above suggested.</p>
<p>[Route</a> 101 Timetables](<a href=“http://www.sdcommute.com/Services/NCTDRoute.aspx?r=101]Route”>http://www.sdcommute.com/Services/NCTDRoute.aspx?r=101)</p>
<p>I’m not sure where in SD you’re going, but this will take you directly to UCSD and to University Towne Center, which is a shopping mall. If you’re going to real San Diego, not UCSD/La Jolla, I guess you’ll just keep taking the train.</p>
<p>How long does that all take frencharmy? And where do you end up in San Diego? Thanks.</p>