Your daily transportation in San Diego for the PacRim will involve your getting from your hotel to San Diego State University. For most participants, this will involve catching the Green Line Trolley to campus in the morning and the same trolley back to the hotel in the evening. The trolley line is part of San Diego’s mass transit system, the MTS. One easy way of taking care of your transportation needs for the week will be for you to buy a week-long pass that will allow you to take unlimited rides on any bus or trolley line in San Diego. You can acquire this pass, called a Compass Card, upon your arrival in San Diego. A one-way ride from anywhere to anywhere in San Diego is $2.50. And a one-day unlimited pass is $5.00. But a 4-day unlimited pass is $15.00. So you’ll be able to get around San Diego for the week for about $30.00.

When you first arrive at the airport in San Diego, you can take a free shuttle to the Middletown Trolley Station. At Middletown, there is Compass Card dispenser where you can get your card and start commuting for the week. Middletown Station is on the Green Line, which you’ll ride to Fashion Valley if you are staying at the Courtyard Marriott. It will take you about an hour to get from the airport to the Courtyard.

There is even an App for your mobile phone that allows you to carry your Compass Card on your phone (i.e., the phone app is your MTS pass). I use it myself and I’ve found that it works dependably. You can download the app into your phone now: https://www.sdmts.com/fares-passes/compass-cloud When set up your account you’ll be able to pre-pay for the days you will be in San Diego.

 

For general instruction about how to take MTS from the airport (or from anywhere) to anywhere in San Diego, this page is helpful: https://www.sdmts.com/schedules-real-time/airport

The Courtyard-Marriott on Hotel Circle is a 10 minute walk to the Fashion Valley Transit Center. Riding the trolley each day from Fashion Valley Transit Center to SDSU will take about 15 minutes. The trolleys runs continuously throughout the day in 15 minute intervals. So you’ll want to allow yourself about 35-40 minutes to get from the Courtyard to SDSU.