Pacific Beach Town Council and Pacific Beach Planning Group recently heard presentations from the City and the San Diego Association of Governments on the launch of a new shuttle pilot to bring visitors from the new Balboa Avenue Transit Station to the beaches and PB business district.
Shuttles are proposed to be Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, all-electric, low-speed shuttles traveling up to 25 mph. The PB shuttle will provide a new, fun, and sustainable way to travel to beach destinations. The shuttle will also provide a convenient and direct connection to and from the Balboa Transit Station (Mid-Coast Trolley extension to UC San Diego), helping people move around without relying on cars.
The shuttle, anticipated to launch this summer, is being funded by SANDAG and parking meter revenue collected from on-street parking meters in a pilot program operated by Pacific Beach Community Parking District.
“The UC San Diego Blue Line has opened and we are hoping to expand mobility options for the Pacific Beach area by having our shuttle service add regional connectivity,” said SANDAG mobility planner April De Jesus. “As part of this, we are hoping to increase different options for mobility throughout the region, as well as talking about different mobility hubs adjacent to this blue line service.”
De Jesus said the PB shuttle pilot service is hoped to serve as a model for interconnecting the rest of the region with the completed UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley extension. “It’s anticipated to be a two-year pilot project with the City and SANDAG,” she said. “We’re hoping that this pilot can teach us a lot about the ways in which the community will respond to the shuttle service so that we can replicate this throughout the rest of the San Diego region.”
Krystal Ayala, City program manager for community parking districts and shared mobility programs, said there will be a tie-in between the shuttle pilot and PB’s Community Parking District formed in 2005.
“They are proposing the installation of parking meters within the Pacific Beach community, which is really important because this is going to provide a sustainable resource to be able to launch this service,” Ayala said. “Without having this key revenue source, it would be really hard to be having this conversation today. So we’re excited to be moving this forward and learning about this together.”
Of the PB shuttle, Ayala said, “We are proposing deployment of the NEV, a very small, low-speed all-electric vehicle you’ve probably seen roaming around Downtown. Because of the size and speed of the vehicle, they are ideal for short trips to and from a transit station. It really allows us to change the supply as demand fluctuates so, as there may be a seasonal increase in riders wanting to use the service, you’re able to more easily deploy additional vehicles because of their smaller size.”
Concluded Ayala: “We’re really excited to be bringing this service to the community. There has been a lot of momentum throughout the region. Many other neighboring cities have been launching shuttles similar to his one. We’re really excited to test the beach-use case, and see how the shuttle can better serve our beach communities, but also make that really important connection to it from transit.”
Ayala noted a lot of the details of the PB shuttle pilot are yet to be determined, adding the City and SANDAG will be returning with updates for stakeholders including more fleshed-out details prior to the start of the PB shuttle pilot.
