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MTS: Celebrating 125 Years of Transit Operation in San Diego

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is celebrating its 125th anniversary of operation—and the 30th anniversary of the rebirth of trolley service—with activities including a contest for transit-related photos and giveaways at selected stations.

MTS traces its history back to July 3, 1886, when the San Diego Street Car Company introduced service with horse- and mule-driven rail coaches; most of the streets themselves were not paved. Each open-air car could carry up to 32 passengers. Electric streetcars made their debut in San Diego the following year.

Developer John D. Spreckels purchased the streetcar company in 1892 and soon began expanding service and purchasing railways in neighboring towns. A double-track line to Balboa Park entered service in conjunction with the Panama-California Exposition of 1915, and the streetcar system stretched to more nearby communities and the international border.

The streetcar system introduced its first buses in 1922. In 1949, San Diego became the first city on the West Coast to discontinue streetcar use and operate exclusively with buses.

San Diego Transit transferred to city operation as a nonprofit corporation in 1967, and the Metropolitan Transit Development Board was formed about 10 years later.

The bright red vehicles of the San Diego Trolley began regular operations July 26, 1981, along a 15.9-mile line between downtown San Diego and San Ysidro, just 200 feet from the international border. Through the next three decades, the trolley system has grown into three lines covering more than 53.5 miles with 53 stations, including an underground stop at San Diego State University.

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