San Diego Traffic Question
 

Hey guys,

I know some of you live in or are from the San Diego area.

I am going to Comic Con tomorrow. I'm meeting up with my GF there around 10. What's rush hour like into San Diego downtown? Is it bad?

I live in Fullerton and it usually takes about an hour and a half to get to San Diego. So I was thinking about leaving as early as 7 to be sure, but that may be a bit too early.

What do you guys think?

it's pretty bad. 7 sounds about right. maybe a smidge earlier even.

From what I understand (and I'm no local), Comic Con creates its own little vortex of suck that has no bearing on what normal traffic is like

SI

it's not really downtown. it's everything north (la jolla) that sucks

I would highly suggest taking the trolley service to save on gas, time and heartache. They offer up to a 5 day pass. Comic-Con 2012 | Trolley Service

The trolley is like one of the most underused gems of San Diego to get around.

I would HIGHLY suggest just going to the Coster/Old Town Station and parking for free and taking the trolley the rest of the way. It's less stressful and much less expensive than attempting to find parking and dealing with all the people walking. Just get off of the train when you realize you are right next to the Convention Center, it's super easy and much more fun.

Lot's of one way streets in downtown San Diego and not many places to park unless you want to pay a pretty penny.

Unless there's an accident, the traffic going into downtown on the 5 freeway isn't super bad. Nowhere near what you would see in LA or on the 101 in San Francisco.

If you don't want to drive to the convention center, DanGarion has the best suggestion. Plus, there's some really good mexican food in Old Town.

Speaking of ComicCon...A friend of mine that I used to work with at Apple is going to be there with his new comic book series called Alpha Girl. It's zombie apocalypse themed. His name is Jean-Paul Bonjour and is a pretty cool dude. Check it out if you get the chance or have the time.

How many days are you going to stay there? And traffic can be very bad, especially when there are special events like Comic-Con. This, on top of the morning commute can be bad. And yes, 1 simple accident can freaking ruin the day. As you near the convention center, time will even slow down because I guarantee there will be bumper to bumper traffic at that time of the morning

Heck, I will even go a little further. Since you are coming from Santee, you can even stop off in Oceanside and ride the Coaster to the trolley station and use the 5 day pass to get around (if you are staying that long).

Here is the schedule for the Coaster:
North County Transit District-We Move People

And I linked the trolley info above.

So yes, I am disagreeing with JediKooter, that other former San Diegan. :D

I see your disagreement and raise you a disagreement about going to Oceanside from Santee. :D


Just go to El Cajon and jump on the trolley there. Santee to Oceanside is over 20 miles away while Santee to El Cajon is about 5. No wait, I think the trolley is in Santee now. So just jump on there. I think it's near the Santee Town Square.


Yup, Santee Town Center actually: SDMTS - Trolley Information

Looks like you'd do one transfer at the Old Town station.

And I take your disagreement and realize that I have deceived you, so now your directions don't work. He is actually coming from Fullerton. I have no idea why I wrote Santee in my response. I was just in Oceanside this past weekend to drop my kids off at their Grandma's house, but I am still unsure why I wrote Santee. So Oceanside still works better. ;)

Pretty sneaky Ant...pretty dang sneaky... :D

Yes, he could take the coaster all the way from Orange county if he wanted to. I used to take it from the Oceanside terminal to Tustin and back, when I worked for the phone company.

Yeah, I was considering putting up the MetroLink, but I looked at the commute times for the train and figured it was worth waiting another 1 and a 1/2 before getting to Oceanside.

or you could drive into coronado and take the ferry over. that's probably what i'd do. free parking and safest place to leave your car.

There are a lot of stops, so that definitely doesn't help with time. However, if he left Fullerton (to drive) at around 1 in the afternoon, he should get to downtown San Diego no later than 2:30 or 3, as long as there's no accidents. It would probably be what, 45 or so minutes to Oceanside from Fullerton if he drove? It's been a while since I've driven up there and that was mostly to Huntington Beach and back to San Diego, so I don't exactly remember the drive times.

Just avoid the 5/405 merge, at all costs, starting around 4 in the afternoon.

But he is meeting his girlfriend at 10am in Diego (Comic Con). That is why I suggested that route. The traffic is going to be ridiculous as he nears Camp Pendleton at that time in the morning. The smoothest commmute at that point would be public transportation.

Who the hell would be coming from Santee if they are in Fullerton. You take the 5 down not the 15...

The problem with that trip is that there are limited trip times. That's why I suggested Old Town. The trolley is like every 8 or 10 minutes. Whenever you deal with the larger trains (Coaster / Metrolink) you have to deal with longer waits and abbreviated schedules which don't always work out for people.

No I see what you're saying. :)

So what if he took the MetroLink from say, Santa Ana or Laguna Nigel and then jumped on the Coaster in Oceanside and took that all the way into downtown San Diego? He'll completely avoid Pendleton that way.

holy moly. the man asked a simple question.

yes there is significant traffic (assuming you're taking the 5 or 15) i would leave at 6:45.

the trolley's a fine option.
trolley info

if it were me i'd drive into coronado and take the ferry
ferry info

godspeed chief

I guess it just depends on how far he wants to drive. I say, if he's super worried about being late, just drive down the night before and stay in a hotel as close to downtown San Diego as possible. I'd say stay at my place where it would only be about a 15 minute drive to downtown, but, my ex-wife kicked me out a couple of years ago. :)

Haha thanks for all the help guys. I will definitely be looking at all options. I'll consult with my GF, too--the Coronado ferry may end up being perfect because I think she's staying out there with other convention-goer friends of hers. The trolley does sound good, too.

I am actually meeting up with someone with my badge at the Santa Fe station up the street before I go meet my GF, and I think the trolley stops there. Not sure if it would be okay for me to leave my car there, though. If I don't do the Coronado ferry thing, I may indeed need to get in relatively close with the car, as my GF and I may need the flexibility with our schedules to have the car close by. But I'll need to chat with her some more tonight about that.

Isn't the closest hotel to downtown San Diego with a vacancy the night before Comic-Con...in Fullerton?

Besides, it's Comic-Con. Someone has to be running some sort of teleportation pad into the place.

There's a bunch of parking lots on Broadway in downtown San Diego. Just depends on how much you want to pay for parking. I'd imagine the prices are probably inflated due to ComicCon.

"As possible" :D

This made me laugh hard :D