San Diego MTS Launches Copper Line Light Rail System to Improve East County Transit Reliability

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) officials celebrated the service launch on the Copper Line—East County Connector.

The Copper Line will provide service every 15 minutes daily, serving four stations between the El Cajon Transit Center and the Santee Trolley Station.

The Current Green and Orange Line trolley service will relocate to the new section north of the El Cajon Transit Center.

The Copper Line will improve the reliability of trolley service throughout the system, not just in East County.

“MTS wants to make transit more reliable not only for East County residents but for riders across the system,” said MTS Board Chairman Stephen Whitburn. “With the Copper Line, we are doing just that. It makes the transit system better and more efficient. I look forward to seeing how this new line segment benefits the rider experience on our transit system.”

The original goal of the Copper Line is to mitigate the effects of the one-track segment between Gillespie Field and Santee.

Service reliability in El Cajon and Santee will improve as a result. Also, service between the two cities will no longer be affected by delays in the rest of the system.

Green Line service will terminate at the El Cajon Transit Center when the new service plan is implemented. This will allow trolleys to avoid the one-track segment between Gillespie Field and Santee stations.

Because only one train can enter or exit this segment at a time, this can cause delays and incorrect transfers for passengers traveling to and from East County.

The Copper Line segment will relieve the system of this bottleneck as trains will now turn at the El Cajon Transit Center instead of Santee.

MTS anticipates that the Green Line will have better on-time performance, giving passengers more reliable transfer times and fewer delays.

Instead of alternate trains stopping at the SDSU Transit Center, Green Line trolley service will be extended later at night, and all Sunday service will continue to the El Cajon Transit Center.

The Copper Line will run with shorter trains, which will reduce wait times and reduce traffic at the Cuyamaca Street and Santee intersections.

After the trolley line restructuring in East County goes into effect, about 8% of passenger trips will switch to the Copper Line or Green Line this fall.