When the first six months of 2025 are compared to the same period of 2024, the number of late trains on the system overall dropped from 8% down to 4.3%.<\/p>\n
The drop was even more pronounced on the Orange Line, where the share of trains that were delayed fell from 12.5% to 4.3%, and the Green Line, where they dropped from 8.8% to 4%.<\/p>\n
Even the Blue Line, which operates many miles west of the Copper Line, saw improvement. Late trains dropped from 7% to 4.7% on the Blue Line, which connects University City to the Mexican border.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur routes are very interconnected, so anything that happens on one route affects another route,\u201d Brent Boyd, MTS director of planning and scheduling, told the MTS board recently.<\/p>\n
The key change is eliminating train congestion on the route along Cuyamaca Street between Gillespie Field and Santee \u2014 the one stretch where all trains must share only one track.<\/p>\n
![\"El](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sut-l-copper-line-001.jpg\")
El Cajon, CA \u2013 December 23: A passenger boards a MTS Trolley on the Copper Line at the El Cajon Station before departing to Santee on December 23, 2025 in El Cajon, CA. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The rest of the trolley system is double-tracked, allowing trains heading in opposite directions to pass each other. But with the single track in that area, both Orange and Green line trains heading in both directions had to take turns and wait for each other.<\/p>\n
MTS officials say that\u00a0caused substantial delays and prompted behind-schedule trolley operators occasionally to turn around before even reaching Santee so they could get back on schedule.<\/p>\n
The share of trips where drivers stopped short of the final destination dropped by 87.1%. There were 483 such trips during the first six months of 2024 and only 62 such trips during the same time period in 2025.<\/p>\n
The number of trips completely canceled because of traffic also fell \u2014 from 25 down to two on the Green Line, and from 10 down to four on the Orange Line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re increasing some transfers at El Cajon, but we\u2019re dramatically improving reliability across the system,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n
The Copper Line is supposed to run every 15 minutes from El Cajon to Santee. Before the change, the Green Line went all the way to Santee, and the Orange Line terminated at Arnele Avenue in El Cajon \u2014 one of the four Copper Line stops.<\/p>\n
Another benefit to last year\u2019s service change, transit officials say, is that it allows trolley operators longer breaks. Under the old system, the need to quickly turn trains around in Santee meant breaks as short as 6 minutes.<\/p>\n
City leaders in El Cajon and Santee say the benefit of the Copper Line outweighs the cost \u2014 even though the main cost of the switch, the inconvenience of a transfer, falls heavily on riders in their cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s been a positive, because we have a little bit better service than before,\u201d said Santee Councilmember Ronn Hall, a member of the MTS board. \u201cIt\u2019s a little inconvenient for some, but I understand the logic behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
El Cajon Councilmember Steve Goble, another MTS board member, said the change has also boosted safety along the trolley tracks in Santee.<\/p>\n
In addition, MTS officials have agreed to spend some of the roughly $1 million in savings from the Copper Line shift on enhanced security at East County trolley stations.<\/p>\n
The $1 million in annual savings comes from MTS running one-car trains on the Copper Line, instead of the typical three-car trains from before \u2014 reducing the agency\u2019s electricity and maintenance costs.<\/p>\n
Goble also noted that passenger counts at the affected stations have not dropped, despite the need to make the extra transfer to the Copper Line.<\/p>\n
He said he empathized with inconvenienced riders. \u201cI don\u2019t want to discount somebody\u2019s perceived inconvenience,\u201d he said. But he said the impact is relatively minor.<\/p>\n
Copper Line commuters interviewed last week at the El Cajon Transit Center mostly agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a huge inconvenience, but it\u2019s maybe 5 minutes each way,\u201d said Robert Belton, who commutes from his home in Santee to Grossmont Center for work. \u201cIt was more convenient when the Green Line just went straight there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belton said he was mildly annoyed that there hadn\u2019t been more advertising about the change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to look up on my phone, \u2018Why is the green line not showing up in Santee?\u2019\u201d Belton said.<\/p>\n
Nathan Boone, also of Santee, doesn\u2019t mind the extra few minutes of commute time because of the Copper Line. But he said better bus service is needed in Santee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wish the buses in Santee were more frequent so I wouldn\u2019t have a long walk to the trolley,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Seamus Cavanaugh, who commutes from Santee to Mission Bay for work, said he would be more frustrated by having to wait twice a day for an extra transfer if he weren\u2019t expecting to buy a new car this spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only have to deal with this for a couple months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On-time performance across the entire San Diego trolley system has been boosted by a year-old East County service…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,23,100,74,76,75,1696,1967],"class_list":{"0":"post-112311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego-news","14":"tag-top-stories-sdut","15":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}