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The southbound ride down the seacoast towards the busy urban center is relaxing, comfortable, and picturesque from the windows of the double-deck commuter coach. Once in the city, the same inexpensive ticket that provides passage on the commuter train can be used on an equally comfortable and efficient light rail system, or on a network of buses. There is no need to sit in congested automobile traffic, and then fight for a parking space. The rail system brings you right into the heart of the city, and to a variety of additional transportation services.

Is this a European city, perhaps in France or Germany, where reliable rail transit and intermodal connections are a way of life, a given? No. It's Southern California, Mecca of the automobile--specifically, perpetually sunny San Diego County.

* Enter the Coaster. While light rail has been a fixture in San Diego since the early 1980s, and Amtrak's successful San Diegans provide passage for thousands of intercity travelers on the busy Los Angeles-San Diego corridor, commuter rail is a horse of an entirely different color--specifically, an attractive blue, blue-green, and white paint scheme adorning the North County Transit District's (NCTD) new bi-level push-pull Bombardier coaches and MK Rail locomotives (see New roling stock for San Diego's rail transit network).

With start-up of Coast Express Rail ("Coaster") service between Oceanside and San Diego in March 1995, the region's commuters now have an alternative to congested Interstate 5, the main artery into the urban center. In fact, it is an improvement project on 1-5 that Coaster marketing officer Peter Aadland is hoping will boost ridership on the fledgling service, now carrying a little more than 1,800 riders per day (a figure on target with projections, growing slowly but steadily).

"It took a hurricane in south Florida to boost Tri-Rail ridership, and an earthquake in Los Angeles to force people out of their cars onto Metrolink trains," says Aadland. "We're hoping that this construction project on 1-5 will have the same effect." To that end, Aadland has been busy developing a marketing campaign to alert drivers to the impending highway project, and is also working with Caltrans to acquire federal CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) funds to lower the cost of the Coaster's already inexpensive monthly pass by as much as 20%.

At $95, a monthly "Coaster Plus" pass (for all four zones between Oceanside and San Diego) is a bargain, considering the distance traveled. "It's about half that of some other commuter rail services," says Aadland. "The North San Diegg County Transit Development Board felt that keeping the price below $100 would make the service especially attractive."

The discount applies across the board: For one-time riders, the price of a four-zone ticket is just $3.25, which makes the Coaster attractive to customers in secondary markets (tourists, airline passengers, senior citizens, and shoppers). Senior citizens and disabled riders get a 50% discount on one-way and roundtrip tickets--and a 75% discount on a Coaster Plus pass.

It's not just the low price that makes the Coaster a good transportation value. Coaster tickets are honored on NCTD buses, San Diego Transit buses, and the San Diego Trolley. In addition, NCTD provides feeder "Coaster Connection" buses for the rail stations within its regional transportation jurisdiction. San Diego Trolley customers who wish to use northbound Coaster trains receive a discount equivalent to their light rail fare.

Fare collection aboard Coaster trains is proof-of-payment, with tickets dispensed by Scheidt & Bachmann machines that accept credit cards and cash. Onboard security and fare enforcement is provided by uniformed San Diego County sheriff's deputies; parking lot and right-of-way security has been contracted to Wells Fargo.

Marketing is a key part of making the Coaster a success. "Most of our riders are fitst-time transit users," says Aadland. It is this fact that inspired him to select the "Coaster" name for the new rail service: It's easy to remember, and easy to pronounce. The colorful paint scheme, consistent with the pleasant seaside surroundings, adds to the recognition factor.

NCTD subsidiary San Diego Northern Railway operates five southbound Coaster trips during the morning peak, and five northbound trips during the evening peak, with one reverse run per period. With ridership growing, two daily round trips were scheduled to be added during off-peak hours. The train serves eight stations between Oceanside and San Diego, originating at NCTD's under-construction multimodal Oceanside Transit Center. When completed, this facility will handle Coaster, Metrolink, and Amtrak trains, and NCTD buses.

Amtrak operates Coaster trains under an incentive-clause contract with NCTD (RA, November 1994, p. G13), and also maintains the right-of-way. San Diego Northern Railway purchased the right-of-way from Santa Fe, and initiated an extensive upgrading that included installation of continuous welded rail and concrete ties, good for 90-mph running. General contractor for the upgrade was Mass. Electric Construction Corp.

However, despite double-tracking into San Diego, a considerable amount of single-track remains. Some sidings have been extended to where they effectively create a double-track line, but additional double-tracking is questionable, given the current state of rail transit funding.

The Coaster, like many California rail start-ups, was funded in part by monies acquired through the 1987 TransNet sales tax, and a 1990 state rail bond issue. But with the downturn in Southern California's economy and the reluctance of voters to approve anything that even remotely resembles a tax increase, funds for additional improvements are becoming increasingly hard to obtain.

The upgrade also included a signal modernization program, with Harmon Industries replacing the original code linebased control system with data radio. Coaster trains are dispatched by Metrolink out of Los Angeles with a new Digital Traffic Control ctc system supplied by Digital Concepts. MK Rail maintains the rolling stock under a subcontract arrangement with Amtrak, and equipment inspections are performed at the shops of short line operator San Diego & Imperial Valley (see related story, p. 49). Heavy repairs are done at Los Angeles.

An additional new service, possibly using diesel railcars, is under study for the 26-mile Oceanside-Escondido corridor, an infrequently-used ATSF single-track branch line. An estimated $75 million will be needed for upgrades and establishment of 17 station stops. The proposed rail service is intended to alleviate traffic congestion along 1-78 and Oceanside Boulevard.

* The Trolley's changing fortunes. San Diego Trolley still has, at 68%, one of the highest farebox recovery ratios of any rail transit system in North America. And, it serves close to 50,000 average weekday riders. After 14 years of operation, the Trolley is still widely regarded as an model system for new-start light rail projects.

Yet, like many transit properties across the U.S., San Diego Trolley is feeling the effects of local economic troubles, pinched funding sources, and rising operating and capital costs. The current farebox recovery ratio, although quite high by any standard, is actually low for San Diego, compared to the 1989 figure of almost 95%. Cost per car-mile has risen from a low of $3.30 in 1990 to $4.62 in 1994. And ridership, while still strong, has dropped by about 10% in the last three years, as unemployment has risen and businesses have moved out of the center city.

"We're having to do more with less," says Vice President-Operations Peter Tereschuck. But drastic cutbacks in service and employees, he says, are not in the game plan. Instead, cost savings are being realized with small yet significant measures: consolidation of administrative functions, an emphasis on part-time employment (about 50% of Trolley operators are in this category), a reliance on outside contractors, and a sharing of marketing functions with sister agency San Diego Transit.

These measures are producing results, says Tereschuck. For example, a minor reduction in the number of cars per trainset (from four to three during certain periods) has resulted in a 6% decrease in carmiles. The changes have not adversely affected ridership. "Although we're a public agency," says Tereschuck, "we try to operate with a private-business mindset."

If anything could be adversely affected, it is the ambitious expansion plans of parent agency Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB). Two light rail extensions, the Santee Segment on the East Line and the Old Town segment on the North Line, are scheduled to open in August 1995 and 1996, respectively.