The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is the transit bus and rail service provider for southern San Diego County, which includes approximately 570 square miles of the urbanized areas of the county, as well as the rural parts of East County.
MTS is one of the oldest transit systems in Southern California, with predecessors dating back as early as the 1880s. Service is operated on three light rail lines and ninety bus routes by MTS subsidiaries San Diego Transit Corp., San Diego Trolley, Inc., and under contract by private operators.
MTS also owns the assets of San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company, which owns 108 miles of track and right-of-way, and San Diego Vintage Trolley, Inc., a non profit corporation established to restore historic trolley vehicles. MTS’ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) complementary paratransit service is MTS Access.
These fascinating photos from San Diego Metropolitan Transit System that show what the bus system of San Diego looked like in the 1970s.
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| San Diego Transit 1974 Flxible bus on westbound Broadway at 7th Avenue in the 1970s |
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| Promotional ‘Bus King’ advertisement from 1972 |
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| Route 7 bus on Broadway in Downtown San Diego |
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| Route 7 bus on Broadway in Downtown San Diego |
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| “Join your car pool”, a San Diego Transit billboard, 1972 |
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| Charlie Tuna shows off a demonstrator MAN articulated bus in 1974 |
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| Just delivered to San Diego Transit, a brand new Flxible suburban coach in October 1974 |
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| New to the San Diego Transit fleet here in 1974 |
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| Re-filling a supermarket timetable rack in October 1975 |
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| San Diego Transit and Yellow Cab teamed up for a campaign against drunk driving in 1975 |
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| Carol the elephant from the San Diego Zoo introduces the Super Saver pass in 1976 |
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| Sunset over San Diego Transit’s Imperial Avenue Division in summer 1976 |
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| 1967 GMC at San Diego State University in 1977 |
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| GMC “old look” bus on a school tripper at Marston Junior High School in January 1977 |
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| Passengers board San Diego Transit buses at the Fashion Valley Transit Center in January 1977 |
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| Route 38 Mercedes minibus at the San Diego Airport in January 1977 |
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| San Diego Chicken getting a ride at Fashion Valley Transit Center in December 1977 |
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| 1959 GMC on Imperial Avenue at 16th Street in Downtown San Diego |
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| 1972 GMC bus at Seaport Village in the 1970s |
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| 1974 Flxible bus outbound on G Street at 16th Street in Downtown San Diego in the late 1970s |
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| 1974 Flxible buses on westbound Broadway passing First Avenue |
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| A 1959 GMC bus operating on Route 7 picks up passengers on Park Blvd. near the San Diego Zoo |
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| A 1968 GMC bus operating on Route 11 picks up passengers on Broadway at 4th Avenue (Horton Plaza) |
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| A 1968 GMC bus travels south on State Route 163 through Balboa Park into Downtown San Diego |
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| A 1972 GMC bus operating on Route 20 drops off passengers at the Fashion Valley Transit Center |
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| A 1972 GMC bus operating on Route 32 picks up passengers on Broadway at 4th Avenue (Horton Plaza) |
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| A 1974 Flxible bus operating on Route 90 picks up passengers on Broadway at 4th Avenue (Horton Plaza) |
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| A 1974 Flxible bus operating on Route 110 picks up passengers on Broadway at 4th Avenue (Horton Plaza) |
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| A 1974 Flxible bus picks up passengers on Broadway at 4th Avenue (Horton Plaza) |
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| A 1974 Flxible bus travels south on State Route 163 through Balboa Park into Downtown San Diego |
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| A 1974 Flxible surburban bus at San Diego Transit’s Imperial Avenue Division in the 1970s |
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| A 1975 GMC bus operating on Route 41 stopped on layover |
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| A 1978 MAN articulated bus operating on Route 7 picks up passengers on Broadway at 4th Avenue (Horton Plaza) |
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| A 1978 MAN articulated bus operating on Route 7 picks up passengers on Park Blvd. at the San Diego Zoo |
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| All MTS buses have bike racks now, but in the 1970s and 1980s, only selected routes were equipped, such as Route 41 connecting UCSD and Fashion Valley |
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| An R-route “old-look” GMC bus picks up passengers on westbound Broadway at 4th Avenue |
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| GMC bus at sunset |
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| Interior of one of San Diego Transit’s new 1974 Flxible ‘suburban’ coaches |
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| Mercedes Benz bus used on the City of San Diego Dial-a-Ride program on Sixth Avenue near Balboa Park in the late 1970s |
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| Mercedes Benz minibus in Mission Hills |
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| Mercedes Benz minibus near the UCSD Hospital in Hillcrest |
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| Mercedes Benz minibus on Fourth Avenue next to Horton Plaza in Downtown San Diego |
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| Passengers on a San Diego Transit Route 90 express bus at College Grove Center in the 1970s |
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| Promotional ‘Bus King’ advertisement from the 1970s |
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| San Diego Transit bus stop in the early 1970s |
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| San Diego Transit Route 25 passes through the Fashion Valley Transit Center |
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| San Diego Transit used a fleet of Mercedes Benz minibuses for neighborhood routes in the 1970s |
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| San Diego Transit’s Imperial Avenue yard in downtown San Diego in the early-1970s |
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| The old maintenance shop at the Imperial Avenue Division in the 1970s |
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| These buses at San Diego Transit’s Imperial Avenue yard date in the 1974-1978 range |
