Active Campaign · Petition
Speed Up the 30
The Route 30 bus connects La Jolla to UTC, Pacific Beach, and Old Town — but it spends too much of its day stopped at red lights. We’re asking the City of San Diego to install transit signal priority at nine intersections along the route so the bus runs faster and shows up when the schedule says it will.
The fix
What is transit signal priority?
Transit signal priority (TSP) is a proven, low-cost upgrade to existing traffic signals. When a bus approaches an equipped intersection, the signal detects it and makes a small adjustment — holding a green light a few seconds longer, or shortening a red so the green arrives a little sooner. The bus clears the intersection instead of idling through another cycle.
It is not a green light on demand. Cross traffic, pedestrian walk phases, and emergency vehicle preemption all keep their place. TSP just trims the seconds a bus full of people spends waiting — and those seconds add up over nine intersections, dozens of trips a day, every day.
1. Detect
The approaching bus announces itself to the signal via GPS or a roadside receiver.
2. Adjust
The signal extends the green by a few seconds, or starts it slightly early, within safe limits.
3. Recover
The signal immediately returns to its normal timing, so the rest of the intersection barely notices.
Cities across the country — Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco — use TSP to cut bus travel times and, just as importantly, make them predictable. A bus that reliably hits its schedule is a bus people can actually plan their lives around.
Not just for bus riders
These intersections slow everyone down
The nine signals we’ve identified don’t just delay the bus — they’re pain points for people driving, too. Several run timing plans that leave motorists idling at empty cross streets, and stop-and-go queues around them mean more rear-end conflicts, more emissions, and more frustration for everyone on the road.
TSP helps here in two ways. First, installing it means the city touches these signals: modern detection and updated timing plans typically come with the package, benefiting every vehicle that passes through. Second, a faster and more reliable Route 30 gives more people a real alternative to driving — and every full bus represents dozens of cars that aren’t in line at the light in front of you.
This isn’t transit versus drivers. It’s an upgrade to nine aging intersections that currently serve nobody well.
The locations
Where we’re asking for TSP
These nine intersections along Route 30 in La Jolla cause the most delay and unpredictability for the bus:
- 1Nobel Drive at the Whole Foods parking lot
- 2Nobel Drive & Villa La Jolla Drive
- 3Villa La Jolla Drive & Holiday Court
- 4Gilman Drive & La Jolla Village Drive
- 5La Jolla Shores Drive & El Paseo Grande
- 6La Jolla Shores Drive & Avenida De La Playa
- 7La Jolla Blvd & Nautilus Street
- 8La Jolla Blvd & Palomar Avenue
- 9La Jolla Blvd & Sea Ridge Drive
Our ask
We petition the City of San Diego to implement transit signal priority at the nine intersections listed above, to speed up MTS Route 30 and make it more reliable for the thousands of riders who depend on it.