Downtown San Diego has grown significantly over the past ten years and new transportation services are needed for residents, workers, and visitors. Horton Plaza, the Convention Center, the North Embarcadero, Petco Park, and residential development throughout downtown are changing traditional travel patterns and require a different approach to transportation planning and service provision. Because downtown San Diego will continue to be one of the main employment centers in the region, these issues have prompted SANDAG and the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) to embark on a joint planning effort to enhance the role of transit in downtown San Diego.
Development of the Downtown Comprehensive Transit Study is closely coordinated with CCDC’s Downtown Community Plan Update (DCPU). A community plan is used to plan the future of a particular area at a finer level of detail than provided by the City's General Plan. Through an integrated planning process, the Downtown Community Plan will be a collaborative tool that defines the visions and goals for future downtown development, by bringing together the different perspectives of the community stakeholders. One of the key inputs to the community plan update is the Downtown Comprehensive Transit Study and these study efforts are being undertaken in concert to ensure the integration of land use and transportation plans.
The Downtown Comprehensive Transit Study (DCTS) is based on the principles of Transit First, an innovative mobility strategy adopted by the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) in October 2000 and incorporated into SANDAG’s recently adopted 2030 Regional Transportation Plan. Transit First was developed with extensive input from San Diego County residents about what would encourage them to choose transit for their daily travel needs. The Transit First strategy aims to incorporate the characteristics – like speed and flexibility - that are important to residents so that transit becomes the first choice in travel for many of us. | 
