Tara Sullivan had been hopping in her Honda to battle rush-hour traffic on Interstate 5 between her place in Hillcrest and UC San Diego, where she’s wrapping up a doctorate in economics. But recently, the 32-year-old has been riding the new Blue Line trolley extension that opened in November.

“I hate driving,” said Sullivan, who was reading a science fiction book on the trolley Tuesday morning. “It’s very stressful. As a PhD student, gas and parking is just way too high to do it every day.”

She’s not alone. Ridership on buses and trolleys has been gaining steadily in recent weeks, as the rising costs of cars and gasoline add to the appeal of mass transit.

Bus and trolley use had plunged as COVID-19 shuttered workplaces and ushered in a wave of telecommuting. However, ridership reached 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels last week, up from a low of about 30 percent last spring, according to the most recent data from the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. The trolley led the way, at more than 80 percent of normal for this time of year.

The rise in fuel prices since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, meanwhile, has shown no signs of abating. The average cost for a gallon of regular in San Diego climbed Friday to $5.999, up from $4.812 a month ago, according to AAA.

That’s played into Juliet Jules’ decision to ditch her car commute in favor of taking transit. The Mission Beach resident has worked as a nurse at the UCSD Medical Center for the last 10 years.

“I’ll never drive to work again because one, the traffic; two, the fuel; three, the convenience,” said 52-year-old, who was riding the trolley on Tuesday in her scrubs.

Jules said at least five colleagues have since joined her, despite initial concerns about safety. MTS records an average of roughly 55 thefts and a couple dozen assaults a year on the trolley.

“I told them, ‘It’s 100 percent safe,’” she said. “I haven’t encountered any issues since I’ve been riding.”

People like Jules and Sullivan — middle-class workers with cars — represent a minority of MTS riders. About 70 percent of the agency’s clientele are what’s known as “transit dependent,” meaning they lack regular access to a vehicle.

Luring more “choice riders” onto buses and trolley has long been a mission for MTS and the region’s long-range transportation planning agency, the San Diego Association of Governments.

Encouraging people to ditch their car commutes, for example, was a major factor in building the $2.2 billion Blue Line extension from Old Town to University City. Running parallel to the highly congested I-5, the line allows passengers to travel between the U.S.-Mexico border and one of the region’s largest job centers without having to transfer.

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After several years of declines, transit ridership in San Diego and around the country had been picking up just prior to the pandemic. Now officials hope they can regain that momentum, as many businesses and office buildings continue to reopen and the cost of driving spikes.

To that end, officials are preparing to roll out a program in May that will allow people 18 years old and younger to ride transit for free.

“At a time when inflation is so high and people are just scrambling to keep up, we are very cost competitive for a lot of people,” said MTS Chief Executive Officer Sharon Cooney.

Some people just enjoy taking public transit. Jordan Phillips and her husband, who moved from the Netherlands to San Diego two months ago, don’t own a car. They live in an apartment in La Jolla that is a short walk to the Executive Drive Station.

“I don’t want to get a car. I really don’t,” said the 55-year-old teacher, who was riding the trolley south to Old Town last week on her way to her job in Grantville. “Granted it take me an hour instead of 25 minutes, but I’m actually using that time to get ready for work, plan lessons, whatever.”

Phillips said they’ll likely end up buying a vehicle at some point. But for now, they’re relying on transit to get groceries and run other errands.

“It’s really not a high priority,” she said. “Even now, the stuff we want to get, most of that can be delivered.”

Still, experts have long held that major gains in ridership are likely to depend on not only expanding transit systems but creating disincentives to drive — such as per-mile driving charges.

Los Angeles has spent billions of dollars on its rail system only to see usage decline. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is now looking at imposing per-mile fees on drivers that could fluctuate with traffic, also known as congestion pricing.

SANDAG has drafted an ambitious $160 billion transportation blueprint aimed at transforming the San Diego region into dense, walkable villages serviced by bustling new train stations and on-demand shuttles. But the agency’s top brass says it will only work if the plan includes road charges.

They point to the recent bump in ridership amid sky-high gas prices as evidence that commuters are cost sensitive. Ridership, they point out, also jumped in September, when MTS waived fares to usher in its new collection system, PRONTO.

SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata has projected that transit ridership could jump from about 3 percent of all commutes today to more than 10 percent within the next two decades.

“If you offer a system equivalent to the car and we price it right, I think, you’re going to see a big jump,” he said.

Not everyone agrees. Opponents of transit have seized on public opposition to road charges. They’re campaigning against a proposed tax hike needed to fund Ikhrata’s vision, which labor and environmental groups hope to place on the November ballot.

“What the liberal mindset wants to do is say, ‘We want to punish you into doing this,’” said Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Councilman turned talk-radio host and conservative political activist.

Even San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear — who have strongly backed a proposed sales-tax increase — have backed away from the idea of per-mile charges.

“The mayor remains concerned that a road-usage charge would saddle San Diegans with substantial cost increases for their basic transportation needs before the necessary improvements to public transit make it a truly viable choice for most trips,” Gloria’s office said in an email, “and the recent fuel price surge has only increased his concerns about the cost burden.”

Asked whether SANDAG’s plan could work without congestion pricing and the revenue it would raise, Ikhrata was blunt: “No. Period.”

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