San Diego Trolley Cuts Late Trips in Half With New Copper Line Service

A year-old San Diego trolley line has dramatically improved on-time performance across the entire trolley system, reports David Garrick in The San Diego Union-Tribune. “The number of late trips across the trolley system was cut nearly in half during the first six months of 2025 thanks to the new Copper Line, a four-stop shuttle that eliminated notorious track-clogging between El Cajon and Santee.”

The new setup requires some passengers to switch trains an additional time, but has made the system’s operations smoother and more reliable, officials say. “When the first six months of 2025 are compared to the same period of 2024, the number of late trains on the system overall dropped from 8% down to 4.3%.” On the Orange Line, delays fell from 12.5 percent to 4.3 percent. 

According to Garrick, “The number of trips completely canceled because of traffic also fell — from 25 down to two on the Green Line, and from 10 down to four on the Orange Line.”