It has been over thirty years since I last visited San Diego. How does one get from the Airport to Hotel Circle? I hope that getting to and from the airport is not a repeat of Grand Rapids. I am spoiled. I live in state where it is possible to get from the airport to the convention center downtown and back without having to take a cab.
Cab, Uber, super shuttle or call the hotel about a free shuttle
I figured that San Diego would have a modern public transportation system. I guess that I was wrong. The AHA really needs to start to factor transportation into the equation when deciding on where to hold NHC. In Maryland, it is possible to get from BWI Airport to downtown Baltimore and back via light rail, no cab fare involved. It appears that San Diego cab fares make Grand Rapids cab fares seem cheap in comparison. I was quoted $30.00 to get from San Diego Airport to 500 Hotel Circle, a distance of 7.2 miles. It’s cheaper to take a cab in the District of Columbia (which is not necessary because of the Metro). Washington, D.C. is a lot more upscale than San Diego.
The SuperShuttle appears to be the way to go to and from the airport.
You can’t get to/from just about anywhere in CA on public transit. It’s kinda sorta lousy and one of the only things about Uber I can praise is that it’s deflated to overstuffed charges on taxis out here.
I’m not sure I would say the shared supershuttle is the way to go at $11… Uber quotes $10-14 and you are not stuck waiting for the shuttle to fill…
Then again… I don’t think that uber quote included the $5 airport fee…
I would check Uber as well, and also consider ride sharing. It should be fairly obvious who else is an NHC attendee, IME. ;) We shared a cab three ways in Grand Rapids and it wound up being less than $15 a person from what I recall. CA is not a public transport culture (with a few relatively rare exceptions). If you want to do Uber on the cheap and you don’t have an account, sign up with my referral link, and you’ll get a $20 credit which should cover your first ride (and I will too).
San Diego does have a trolley system, but it does not connect to the airport. We might take it before the conference, to check out Old Town and the Gas Lamp District. We will pick it up near the Town and Country.
Past conferenes that we used public transportation to get from the airport were SF/Oakland, Seattle/Bellevue.
Drove to Philly, could have done rail there. No rail to the Denver airport, but went from the hotel to Downtown twice. Did the train from Ann Arbor to Chicago, blue line up to the Hotel near O’Hare. Drove to Cincinnatti and Minneapolis. So we have been able to go without a car for more than a few conferences.
Just take Uber; it is usually way less expensive than a cab and pretty fast (even in Los Angeles).
I am not getting into an Uber-contracted vehicle no matter how much cheaper it is than a licensed taxi. Uber is a completely unregulated service.
I’ll be using the trolley to get around for a couple days beforehand, and to get to/from the conference. The bus (#992) from the airport to downtown runs every 15 minutes, and from there you can pick your trolley line.
The hotel is at the Fashion Valley stop on the Green Line trolley. I see there is a foot bridge from the station directly to the hotel. Short walk.
Getting from the airport to the Green Line will require the bus trip since it looks like heavily trafficked streets and highways around the airport.
I’m getting there on Tuesday morning and meeting up with Sean T. to crawl a bit of SD. We don’t know where we are going.
This is good information. I will be arriving with my wife this Saturday and then dropping her and the rental car off at the airport early Wednesday morning. I will research the bus and trolley option back to the hotel since I won’t have any luggage at that point.
Just out of curiosity what regulations do you want from uber? They do perform background checks on the drivers (including county and federal courthouse records, multi state criminal database, sex offender db, lifetime social security trace, motor vehicle records) and the drivers have to have their vehicles inspected (girlfriend is going through the process now)
I drove a yellow cab once. They made me get a haircut and verified that I knew where the hospitals and major hotels were located. Sometimes they provided me with a cab that would stall out or shake real bad at highway speeds.
I don’t know much about uber, but it seems that if the fare had to create an account to use it, that would be safer for the driver. I picked up a couple of dudes who called in for the cab and they subsequently robbed me at gunpoint and locked me in the trunk. Fortunately the cab stalled out when they tried to drive away.
Just a different point of view.
Transportation is regulated by the states and the federal government for a reason. The whole ride sharing model is a house of cards that is awaiting one marquee lawsuit. Does Uber require their drivers to carry at least $1M in liability insurance coverage that covers accidents while their vehicles are being used in a commercial capacity? No, Uber “offers” $1M commercial coverage for UberX ride share accidents. As one who was seriously injured by a motorist less than a decade ago (as in unable to work and several surgeries injured), I wish those who are unlucky enough to be injured in a Uber ride share-related accident the best of luck while attempting to collect on that policy. You can bet that Uber’s legal team will erect as many “cost saving” roadblocks to your treatment as they possibly get through the legal system. If one believes that one can navigate that kind of nightmare without the services of a competent attorney, think again. Additionally, if one believes that one can collect against the driver’s personal insurance policy while the driver is in “for hire” mode, think again. Most personal insurance policies do not cover commercial use of one’s vehicle just as one’s homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover commercial use of one’s residence. Insurance companies can and have denied claims that were associated with the commercial use of vehicle or residence.