INVESTIGATION FILE

The Trolley Question

Why San Diego built a transit system that skips where people actually go

A structural investigation into how a century of compounding decisions — the 1948-49 streetcar dismantling, the 1978 freight right-of-way purchase, the FTA cost-effectiveness formula, the SANDAG suburban-veto board structure, and the Airport Authority revenue model — produced a trolley network that serves employment centers and industrial corridors but not the airport, the beaches, or the zoo. Proof-of-concept for structural (not personal) accountability journalism.

NEW HERE? Start with The Wiring → Part 5: SANDAG

REPORTS IN THIS FILE

01
The Trolley Question

The Trolley Question, Part 1: Why the Trolley Skips the Airport, Beaches, and Zoo
02
The Trolley Question

The Trolley Question, Part 2: Paying to Say No

A MathPolitics Investigation — The Trolley Question, Part 2
03
The Trolley Question

The Trolley Question, Part 3: The Two-Mile Gap

A MathPolitics Investigation — The Trolley Question, Part 3

$1.3B The revenue-forecast gap SANDAG staff didn't disclose before the 2004 vote

Walk 1.9 miles west from the last trolley station and you hit Pacific Beach. The paperwork explaining why there's no rail there is six years older than the Working Group that gets the credit — and it's federal.
04
The Trolley Question

The Trolley Question, Part 4: Parking Is the Revenue

A MathPolitics Investigation — The Trolley Question, Part 4 of 4

43% Share of SDCRAA total revenue dependent on ground-access activities (FY25, audited)

The airport can't afford a trolley. The port can't afford a trolley. The region can't raise the match for the one the airlines already pledged. And the formula from Part 3 will never get the chance to say no — because no agency has reason to ask.
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The Trolley Question

SANDAG: A Primer

The San Diego Association of Governments — 21 seats, zero voters, two kinds of vote
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