Transit San Diego is a transportation campaign led by the Cleveland National Forest Foundation. We are dedicated to the rebirth of San Diego by building a foundation that unites its diversity in a common functional and sustainable city. We must take back the city with public power that sets the rules which enhance urban equity and social justice.

California is currently facing several crises: the housing crisis, our ecological crisis, and a transit crisis. The state repeatedly attempts non-solutions that make our crises worse, like allowing expensive, sprawling development in the backcountry that increases reliance on high-emission, expensive car commutes and destroys precious ecosystem. 

In creating Transit San Diego, the CNFF team wants to show that a different solution is possible, and urgently needed. What California needs to be doing is building affordable housing in infill areas and better connecting urban areas with area complete public transit. This reduces emissions from sprawl, saves costs needed to own and frequently use a car (as well as the fossil fuel those cars would burn), creates housing where it is needed most and creates it in more diverse forms than the single-family home, and more. We call this vision for a more just and sustainable future our Climate, Housing, and Transit Alternative plan (CHTA). 

The core beliefs of our CHTA are as follows:

• Housing must be built in areas where transportation is already affordable, i.e. areas close to walkable centers served by transit.
• Transit needs to be designed to work: it needs to be high-speed, high-frequency, and high-capacity to effectively connect the San Diego region and be competitive with auto transportation. At least 50% of the region’s urban area mode share should be transit, bike, and walk. 
• The San Diego region urgently needs to move away from business as usual in order to meet its climate goals. Building a complete transit system in the region will lead to significant benefits in housing and commute affordability and is crucial in addressing our climate emergency.

In order to address our crises and achieve this vision, CNFF is working on important projects to protect undeveloped land from sprawl and to encourage a paradigm shift from business as usual to actually addressing climate, housing, and transit. You can find out more about our current work here, and you can support our mission by donating here.