By Alison St John
A new rapid bus service began over the weekend between Escondido and downtown San Diego, using Interstate 15 express lanes.
Rapid 235 began service on Sunday from Escondido through Rancho Bernardo, Kearny Mesa, City Heights, City College to Broadway in downtown.
It operates seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., and runs every 15 minutes during weekday rush hours, and every 30 minutes during non-rush hours and on weekends. Twenty-nine newly designed buses will supply the route, paid for with transnet sales tax dollars.
City Heights Active Transportation Manager Randy Van Vleck has dubbed the line “Centerline Lite,” because it’s an early phase of the long-awaited Centerline project. In 2016, Van Vleck said, passengers will board the bus via freeway-level stations in the center divide. Caltrans promised the stations in the 1980s after razing homes in City Heights to extend the I-15.
Megan Burks contributed to this report.