Tour Bus / Bus, Tijuana

Another option for travel between San Diego and the Tijuana Airport is the Volairis Shuttle.

Volaris has a shuttle service. The charge at this writing is $15.00 one way and that includes crossing the border.

Update:

VT's Agraichen says, "Talked to a Volaris driver at the Amtrak station last week. The price was $20 for the shuttle."

Thanks Al , for the update. That's just over $1.00 a mile. Still an inexpensive and convenient option.

In San Diego, Volaris has a desk inside the Santa Fe Depot. This is a convenient place even for those using public transportation. In Tijuana their desk is at the Tijuana Aeropuerto.

Either way you are planning to go, check their website for specific info. especially prices can change.

Transportes El Volante

A little known fact--except by the local Mexicans traveling to and from Tijuana--is Transportes El Volante. This bus will by-pass the walk from the border to downtown. Transportes El Volante It will take you all the way into town for $1.75 One Way or $3.00 Round Trip--children under five ride free.

Between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. a bus leaves about every 20 minutes. To get on this bus, take the Blue Line Trolley to the Beyer Street Station where you will see the white and red busses lined up. They will take you across the border and have stops on Avenida Madero--one block east of Revolucion--at First Street, Fourth Street and Seventh Street..

The return trip pick-ups are at the same drop-off points.

A decision to take one of these busses should also include the decision to accept what comes along with inexpensive travel Mexican style. Each bus is an old rattling school bus, not comfortable and the clientele is quite an interesting variety. They may not leave on time, but it is IMO, that the walking it saves is well worth the price!

If this seems a solution for you, take the San Diego Trolley Blue Line to San Ysidro and get off at the Beyer Boulevard Station, this is where you'll find the El Volante busses.

Update:

It seems that the Law has caught-up with El Volante?

Well, I don't really know, but they seem not to be running buses from Beyer Station any longer.

However, there seems to be buses popping up all the time that will take you into Tijuana. You'll see a sign on the bus, "La Linea." There are buses that will take you into Tijuana, Mexico that can be found near the San Ysidro Trolley Station. As soon as I get the exact info I will share it here. The general idea of how these buses work is basically like that of El Volante so I leave the details in for now.

There are many busses at the Tijuana bus station that will take you all around Mexico. The Mexicoach, Crucero, and Greyhound also run you north of the border and taking it to the border is cheap and gets you in the quicker bus line at customs.

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touring thew Northern baja California area via the most popular tour consortium of Coach America/ Grayline Tours. you can book a mexico tour online or via phone and you just give them your credit card number to ba able to get a Baja California tour. the tours are either a tijuana half day tour for $ 39 or a whole day Rosarito Beach Tour for $ 49 and a whole day Ensenada/Rosarito Beach and Tijuana Stopover tour for $ 72 or a whole day San Diego City tour with tijuana afternoon tour for $ 61. call now.

Address of Grayline/Coach America is:

Gray Line San Diego

www.sandiego.reservations@coachamerica.com
www.charters@sandiegograyline.com
www.coachamericasandiego.com
www.sandiegograyline.com

3888 Beech Street
San Diego, CA 92105

By Air: Tijuana International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Abelardo L. Rodriguez) is just 5 miles east of downtown. The front of the airport terminal is directly from the border fence between Mexico and the United States.

By Bus: Greyhound Buses run daily from San Diego to Tijuana. There are also buses on the U.S. side at the border that will take you across into downtown Tijuana.

By Car : If you drive, take interstate 5 or 805 South to San Ysidro. There are parking lots where you can pay to park your car while you walk across the border, take a taxi or a bus.

By Trolley :A trolley to San Ysidro leaves from many locations in San Diego to the border. The trip takes about 45 mins and runs 7 days a week.

Border Carparking : There are large commercial car parks where you can leave your car for 24 hours. You can then take a border bus right in the parking lot which will take you across the border to the tourist terminal at Av Revolución.

There are so many ways to go around in public transportation. From the common transportation buses, taxis, etc to the unique vehicles as "taxis de ruta". These kind of taxis can fit up to 10 people inside, three in front, four on the midle and three more on the back.
The taxis de ruta just make the same route all the time as the buses, each route has a different colour.
If you have the chance to go in one of those taxis try the back seat.

Why take a taxi de ruta instead of a bus or maybe better to take a bus?

Taxis are usually faster, and there are more of them. And there are many itineries that the taxis de ruta run.

Using buses to get around Tijuana is not so simple and not so comfortable - they have no effective air-condition and they are crowded in rush-hours.

Are you ready for that? If not - consider hiring a Taxi Especial to take you wherever you are going.

If you are coming from the USA, you might want to park your car in San Ysidro and take a short bus ride across the Mexican border and into Tijuana. The buses run every half hour or hour between the drop off point in Tijuana and the parking lot in San Ysidro. There is a special lane for buses, so often the border crossing goes faster than if you try to drive your own vehicle.

In 1993, the rental car companies required you to get special insurance and to notify them before taking a vehicle into Mexico. Today that might be different, but I can't say for sure.

If you're ready for some adventure, and maybe trying to save some money, you can try the local form of para-transit.

These buses are privately operated, yet run set routes, stopping whereever needed...

Try it, it's fun!