We recently purchased a CityPass in San Diego, planning to use it for the 2-day Old Town Trolley and a day at the San Diego Zoo. The initial online purchase and physical redemption process were smooth. However, our experience on the second day of the Old Town Trolley highlighted significant issues.
Despite explicitly telling the booth attendant not to use our second activity credit for our 2/2 days (reserved for the Zoo), they mistakenly scanned it anyway. We only discovered this after boarding and spent the next hour chatting with Old Town Trolley support. While the first representative claimed the issue was resolved, we saw no updates. Thankfully, the second representative resolved the matter quickly in just five minutes.
The incident reinforced the challenges of relying on third-party passes during travel. The Old Town Trolley staff need better training on handling CityPasses. Additionally, Old Town Trolley technology is outdated. Thereās no app to track trolleys or provide real-time updates on shuttle availability. We waited for the "last ride of the day" at Balboa Park, only to find several trolleys arriving full. After waiting fruitlessly at the stop, we ended up walking 35 minutes to Little Italy along the trolley route, passing multiple full trolleys. Ironically, the last trolley we saw (trolley 6 since the stop) was completely empty at 4:30 pm.
An app with features like real-time trolley locations and seat availability would greatly improve the experience. Itās disappointing that such a popular service lags behind modern transportation systems. Would I use the Old Town Trolley again? Honestly, Iām undecided. While the scenic route has its appeal, the logistical frustrations were hard to overlook.