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Quality of Life

Coaster May Extend To Camp Pendleton

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published November 17, 2011 at 11:42 AM PST
This story was published more than 13 years ago.
Coaster service would have to be improved before CALTRANS could expand I-5 under a bill sponsored by State Senator Chris Kehoe, Democrat from San Diego.
Tom Fudge
A COASTER train is shown Jan. 21, 2011 in San Diego County, Calif.
Coaster May Extend To Camp Pendleton
The North County’s Transit District is considering the feasibility of building a new Coaster train station on Camp Pendleton.

Camp Pendleton Marine base officials approached the North County Transit District with the idea of a Coaster stop on base, and the Transit Board thinks it’s a good one. They will spend $334,000 on a feasibility study to see how much it would cost, and how many passengers are likely to use it.

Camp Pendleton is the largest employer in North County. Approximately 100,000 civilians and military, plus their families, live or work on the base.

North County Transit District spokesman Alex Wiggins said base personnel have an added incentive to use the train.

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“We have a number of advantages,”he said.”The Department of Defense offer a transit subsidy, and so both military and civilian officials who use the Coaster will be eligible for transit reimbursement. We think that will definitely spur ridership.”

The Navy reimburses employees up to $230 a month for transit passes.

Wiggins says the Coaster’s maintenance yard is on the base, and building a spur off the main line for a new train stop would be relatively easy. It would be about two miles beyond the Oceanside train station, which is currently the end of the line. He said federal dollars might be forthcoming to help pay for it.

Wiggins said passengers would need the appropriate ID to disembark at the station. The base would handle security.

Camp Pendleton is in the midst of a building boom of hundreds of new homes, barracks, offices and a hospital.

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Cooperation Agreement Between Camp Pendleton and NCTD for New Multi-Modal COASTER Station.

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Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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