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Getting Around: Santa Barbara, CA

✔️

Santa Barbara Essentials

Tap credit card to pay
Transit app is accurate
Very poor frequency.
Limited routes.

✅

Pros

Clean
Fast once on board
Tap payment

❌

Cons

Poor coverage
Poor frequency
Some routes are seasonal

Traveled April 2025

➕

Riding: Nope!

Sometimes I get ahead of myself and think “Oh, I can take transit there!” I’d taken the Santa Barbara bus before, when I was in Carpinteria. It wasn’t frequent, but it got me there.

So when I was booking a hotel in Santa Barbara, it looked close enough on the map, and I neglected to notice that the bus situation was suboptimal.

There was a route, along the beach, to my hotel. When I say “was,” I mean “was, in the past.” The route has been suspended. Whether it was seasonal or gone forever was unclear. What’s clear was that it wasn’t running when I was there.

Of course, the sign didn’t tell me that it wasn’t running. Only the website had that information.

Screenshot of Santa Barbara MTD website: Downtown-Waterfront shuttle, Summer Schedule (May 31st - September 2nd, 2024). Friday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm, every 20 minutes. Fare information below.

The bus along the waterfront is seasonal and runs 3 days per week.

Shuttle service is currently suspended.

Signpost with Santa Barbara bus route map. No Stopping Any Time sign higher up on pole. Street beyond, trees visible on other side.

Bus stop with route map for the bus that wasn’t running. No indication that it’s not running.

By the time I realized there was no bus, I had already walked a few blocks in that direction. I could backtrack and walk up a significant hill to catch a bus, or I could keep going.

I kept going.

This left me with a rather lengthy walk down an absolutely gorgeous beachfront path with crystal clear skies after the previous day’s rain.

Oh, the horror.

Sidewalk at left. Large lawn with palm trees to right, followed by bike path, hedges, and beach. Blue sky with scattered gray clouds.

Lacking better options, I schlepped my luggage along this gorgeous beach landscape.

Sidewalk. Cars parked to left, line of palm trees to right. Hillside homes, mountain, and gray clouds beyond.

I begrudgingly walked down this gorgeous sidewalk.

Lawn with scattered palm trees. Bike path approaches from right and turns into distance. Metal fence in front. Some grass worn into dirt. Beach, clouds, hills in distance.

Had I brought a bike, I could’ve ridden down this lovely path.

Parking Everywhere

I walked to the Santa Barbara pier that evening for dinner. The pier is about 1/3 pedestrian, and 2/3 cars. Yes, there are cars and parking on the Santa Barbara pier. Because nothing says “let’s take a stroll and enjoy the fresh ocean air” like a bidirectional procession of Chevy Malibus waddling over the wooden planks.