Symphony seeking input on bus transportation to concerts

The San Diego Symphony is seeking input from local residents about a roundtrip bus transportation program to the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park for certain shows this year.

“My objective is to make people in the community aware of the fact that we’re trying to put together a program to provide bus transportation down to the Shell throughout the summer,” said Bill Weber, a vice chair of the San Diego Symphony Board of Directors.

There was a de facto bus transportation pilot program last year that drew a lot of positive feedback from the people who participated.

“We put together a couple of bus trips,” Weber said. “There were some particular concerts we thought some of our friends might enjoy. So we took two or three trips down there, probably with a bus full of 35 people, something like that. The feedback we got was that they really liked it.”

Weber said that there was a small reception for people who used the bus program last year, with a questionnaire asking them which shows they would be interested in attending this upcoming season.

“I wanted to get an idea of which concerts had the greatest interest,” Weber said. “One of the things I found, which was quite interesting to me, there were probably 10 concerts that right off the bat had at least 10 people who wanted to go. One of them had 17. This was just from a limited group of 25 people who came to this reception.”

He added that there were people who have told him that they would go more often if they didn’t have to drive.

There is a major restoration and renovation of the symphony’s historic home, the Jacobs Music Center, currently underway. Some of the upgrades will include improved acoustics, expanding the flexibility of the stage, improved ADA access and other seat modifications, and better stage lighting.

“The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park was the first important step because not only is it a fabulous venue, but it has allowed us to shift more of our performances from Jacobs Music Center during construction,” Martha A. Gilmer, CEO of the San Diego Symphony, said in a statement earlier this year. “We look forward with great excitement to opening a renewed and improved Jacobs Music Center in late 2023.”

For inquiries and to provide input about the bus program, email tickets@sandiegosymphony.org. When the program is finalized, the symphony will contact everyone.