The Phoenix Sky Harbor light rail shuttle service appears to be doing pretty well. Often, as I approach the 44th street and Washington station, I see people carrying travel bags as they enter and exit the trains. This FREE light rail shuttle runs seven days per week at the same times as the light rail trains and stops at terminals 2, 3 and 4.
Demand for other shuttles has surfaced recently as well with the Desert Botanical Garden shuttle beginning a service sponsored by APS running from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily between the Priest/Washington station and the Garden's entrance. I have also heard some talk of Mesa looking into adding hotel shuttle services from Sycamore and Main which might be a great fit as we get closer to spring training season. (I doubt it would happen that quick)
These services appear to be getting used even while there are some that say most of the early boardings have just been because of the "curiosity factor" or are still mainly "first-time" riders. It will be interesting to see any real numbers concerning the ridership of these services. If I hear of any, I'll let you know. If you see any, please send em' my way.
Remember, Rail Life has a Phoenix Light Rail Group on Flickr. Basically, we want to share some of our pictures from the community and allow people to add their pics (or videos), as well. These can be light rail related, but we also want pics of your favorite spot, restaurant, sports team, community, event etc.
Again, it’s anecdotal, but I get on at Montebello/19th M-F and I usually see a few people with their travel bags getting on there every morning.
Thanks Bob… It is interesting, to me, to hear about the people coming from 19th / Montebello to the airport. Most of my trips are from the East valley so I don’t see as much of it as someone like yourself that rides as often. It makes perfect sense that people use the shuttle from Montebello. Thanks for the input.