• Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google +
  • Flickr
  • You Tube
  • Nick Bastian

Rail Life

Phoenix Light Rail News and Information

  • About RailLife
  • Events
  • Homes Near Light Rail
  • Phoenix Light Rail Map
You are here: Home / Light Rail / Taking Light Rail to Sky Harbor Airport – A real life example:

Taking Light Rail to Sky Harbor Airport – A real life example:

December 7, 2009 by Nick Bastian 2 Comments

Since I began writing this blog, I have met a LOT of really cool people. Wayne Turner is one of those guys. Recently, we were talking about taking the light rail to Sky Harbor Airport and about the new Sky Train system that is coming. As a business traveler and downtown resident, Wayne will get a lot of use from light rail to the airport. Here is a brief introduction of my friend, followed by his experience in using the system… Big thanks to Wayne for this blog post!

Wayne Turner moved to downtown Phoenix five years ago after he realized during his first trip to Portland, Oregon two years earlier that he had been in that city for five days and had never got into an actual car.  In Portland, he traveled on light rail, streetcar, bus and bicycle and yet saw all the sights the city had to offer.  When he got back, he wanted to find a similar place in Phoenix, which turned out to be downtown in the Roosevelt Historic District, where he now resides.

On Portland Street.

_____________________________________________________

As someone who has lived in downtown Phoenix for over five years I had welcomed the addition of the Metro Light Rail to my travel options (also, having lived through ALL the years of light rail construction, I felt like I was entitled :).  I have used it extensively for getting to the ballpark, or Tempe, or as a way to get home when I ride my bicycle farther away than I expected.  What I had NOT done was use it to get to the airport because I did not have a good idea of how long it would take.  Traveling every week or two for business, it would be a good option, but did need to do the research.

I suppose I could have just taken any day and rode to the airport even if I was not flying anywhere but I wanted this to be a real world example with my luggage and everything, I so decided to take the rail to the airport for a recent overnight trip to Las Vegas.  My house is about 150 yards from the Roosevelt Station on Central and Roosevelt so my front door was my starting point, with my goal to see how long it took to get to my gate for my flight.  Not having any idea how long this would take, I left my house about two hours ahead of my flight and kept track of each leg of the journey.  Here was the breakdown, with the "wait times" being how long from when I got to that stop to when I was in the vehicle (rail or shuttle) and it was moving again:

Walk from house to Roosevelt rail station:    6:22

Wait for light rail:  13:06

Rail from Roosevelt station to airport shuttle station:  21:02

Wait for shuttle:  9:56

Shuttle from airport shuttle station to airport:  5:58

Walk from shuttle drop-off to gate:  6:07

This is a total of one hour, two minutes and 31 seconds (1:02:31); judging by the wait times for the rail (13 minutes) and the shuttle (10 minutes) I think I can safely say that this is probably close to the worst case.

All this to know one thing: it takes me an hour to get from my door to my gate riding Metro Light Rail and the cost is less than 10% of parking for ONE DAY at the terminal at the airport.

See you on the rail; I’ll be the guy with a suitcase.

Wayne

airport shuttle

Filed Under: Light Rail, Light Rail Travel Times, Phoenix Light Rail Tagged With: Metro Light Rail, Phoenix Light Rail, Sky Harbor Airport, Sky Train

About Nick Bastian

Nick Bastian is a 29 year veteran of the real estate industry and can be reached at 602-803-6425. You'll also find him sharing real estate info on his web site and hanging out onTwitter.
Family man, lover of life, maker of friends. A bit of a geek, long time Tempe real estate guy just havin' some fun. What's your story?

Comments

  1. tdhurst says

    December 7, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    I ride it to and from the airport now and have never waited as long as you did. Definitely MUCH easier than driving or being dropped off and way cheaper.

    Reply
  2. tdhurst says

    December 7, 2009 at 9:38 pm

    I ride it to and from the airport now and have never waited as long as you did. Definitely MUCH easier than driving or being dropped off and way cheaper.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RailLife

Thanks for visiting RailLife.com! We want to be your resource for all that is light rail in Arizona. Here, we share information about “life along the line.” Feel free to cruise around and to bookmark the site as information is added or changed often!

RailLife Uber Code

Good for $20 off your first ride with Uber! Use Promo code: RAILLIFE OR click here to get an Uber account: RailLife Sign up code

Search RailLife

Search for Homes

Looking for a home? Search NickBastian.com for your future home.

Homes Near Light Rail

31 Listings
2102 W BERRIDGE Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85015

$670,000 2102 W BERRIDGE Lane
Phoenix, AZ 85015

144 W ELM Street, Phoenix, AZ 85013

$670,000 144 W ELM Street
Phoenix, AZ 85013

540 W Mariposa Street, 1, Phoenix, AZ 85013

$749,999 540 W Mariposa Street, 1
Phoenix, AZ 85013

1308 E Monroe Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034

$489,900 1308 E Monroe Street
Phoenix, AZ 85034

102 W HIGHLAND Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85013

$789,000 102 W HIGHLAND Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85013

305 W CORONADO Road, Phoenix, AZ 85003

$845,000 305 W CORONADO Road
Phoenix, AZ 85003

previous next

MLS IDX Listing Disclosure © 2023

Copyright 2023 Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All rights reserved. Information Not Guaranteed and Must Be Confirmed by End User. Site contains live data.

Lakeside Living

7 Listings
140 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 102, Tempe, AZ 85281

$520,000 140 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 102
Tempe, AZ 85281

120 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 404, Tempe, AZ 85281

$1,100,000 120 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 404
Tempe, AZ 85281

945 E PLAYA DEL NORTE Drive, 1027, Tempe, AZ 85288

$599,900 945 E PLAYA DEL NORTE Drive, 1027
Tempe, AZ 85288

140 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 203, Tempe, AZ 85281

$949,000 140 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 203
Tempe, AZ 85281

420 W 1ST Street, 323, Tempe, AZ 85281

$460,000 420 W 1ST Street, 323
Tempe, AZ 85281

140 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 211, Tempe, AZ 85281

$449,000 140 E RIO SALADO Parkway, 211
Tempe, AZ 85281

previous next

MLS IDX Listing Disclosure © 2023

Copyright 2023 Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All rights reserved. Information Not Guaranteed and Must Be Confirmed by End User. Site contains live data.

RailLife Posts

Looking For A REALTOR To Rock The Rail Life

Nowhere To Eat In Downtown Mesa

Could Coyotes Help Expand Tempe Streetcar?

Scott Smith Remaining as Valley Metro CEO

Banta Lawyers Up – Sues Valley Metro for $1.65 Million

© 2023 · RailLife · Developed by Marketing Press