Weekday service frequencies will change Monday, July 26
METRO light rail will undergo service changes in fiscal year 2010-2011 as an unfortunate result of the slow economy and substantial decrease in sales tax collections that support public services like transit. Specifically, on Monday, July 26, the service reductions will take effect in conjunction with Valley bus service changes.
The light rail service changes will be as follows:
- Presently, METRO runs 10-minute peak service from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Come July 26, METRO will run every 12 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; all other times of the weekday, trains will run every 20 minutes. METRO will continue to begin and end at the same times of day; total service hours and weekend schedule will not be impacted.
- Light rail and bus will also consider five additional holidays – Christmas Eve, day after Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents Day and Veterans Day – as transit holidays whereby trains and buses run on their Sunday schedules. Trains run every 20 minutes on Sundays/holidays.
Changes to the METRO operations budget are necessary to address a decline in sales tax revenue. Sales tax revenue is the largest funding source for transit service Valleywide; fare revenue supports the balance of operating costs at approximately 25 percent. While METRO ridership continues to grow, riders’ fare revenue contribution cannot keep up with the sharp drop in sales tax collections.
These changes were decided upon following a public input process and internal cost-cutting in an effort to affect the least amount of riders.
Source: METRO light Rail: Thanks to METRO for the updates.
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