This past week, I attended part of the sustainable living conference at the Tempe Transit Center where some true transit geeks talked policy, lifestyle, and awareness of a more green world. One of the more interesting topics to me was the study on housing and transportation costs here in Arizona and across the country. There […]
Mesa Light Rail Design Review Coming Up!
For immediate release April 14, 2010 Open house to review design elements of Mesa light rail extension PHOENIX — Station locations, street configuration and other design recommendations for the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension will be shared with the community for their comment at an open house on Saturday, April 24, in downtown Mesa. The […]
The Business of Light Rail – A PIRG Study
Today, the Arizona PIRG released a comprehensive study of economic and other benefits that light rail has provided local businesses along the 20 mile light rail line in Arizona. The study, called The Business of Light Rail shows a very interesting insight to development and ridership along the Phoenix light rail line. 14 business owners […]
Metro light rail ridership numbers – March 2010
In March, METRO had highest light rail ridership since opening with 1,161,733 boardings with the first week averaging 40,000+ EACH day. One interesting thing to note is the fact that ridership from Jan-Mar 2010 was over 10% greater than Jan-Mar of 09. In fact, March of 2010 was 19% higher than March of 2009. Back […]
Station Domination – It’s Here
The topic of advertising on the light rail and the lack thereof, has been discussed since before the line ever opened. Many people remember the initial discussions of leaving the trains and stations free from all advertising. In early 2009, we saw the first “test run” of light rail cars being wrapped for the NBA […]
With Light Rail, Misconceptions Abound
Whenever you have large public projects, information can get cloudy. For METRO Light Rail, there has long been a challenge of providing service AND information. Over the past few years, I have been to a LOT of public meetings at the Metro offices, city council chambers, schools, our Chamber of Commerce, etc. and I have […]
Light Rail Delays Can Be Good
We get caught up in our own little worlds and sometimes forget to check things before making assumptions. I learned this lesson the hard way recently. ( probably not for the first time ) As I was heading from Tempe to the Phoenix Public Market with friends the other day, the train stopped at the […]
In Tempe, Man Proves That Alcohol And Light Rail Don’t Mix
OK, I have been biting my tongue this week over the news stories about light rail crashes but this bonehead move just kind of set me off… Don’t drink and drive. We have heard it tens of thousands of times. In fact, many people really like taking light rail to and from fun festivals, sporting […]
Can Night Rail Survive Cuts?
The squeaky wheel… You know the ones, they get out and make themselves heard. It was a bunch of squeaky wheels that introduced the Night Rail concept last year and it “could” be the ones to help save late night light rail ridership now. There was a lot of great stuff coming out of the […]
METRO Seeking Public Input on Service Changes
As we recently have noted, bus and light rail service cuts are “probably’ coming soon. Here is a copy of a press release issued today giving people a reminder of their opportunity to participate in the process. Provide input on potential METRO service changes PHOENIX — Two public meetings are scheduled to hear rider input […]