** Update: Yes, this was an April Fools Day post. Thanks for playing along! 🙂 ** It’s been a long time coming but the latest news out of Washington indicates that METRO will finally be able to fast-track some of the highly anticipated improvements and line extensions to the very successful Phoenix light rail system. […]
Metro light rail ridership numbers – February 2011
While January 2011 boardings were impressive once again, the February numbers improved by a little over 6,000 with a total of 1,080,821. I have a hunch that March numbers will be even more impressive as the Spring weather always brings people out to play. Beer festivals, the Aloha Festival, Arizona CityFest, sporting events, the Tempe […]
Another METRO Milestone in Phoenix
New park-and-ride lot now open. Breakfast celebration featuring the Suns, free transit passes set for Wed., 3/23 The ARRA-funded 7th Avenue/Camelback park-and-ride has opened offering METRO light rail passengers additional and shaded parking. The lot will provide greater access to the transit system and is well-timed considering the growth in ridership and gas prices. To […]
Relief For Mesa Light Rail Business Owners
We have been watching the news about funding for the Mesa light rail extension for quite some time. Yesterday, the East Valley Tribune reported about “Grants to aid Mesa merchants along light-rail route.” There has been a lot of discussion in the past about how to best help business owners along the line during a […]
Rail Life Pic Of The Week – Getting Pumped
There has been some chatter about rising gas prices for a while now. Some people are predicting $4.00 soon, some people say $5.00 per gallon is right around the corner. Are they right? I don’t know. One thing is for sure, prices are up dramatically and are once again well above three bucks a gallon. […]
Great Arizona Beer Festival Coming To Tempe Beach Park
**Updated info for this years Great AZ Beer Fest in Tempe** The 2011 Great Arizona Beer Festival is coming to Tempe Beach Park THIS Saturday, March 5th. Hurry to get your Great Arizona Beer Festival Tickets prior to the 5th and save yourself some cash. Before Saturday, general admission tickets to the Tempe Beer Festival […]
Phoenix Blogger Speaks Out About I-10 West Extension: You Can Too
Recently, I read a blog post titled, “Light rail loses its way. “ In that post, we read about potential pitfalls of the extension as well as suggestions for alternatives. One thing that seems to resonate with just about everyone is the economic development opportunities that are available along certain routes. “Instead of moving through […]
Metro light rail ridership numbers – January 2011
While December 2011 boardings were shy of the 1 million mark, the January numbers rebounded quite well with a total of 1,074,803. Daily, weekend / holiday numbers were all up over the previous month. Positive numbers and growing ridership is almost getting boring, will we see a slowdown soon? Not likely. Gas prices continue to […]
More Light Rail Service Cuts Possible
Just last year we were talking about transportation cuts. The realities of poor sales tax revenue appear to be the main cause of the continued need to make budget changes in many areas. While last year’s cuts didn’t seem to hurt too bad, the pain probably isn’t over. Once again, we are hearing talks of […]
Valley Metro Elects New Officers
Congrats go out to Shana Ellis of Tempe for being elected to Chair the 2011 Valley Metro Board of Directors. Shana has been very active in serving as Tempe’s representative to the Metro Rail Board and has been involved with many of their projects. Also elected were Ron Ames and Michael Johnson. Each of these […]