Metro Phoenix Transit/Transportation Developments

[PHX31]

YAY!!!! I saw a 3-car train. It was at the van buren and central station.

[NIXPHX77]

for the past week i have been seeing 3 car trains regularly.

[glynnjamin]

What the hell!?!?

I drive down central every day and can see the tracks from my window - NEVER see a 3 car train.

[pbenjamin]

I have seen several this week.

[Vicelord John]

I can sit on Lux patio and see probably 2-3 pass by in one hour.

There were two staged on the extra tracks at Central/McKinley last night around 8pm just waiting to get going.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by glynnjamin

What the hell!?!?

I drive down central every day and can see the tracks from my window - NEVER see a 3 car train.

I've ridden on a 3 car train twice this week. I think it has to do with baseball season.

[HooverDam]

Interesting stuff from AzCentral and Metro:

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blo...railblog/50985

Where are people boarding? Answers might surprise you

Metro has released its first detailed glimpse of how people are using the line, with passenger loads for each station.

The top five list: Sycamore, Montebello, Central Station, University/Rural, and Mill.
Bringing up the rear, starting with the slowest station: 38th Street, Center Parkway, Smith-Martin, 12th Street and Encanto.

There were surprises in the data, good and bad. Here’s a full look at the figures, by rank, by passenger volume and by monthly changes. On the last chart, 100% means no change, smaller numbers signify declines and bigger numbers mean passenger volumes grew.

The data shows end-of-line stations are light rail's busiest, but Metro thinks for different reasons.
Montebello and Sycamore stations have been trading off as number one and number two since opening day. But the park-and-ride lot in Mesa was 60 percent full when Metro measured it, while the Montebello lot was only 26 percent full. Metro officials think shoppers have been flocking to the Montebello Station, opposite Christown-Spectrum Mall, while commuters and Arizona State University students, faculty and staff rely on Sycamore Station.

Metro CEO Rick Simonetta told his board he was disappointed in the 38th Street Station, which sits across the street from Gateway Community College. Simonetta said he wants to talk with college officials to better promote the station.
The second slowest station, Center Parkway, was added during construction at the request of Tempe.
The station at Camelback and Central slipped from 17,700 boardings in January to 8,500 in March, despite being one of the few transit centers and a transfer point for seven local bus lines. Anecdotally, we’ve heard stories that bus transfers have been problematic there.

On a more positive note, Roosevelt Station saw a 250 percent increase between January and March and shot of up from the 20th busiest station to the fifth busiest. Metro spokeswoman Hillary Foose credited cultural events such as First Fridays and the downtown farmers' market.
The airport station at 44th Street has consistently been among the busiest and use of the free airport shuttle bus has been much heavier than expected.
“People can't park their cars at the stations, so they are being inventive,” Foose said. “It shows people are being inventive in how they think about getting around.”

And a link to the full figures: http://www.azcentral.com/ic/data/lig..._boardings.htm

[trigirdbers]

Saw a train cross it, didn't see any light show

[oliveurban]

Anyone else catch this? Here's a recently updated, general map of the proposed U.S. HSR network. It thankfully shows the likelihood of an eventual line through southern AZ. Here's to hoping it stops here in Phoenix, and, hoping that the stop will be located Downtown, preferably at an overhauled Union Station--



http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04...gh-Speed-Rail/

[PHX31]

/\ Looks to me like it is the I-40 and I-8 corridors. Although i can't imagine it would bypass Phoenix and hit other parts of AZ.

[glynnjamin]

I'm missing where it says there is likelihood of a southern AZ route? The grey lines are exiting routes (one to tucson, one to Flag). The red are the only proposed routes. Blue is existing routes. I think the fact that there is no highspeed rail planned from coast to coast is a travesty. You should be able to go from Boston to Seattle or LA to Jacksonville via a single HS train. Even if it takes a day and 1/2, I'd ride it. I HATE flying

[oliveurban]

Going by that map it seems obvious that any possible routes connecting the "South Central" and the "California" networks would/could likely use the ROW through southern AZ. And if so, there is hope for an inclusion of a Phoenix stop.

[mwadswor]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/traffi...o-ads0416.html

Metro passengers could be barraged with ads inside and outside the trains this fall as the transit agency tries to get through the grim economy with a new source of money.

The Metro board voted unanimously Wednesday to reverse its no-advertisement policy and adopted a program that would be the most aggressive among new Western light-rail systems.

Wednesday's vote clears Metro to solicit proposals for advertising in display cases, on floors and wrapped around the outside of trains. Ads also will be allowed on flat screens to be installed inside the trains and on new station platform kiosks.


Metro is turning to ads for revenue, partly because it gets most of its operating funds from cities that are strapped for cash because of the economic downturn. Unless other sources of revenue can be found, the system could face service cuts and more fare increases.

Last year, Metro consultants predicted that a full-scale ad campaign could bring in $1.6 million a year. But that was before the economic crash last fall, and it remains unclear how much Metro could make. Metro's proposed budget for the coming year is $34.5 million.

A survey of systems in Texas, Colorado and Utah shows that no light-rail system goes nearly as far as Metro in where ads are allowed to be placed. But some systems are more liberal in the advertising content they accept.

Metro's new policy prohibits ads promoting sex, drugs, tobacco, alcohol, violence or political views.

In Dallas, the DART system does allow paid political ads but only in display cases on platform windbreaks. Sue Bauman, DART vice president of marketing and community affairs, said she understands Metro's decision to open its system to extensive advertising.

"Anybody prudent in this economy has to be looking at ways to strengthen their revenue," Bauman said.

Houston accepts no ads on its light-rail system.

In Salt Lake City, light-rail trains have modest panel ads on the inside and outside of each car but nowhere on stations. The Utah Transit Authority grossed $320,000 last year and accepts some ads that sell alcohol, mostly promoting restaurants.

In Denver, the Rapid Transit District allows ads only on overhead panel and see-through window stickers on the insides of trains.

The content policy is similar to Metro's. Like many systems, RTD contracted its advertising program to a vendor. The vendor takes in everything above a negotiated amount. The RTD earned a $2.8 million last year, before the vendor's share, including ad sales on Denver's extensive bus system.

Metro will seek two contracts to manage its ad program, one for traditional sources, another for the electronic displays.

In February, the Phoenix-area public got its first taste of train advertising during a weeklong experiment to promote the NBA All-Star Game.

About 200 people responded to an unscientific poll on Metro's Web site. The agency reported that opinions were split evenly over the eye-catching wraparound ads.

The experiment grossed $40,000 for Metro. Metro marketing manager Marty McNeil said station ads, train wraps and decals on train floors or platforms could start appearing as soon as the fall. The flat-screen ads and kiosks may be a year away.

The screens inside trains would be silent and not interactive. Instead, they would scroll through ads, news headlines, Metro public-service messages, news and entertainment spots. Similar systems exist inside some elevators and on Atlanta's MARTA heavy-rail system.

I understand and actually support advertising as an important revenue source for valleymetro, but this seems like a bit of an aggressive first step to me. Wrapping the trains for the all-star game looked too cool and I'd love it if all of the ads were like that. On the other hand, I'd like to look somewhere without being barraged by advertising and putting them in the floor seems a bit over the top. Especially if there are multiple companies advertising in the same car I think I'll feel like I'm walking on junk mail or newspaper ads. Also, valleymetro did such a good job of making all the stations look nice, if they are going to put billboards in the middle of them they need to find a way to do so without overpowering the artwork that so much money was invested in.

Finally... as long as "The screens inside trains would be silent and not interactive" they need to get those in immediately. In Bangkok they alternate ads and music videos and it really makes the train ride entertaining in addition to bringing in money. Obviously, silent means there won't be music videos here, but headlines combined with ads could still provide some entertainment and no screen is going to be too big to look away from if you want to.

[Leo the Dog]

Phoenix isn't included in any new rail plans. Those grey lines are the existing Amtrak service.

[HX_Guy]

And people say the light rail won't have any impact on where people choose to live and so forth...

http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...ng-advice.html

Looks like it's a big factor of this person's decision. Good to see, no?

[PhxPavilion]

Too bad there aren't more places available along the route.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by PhxPavilion

Too bad there aren't more places available along the route.

Agreed. Tempe is doing a great job along Apache Blvd at building TOD. That area is ripe for development once the housing industry gets moving again. They have cleared out major tracts of land that used to be shady highway Inns. Its impressive what they have been able to do because of the rail.

[PHX31]

The final anecdotes regarding 3-car trains: I saw pretty much nothing but 3-car trains yesterday in Tempe (i ran in Pat's run). I saw them all day long and I actually rode one home back to central phoenix around 10 last night. There wasn't even a d-backs game, but I think there were a few other things going on. They were pretty full (even some standing room only) in the afternoon/evening... but at 7 in the morning, there was hardly anyone on board.

[Tfom]

I saw all 3 car trains too. They were a fair amount of people on them, it was around 830 sat morning. I was at the public market and there was a good amt of foot traffic for downtown. My mom was visiting (first time). She kept commenting how beautiful the city is and has a whole list of things she wants to come back and do. On another note I heard someone on the train commenting that they never used to come DT before the train and how much it has changed for the better.

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by PHX31

The final anecdotes regarding 3-car trains: I saw pretty much nothing but 3-car trains yesterday in Tempe (i ran in Pat's run). I saw them all day long and I actually rode one home back to central phoenix around 10 last night. There wasn't even a d-backs game, but I think there were a few other things going on. They were pretty full (even some standing room only) in the afternoon/evening... but at 7 in the morning, there was hardly anyone on board.

it was gay day, they had them out for that as a "special" ocassion and they got a lot of use. There was also an enormous classic car cruise up and down central avenue that I didn't enjoy trying to battle on my way to Postino.

I did, however, notice that young lesbians dress like hookers... really hot hookers that wouldn't give me the time of day.