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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Serves'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" Greater Phoenix
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin border-color: black color: white background: Teal" Hours of Operation
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Weekdays'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 3:15am&ndash12:30am
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Saturdays'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 5:00am&ndash12:00am 1:00am (Downtown Tempe)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Sundays<br />Holidays'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 5:00am&ndash11:00pm
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin border-color: black color: white background: Teal" '''Fixed Route Buses'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Fleet'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 694
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Routes'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 83 (60 local, 22 express/rapid, 2 limited stop)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Annual Ridership'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 518 million
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Operating Cost<br />Per Passenger'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" $245
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Farebox Ratio '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 2307%
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin border-color: black color: white background: Teal" Shuttle/Circulator
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Fleet'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 47
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Annual Ridership'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 25 million
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Operating Cost<br />Per Passenger'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" $148
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Farebox Ratio '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 032%
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin border-color: black color: white background: Teal" Dial-a-Ride
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Type'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Paratransit '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Fleet'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 283
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Annual Ridership'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 10 million
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Operating Cost<br />Per Passenger'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" $2352
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Farebox Ratio '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 519%
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin border-color: black color: white background: Teal" Vanpool
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Annual Ridership'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 09 million
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Operating Cost<br />Per Passenger'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" $199
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Farebox Ratio '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 8278%
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin border-color: black color: white background: Teal" Light Rail
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Rail Gauge '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" Standard (4 ft 8½ in)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Opened'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" December 2008 (anticipated)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Fleet'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 36
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Stops'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 27 (32 stations)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''System Length'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 20 Mi (322 Km )
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Annual Ridership'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 95 million (anticipated)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " '''Operating Cost<br />Per Passenger'''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" $238 (anticipated)
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin white-space: " ''' Farebox Ratio '''
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"text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" 33% (anticipated)
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"2" style="text-align: center padding-left: 5em padding-right: 5em border-style: solid border-width: thin" ''FY2003-04 statistics except for Light Rail Source: {Link without Title} ''
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Note that this fleet listing does not include circulator buses that are under 30 feet, which consist of Startrans Senator buses and ElDorado Aerotech buses.
There are also
vanpool and carpool services coordinated by Valley Metro, often through employer group programs.
Capitol Rideshare is among the largest, operating for employees of Arizona state government. Many other employers also have similar "trip reduction" programs to convince their workers to use transit alternatives. Despite the lesser media attention it receives, rideshare is one of Valley Metro's most widely used services and may be expanded in the future.
''Main article:
METRO Light Rail
The planning of
Light Rail in the Phoenix area has been an objective since Valley Metro's formation. In
1989 , area voters were asked to have their say on expanded bus services and the implementation of
Elevated Rail (a plan known as
"Val-Trans" ) in a referendum.
The routing of three currently operating (and heavily traveled) bus routes would have been the elevated rail lines' paths, and referred to by these color designations:
- , traveling from South Phoenix, through downtown and the Central Avenue corridor, along Camelback Road and the upscale Biltmore area, along 24th Street (passing the historic Arizona Biltmore resort), Lincoln Drive, State Route 51, 32nd Street, Shea Boulevard, Tatum Road, and eventually serving Paradise Valley Mall and Mayo Clinic Phoenix .
- , traveling along Thomas Road between Desert Sky Mall in West Phoenix, to the intersection of Thomas and 81st Street in the city of Scottsdale (the resulting bus line is now the most heavily used in the Valley Metro system).
- In addition, there was a route called the that operated from 83rd Avenue/Peoria, down Grand Avenue ( US 60 ) (a major arterial street which runs diagonally from the northwest into downtown Phoenix) to the Washington/Jefferson couplet, and down Washington Street to Sun Devil Stadium and the ASU campus in Tempe. This route was discontinued in 2003, as a result of a road improvement project for Grand Avenue led by the Arizona Department Of Transportation ; the project eliminated seven major at-grade intersections on Grand in the cities of Phoenix and Glendale (the new overpasses/underpasses did not have bus stops, making transfers impossible). The part of the route that traveled on Washington was renamed Route 1-Washington, and the Grand Avenue segment was converted to the "Grand Avenue Limited" commuter bus route that operates during rush hours and makes only limited stops.
Funding for Val-Trans would have been from a sales tax plan with a set expiration and reapproval date in 30 years. The Val-Trans proposal was soundly defeated at the polls.
Similar referendums were voted down in 1993 and , though for some time in the future. It also used the route placing and color designations from the 1989 plan.
The first line of the light rail system, to be named following the results of a
2003 contest, will be a 20-mile (32-km) line serving Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. The line will cost $1.4 billion
USD , and will open in
2008 . Construction began in March
2005 . The line will mainly operate on city streets in a "center reservation," similar to the Main Street line of the
METRORail system in
Houston and the surface sections of the
Green Line in
Boston .
The line will start at the area of 19th Avenue and Montebello (just south of Bethany Home Road), then follow 19th Avenue, Camelback Road, Central Avenue, the 1st Avenue/Central Avenue couplet, the Washington/Jefferson Street couplet, Washington Street, a private right-of-way around
Arizona State University , Apache Boulevard, and Main Street to an intersection just east of Dobson Road. Twenty-seven stops are to be built along the route (see map).
Greater Phoenix covers many suburban areas previously not viewed as appropriate for rail. This has changed as the cities grow and increase in density.
A large, area-wide mixed transportation plan was approved in the
2004 elections. More light rail extensions are to be built. Among them are extensions:
- north to Metrocenter (a major regional shopping mall in north central Phoenix),
- west to Glendale from its terminus at Montebello,
- to the western suburbs, following adjacent to I-10 ,
- northward along Route 51 up to Paradise Valley Mall in northeast Phoenix,
- from the flagship campus of Arizona State University (ASU) to southern Tempe,
- eastward from the Mesa terminus, and
- in Scottsdale , running along Scottsdale Road past the new ASU "Skysong" Center, a high-tech research area, at the intersection with McDowell Road (on the site of the former Los Arcos Mall , a 1970's-era regional shopping center which declined after the 1990s and was demolished in 2000). The Skysong project faced some local opposition from residents fearing a duplication of the stereotypical "party" atmosphere associated with the ASU Tempe campus, but civic groups and residents have gradually given it more support.
The plan also identifies several "eligible high capacity corridors" (
Figure 8-4 ) for added service within a few decades, committing to future study of light rail as an option for these routes. They are:
- northern Tatum Blvd. past Paradise Valley Mall,
- westward to Avondale , Tolleson , Goodyear , and Buckeye ,
- north on I-17 to the Anthem community,
- to the northwest along Grand Avenue in Phoenix to the West Valley cities of Glendale, Youngtown , El Mirage , and Surprise ,
- a new, far southeastern route for Gilbert , Chandler , Ahwatukee , and southern Phoenix proper, and
- further north on Scottsdale Road as mentioned above.
Increasing city development may spur more frequent service, further suburban extensions, and one day, regional rail services to other Arizona cities.
Elevated or
Subway lines may also be installed. Voters have, however, opposed similar plans in the past.
