The top 5 mistakes in the introduction of Phoenix light rail

Light rail is new to us here in Phoenix. This is not the first light rail implementation that I have experienced. I have also experienced many of the service changes that took place as a result of the implementation of light rail in Los Angeles. Some implementations such as the Blue Line and especially the Gold Line had some significant bus interface changes.

Several years ago, I had proposed several light rail interface fixed-route bus service changes some were somewhat implemented because they made sense, others were not used at all.

But now, here are the Top-5 issues that I have with the service changes:

5. Route 72 routing around the Tempe Transportation Center.
Tempe did something really nice at the University-Rural station, they placed a mini-transit center at the station for the 72 and two Orbit routes. But, they also kept the 72 going into the Downtown Tempe Transportation Center. I ask why? Downtown Tempe is already loaded up with service and with traffic. The 72 already interfaces at University-Rural and between the light rail and two Orbit routes, there's plenty of capacity between Downtown Tempe Transportation Center and University-Rural. This is also consistent with the changes made to the 81 to take that out of Downtown Tempe (Which I supported). The 72 is already a very very long route and has been very prone to delays. Cutting a little bit of running time will help the route's on-time performance.

4. No changes made to Route 16.
Most of the routes that cross the streets that make up the light rail alignment do so naturally and many of these routes cross the alignment at stations. Some routes, such as the 30, 45, 60, 96 and 104 were modified to serve stations. One of those routes, 104 resulted in a 1.5 mile deviation to the route. While many of these changes were made by Mesa and Phoenix made sense, I still do not understand why no changes were made to the 16. The 16 crosses the alignment at Jefferson/Washington but with the stations at 12th and 24th Streets, the 16 is a half mile from one station and a full mile to another. A simple deviation of the 16 over to the 12th St. Station could have been done to bring this route to the LRT.

3. What Mesa did with the 104.
Now Mesa did several things here. First of all, they put the 104 into the Sycamore Station but they also took the route out of the Senior Center and put it into Mesa Riverview. WHY? Mesa could have prevented the launching of the BUZZ shuttle if they just have kept the 104 on it's current routing. With the 104 going into the Sycamore Station, they did not have to re-route the north terminal to the Riverview. A transfer could have been made at the Station to reach the Riverview on the 96. With the BUZZ not interfacing the light rail, there is no true link between Center Street in the heart of Downtown Mesa and the light rail.

2. Frequency of service north of Montebello on Route 15
The 15 replaced a section of the old Red Line. This is a very very very highly ridden segment, especially since it's a direct link to Metrocenter. When the Red Line was around, it had 15 minute headway (frequency of service) and 30 on the weekends. With extending the 15 along this section, the 15's headway came with it (30 weekdays and 60 weekends). With the 15 being the primary link between the light rail and the city's second largest transit center, why are we causing such a substantial bottleneck (1:3 ratio on weekdays and 1:4 ratio on weekends). I feel that the City of Phoenix could have lightened that load by putting additional service on the 15 north of Montebello only. I feel that north of Montebello, route 15 should provide service every 15 minutes on weekday peak hours, 30 minutes on weekday base and evening hours and every 30 minutes on weekends. South of Montebello, service should continue to be every 30 minutes weekdays and every 60 minutes weekends. There is no need to change the south end of the 15 since a viable method for accessing the airport (44th Street Station to the Airport Shuttle) is available.

and now for what I feel was the biggest mistake....

1. Creation of the Valley Metro Link
I really think this was a really bad idea. The idea of trying to use a limited stop bus on a street that has not been tried or tested with a local route first. Because this alignment has not had service before and there is not a major demand for service in this area yet, the Link only has about a 5-7 minute improvement over the local route 40 along the route between Superstition Springs Mall and the Sycamore Station. Instead of the Main St. Link, express trips from Superstition Springs Park & Ride to Sycamore Station during peak hours should have been established. I feel that there are better candidates for limited stop service, such as reassigning some of the resources that are doing Pima-bound local trips on the 29 and making those Pima-bound limited stop between 67th Avenue and 44th Street with full stops outside that area. Now, they are looking at doing one for Country Club/Arizona Avenue, a street that right now does not have weekday service after 7PM or any weekend service.

If they worried less about marketing and bringing the service to where it is needed, we would have the services where the people need it instead of creating a second class of service.

Opinions are those of my own as a private citizen only. They do not reflect the opinions of the RPTA or any member agency or contractor.