Earlier today, the City of Phoenix hosted its first Open House concerning changes to the City of Phoenix bus system once the new METRO Light Rail (LRT) comes online 27 December 2008. I'll try to summarize all changes being made to the services here, but further information can be found from the City's website here.
I. RED LINE The LRT route is primarily along the present Red Line, which itself overlaps many different bus lines. Because of this, the Red Line as it is now will be eliminated. To take people from the Red Line's northwestern terminus (Metrocenter Mall) to the present north terminus of the LRT (Christown Spectrum Mall), route 15 will be extended from Christown to Metrocenter via 19th Avenue and Dunlap Avenue. Another area through which the Red Line travels is the airport. The LRT will also make a stop "at" the airport at the 44th Street/Washington station. Route 15 will also be extended along the present Red Line routing to Terminal 4 of Sky Harbor. The City of Phoenix have prepared a map addressing the Red Line Service Deletion, and it is available here.
II. ROUTE 0 (CENTRAL AVENUE) The LRT travels along Central Avenue from Camelback Road to Washington Street. When the LRT opens, there will be three 'segments' of Route 0: from Dobbins Road to Central Station, Central Station to Camelback Road, and Camelback Road to Dunlap Road. On portions of Central Avenue without LRT service (i.e. not Central Station to Camelback Road), present service frequency will be maintained due to demand for service. Frequency will also be increased from Dobbins Road to Central Station due to the elimination of the Blue Line (see below).
III. BLUE LINE The Blue Line will be eliminated as it is now but service will not change. Route 39 will be instituted along the current Blue Line route from the Central Avenue/Camelback Road station to the route's present northern terminus at the Mayo Hospital. In south Phoenix, service of route 0 (Central Avenue) will be increased to handle the Blue Line's riders from Dobbins Road to Central Station. The City of Phoenix have prepared a map addressing the Blue Line Service Deletion, and it is available here.
IV. ROUTE 1 (WASHINGTON/JEFFERSON) Route 1, from Central Avenue to Mill Avenue in Tempe, is being overtaken by the LRT. Bus service along Route 1 will remain the same; however, the bus will turn north at Priest Drive and head north to the Phoenix Zoo.
V. ROUTE 60 (BETHANY HOME ROAD) Route 60 will have no major service changes; however, the route will be altered slightly to meet up with the 19th Avenue at Montebello LRT station.
VI. ROUTE 13 (BUCKEYE ROAD) Route 13 will be extended from its present eastern terminus at Sky Harbor Terminal 4 to the Washington at 44th Street LRT station.
These are the major service changes. Again, please check out the Route Change List (PDF format) and the City of Phoenix Public Transit web page.
Also, please forward this widely! Let's get the word out about this.
Cheers!
Edward Jensen
3 comments:
Great info! Very well done..
I attended today's open house and asked if service frequency would be increased along those routes intersecting with light rail. Unfotunately, the answer was "not now." Apparently, with the City's budget being tight due to the economic downtown, the funds are not available to increase bus frequency except on those routes funded regionally by Proposition 400. The gentleman I spoke to said that eventually the City wants to increase frequencies on all routes to 15 minutes, but doing so will take time.
I understand the reasoning, but I'm still troubled by the prospect of passengers riding trains that arrive every 10 minutes only to have a 20 or even 30 minute wait for a bus transfer. I'm also wondering how many people along parts of the current Red and Blue lines not covered by light rail will be inconvenienced with long transfer times that they don't face now.
I wonder if it might be better to delay implementation of some new routes and expanded service in outlying areas in order to reallocate the funds toward improved bus service along lines that intersect with light rail. There are still several open houses and hearings, as well as opportunities to make one's feeling known via email.
David SB,
I think that you're making this a worst-case scenario. I agree with you that it will be bad for people to face transfers of up to 30 minutes when they never had to. In the long run, however, I don't think that it is that big of an issue.
I can think of a couple of examples. In addition to the LRT, Route 15 will be one of the replacements for the Red Line. Except along Central Avenue and Camelback Road, it will pretty much follow the Red Line's route within Phoenix. The other is Route 39 - the Blue Line's replacement. I know that I have taken that route from downtown Phoenix to Paradise Valley Mall. The transfer from LRT to bus at Central & Camelback will be something new. Since it is the end of a bus line, I believe that often times there will be a Route 39 bus at the station waiting to go when the train arrives.
Scheduling buses is very hard. I think that it will take time and eventually the schedules between buses and trains will coordinate. We, as citizens, want the best services but we do not want to pay for the best services. It's like buying something at Saks Fifth Avenue but only wanting to pay Wal-Mart's price.
Let me clarify - there will be issues at the outset. When the economy turns around - which it will - then this discussion will be null and void.
EJ
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