METRO Light Rail on the ASU Tempe campus

Before I get too involved with this post, I should mention that this is my 100th post to this blog. And it's about an important subject: transportation and light rail.

A question that I'm asked a lot concerns the schedules of METRO Light Rail when it opens up on 27 December 2008 (51 days out!). Will I have enough time to shuttle between classes? Will the Tempe/Downtown Phoenix intercampus shuttle go away?

Here's what I know based on e-mails and contacts to people who are in the know:

METRO LIGHT RAIL SCHEDULES AND FREQUENCIES
At this time, we only know frequencies and not an exact schedule. A telephone call to the METRO Light Rail helpdesk affirmed this statement. Here's what we do know, however:

• It will take about 25 minutes to get from the Downtown Phoenix campus stations (Central or 1st Avenue at Van Buren Street) to Tempe. I'm not sure what is meant by "Tempe", but I would assume Mill Ave/3rd Street.
  
• The frequency of METRO's service is posted at METRO's website here. Given that you'll have to wait (theoretically) at most 10 minutes between 6a-7p and 20 minutes between 5-6a and 7-12midnight, allow yourself 35-40 minutes to get to Tempe.
• Having been on the sprawling Tempe campus, a safe bet would be to allow yourself no less than 45 minutes between classes on the Downtown Phoenix and Tempe campuses. Ideally, give yourself an hour.

Remember that you'll need an ASU bus pass to ride METRO for free. At the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, the parking office is in the elevator lobby on the 1st floor of UCENT.

WHERE DO I BOARD METRO LIGHT RAIL? WHAT'S THE BEST STOP FOR ME AT THE TEMPE CAMPUS?
Good question! Read on:

• On the Downtown Phoenix campus, there are two sets of stops that work. If you're at University Center, Cronkite/Eight, Taylor Place, or NHI, use 1st Avenue/Van Buren Street to head east to the Tempe campus. If you're at the Mercado, use 4th Street/Jefferson Street to head to Tempe.
• Remember, though, when you're arriving back to the Downtown Phoenix campus, for University Center, Cronkite/Eight, Taylor Place, or NHI, disembark METRO at the Central Avenue/Van Buren Street station. For the Mercado, disembark at the 3rd Street/Washington Street station.
  
• On the Tempe campus, there are three stops (from northwest to southeast): Mill Avenue/3rd Street, College Avenue/5th Street, and Rural Road/University Drive.
• All three METRO stops on the Tempe campus are on the north end of that campus. If the FLASH buses don't change their routes, then the best bet to get to the south end of the Tempe campus would be to disembark at the Mill/3rd St station and transfer to a FLASH FORWARD or FLASH BACK bus. (For our purposes, the FLASH University Drive buses wouldn't do much.)

INTERCAMPUS SHUTTLES
I received an e-mail about the shuttles this afternoon. Here's what's happening:

• When METRO Light Rail comes on board 27 December 2008, the Downtown Phoenix/Tempe intercampus shuttles will stop as METRO makes the shuttles redundant.
• The West/Tempe and Polytechnic/Tempe intercampus shuttles will still operate and still terminate at the Tempe campus. It had been mentioned that the West/Tempe would terminate at the 19th Ave/Montebello METRO station and students would transfer to METRO there.
  
• New this semester was every third West/Tempe intercampus shuttle making an intermediate stop at the Downtown Phoenix campus. This service will continue.

This list is by no means complete and the information will change as I get more of it. A new Valley Metro Bus Book will be released in a couple weeks' time and we might get a complete METRO Light Rail schedule then.

Until then, all I can say is keep watching!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen