Ride the Phoenix light rail for free
Posted on 20. May, 2009 by Tony Arranaga in News
UPDATE: LINK TO NEWS AND PHOENIX LIGHT RAIL PASSENGER NUMBERS
A fellow transit blogger interviewed me for a series on people who use mass transit to commute to work. The Transit Sleuth recently posted the interview which you can read here. Showing some bloggin’ love and to thank him for the kind words, I wanted to make sure y’all checked out his website, which is a great resource for news and information on many national transit issues.
On that note, I’m glad to hear about the new Phoenix light rail passenger numbers reported by METRO and Valley Metro for the month of April. According to a release from the Valley’s transit agency, there were 1,000,000 plus riders in April. Weekday ridership saw a 32 pecent increase over projections, Saturday ridership was close to 50 percent over projections, and a 92 percent increase was recorded for Sundays. Amazing.
While one Valley news outlet reports that transit managers here aren’t exactly sure how many people are boarding, I’m glad there is a count of the people who are correctly and lawfully riding the light rail, and I’m proud to be one of them. Everyone should give themselves a pat on the back for making the effort to ease our dependence on foreign oil, making a difference in our air quality, and getting to know the community through bus and light rail. Transit nerds rule.
To celebrate the ride share squares of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa, METRO is holding a contest:
METRO’s “One in One Million” contest asks passengers to share a positive experience from on board a METRO train or station area. The stories will be posted online in June for the public to enjoy. One entrant will be randomly selected at the end of May to receive behind-the-scenes access of METRO. The winner will also receive 30, all-day transit passes and a gift bag of METRO apparel and other goodies.
30 all day transit passes?? That’s worth $75! I ride the light rail everyday…count me in! Find out how to participate in the contest by clicking here, and to read news reports on the passenger numbers click here.
2 Responses to “Ride the Phoenix light rail for free”
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Adron
20. May, 2009
Thx for the trackback links!
Great to hear the projections have been blown away! Usually easy work for light rail.
Now the challenge is to keep em’ high and growing! Also usually a fairly easy task. Especially as the gas prices start inching back up.
…and yeah, Transit Nerds RULE!
Tony
21. May, 2009
No prob, Adron! There was an sentence in a NYTimes story today that caught my attention. The piece talked about Memorial Day travel, and the line that caught my attention mentioned gas prices rising when there’s a higher demand. Light rail has made my choice to live carfree an easy one.