The Suburban Transit Rider: An Inside Look

Posted on 09. Aug, 2010 by Matthew Petro in Featured, News

Matthew Petro is one of several guests bloggers being featured this week on LRB. A mass transit advocate, Matthew is one of my first readers of my blog and recently helped hatch the idea behind the Light Rail Dine Around. Matthew has his own blog about everyone’s favorite subject: Coffee (and a few other thoughts about life in Phoenix).

Many people know that I commute to work in Tempe on the light rail. Many people also know that I frequently can be found in fine coffeehouses along the light rail during my morning and afternoon trips. But not as many know that I live in Glendale. And not just Glendale. North Glendale. The part of Glendale which the 101 runs through. But I manage to commute 66 miles round trip entirely carfree.

So how do I swap my car for Valley Metro’s buses and light rail? First of all, I’m fortunate enough to live less than 1/2 mile from a park & ride which is served by two express bus routes to downtown Phoenix. If I wasn’t within walking distance of the park & ride, I’d have to use my car to cover that part of the commute. But once I’m at the park & ride, it’s a relaxing 30 minute bus trip to Phoenix, where I connect with the light rail into Tempe. I change to a local bus at the Tempe Transportation Center for the 10 minute ride to my office. In the afternoon, I do the same thing in reverse.

Being carfree removes some freedom I would otherwise have during the day. I can’t just run a couple of errands during lunch or on the way home. Also, it requires more structure and discipline to my day in order to make sure that I get out of work on time to catch the right buses. The whole trip takes longer than driving, even if I had to drive through rush hour and the associated ugliness. But the benefit is not dealing with rush hour ugliness! I spend the whole time relaxing, instead of getting pissed at traffic and idiot drivers. I read magazines or catch up on podcasts and TV shows. I get some exercise instead of sitting in the car.

One question I don’t get asked very often is how I started taking the bus and light rail in the first place. The answer is simple: I just tried it. Even before the light rail had even been built, I just wanted to see what taking the bus in Phoenix was like. I tried it and it was good. I liked letting someone else do the driving. I liked seeing parts of the Valley I wouldn’t ordinarily see.

If you live in one of the Valley’s many suburbs and the idea of commuting via mass transit hasn’t even crossed your mind, take a look at Valley Metro’s web site to see what express bus routes are available in your area. If you want to see exactly what transit routes you would need to take to commute from home to work, try Google Maps. They’ve recently integrated all of the Valley Metro bus and light rail schedules, so you can ask Google to give you directions based on transit routes, rather than on driving. I just tried it and it was dead-on accurate in finding my usual transit route from home to work.

So give transit some consideration. You don’t have to be a downtown dweller to make a carfree commute work for you.

Tags: Glendale, Phoenix, suburbia, Tempe, transit