Tales from the Light Rail
Buy the ticket, take the ride … Show us your scrapbook … And y’all are dirty.
The City of Phoenix recently completed a 5.5-mile extension of the Valley Metro light rail, connecting South Phoenix to Downtown Phoenix.
The city can now brag about having a “two-line system” where the A line goes east/west and the B line goes north/south. Previously, the rail line was an L-shaped system that connected North Phoenix to Downtown Phoenix to the East Valley.
I live in South Phoenix, so I was excited for this project to be finished. Yes, I was looking forward to riding the light rail. But mostly, I was ready for the construction to be over.
In 2019, some businesses along South Central Avenue put up a fight to stop the light rail construction before it started. The businesses didn’t want their street to be torn up for years. The measure that got on the ballot, however, was a proposal to stop all light rail extension projects across the Valley. The proposal was soundly defeated by Phoenix voters.
And so the construction happened. Five years and $1.3 billion later, the project is finished.
The promise of the South Central Extension is one of revitalization. Historically, South Phoenix was divided from Central Phoenix, both geographically by the Salt River and demographically by race and socio-economic status. The rail connection holds a symbolic importance, one of unity, even as it also represents the new problem of gentrification.
I am generally skeptical of the need for light rail in Phoenix. Our rail system runs on the street level next to regular traffic, which makes it slower than a subway or elevated system. Also, our streets are organized as a neat grid. A good bus system would be adequate for us.
Still, the light rail is useful sometimes. There is a park-and-ride lot in South Phoenix that allows drivers to save money on parking when going downtown to eat or watch a ball game.
You can find the light rail schedule on the Valley Metro App. If you type in your destination, it will tell you the best routes and departure times to get there.
This is the sad part of the story, at least for me.
When I open my Valley Metro App and enter a downtown destination, the light rail schedule doesn’t even show up.
That’s because, from where I live, less than two miles away from a light rail station, my fastest route downtown is the same as it was before.
My fastest route is to take the bus.
The light rail extension has been operating for about three months now.
The businesses along Central Avenue were understandably concerned about the construction of the light rail. What do they think now that the project is complete?
Fox10 interviewed several business owners to get their perspective. The business owners said they are still losing customers:
The biggest change some of these business owners noted is the inability to make a turn across Central Avenue. If customers want to go to any businesses on the left-hand side of Central, they have to drive down to a place where they can turn around. Business owners say it eliminates a sizable portion of their customers.
The owners of a plant nursery, who have been in the same location for 16 years, are worried they will go out of business. One of the owners said, “Who’s going to buy a tree and take it on the light rail? Nobody.”
The Fox10 report is a snapshot view from a handful of business owners. Time will tell what the full impact will be.
Most likely, there will be a disruption where some businesses will close and others will move in and try to take advantage of the new traffic patterns.
One example of this disruption: Azukar Coffee was an iconic South Phoenix coffee shop that closed after the one-two punch of Covid and light rail construction.
There is a new coffee shop opening up in the old Azukar building that has been vacant for years. The grand opening is on October 1.
I have taken three rides on the new light rail extension. Two times for dinner and once to attend a Diamondbacks game.
My first ride was almost the last. Before I describe it, I should say that the other two were perfectly fine.
Ride 1: The train was late to arrive, and several would-be passengers walked away instead of waiting any longer. The delay was announced on social media and the Valley Metro App, but the expected arrival times are not shown on the digital screens at the stations. Once aboard, there was a visibly intoxicated passenger sprawled out across two seats. Soon after departure, the intoxicated man began an argument with another passenger that almost escalated into a physical fight. On the ride home, the passenger car smelled strongly of marijuana. On neither trip did I see any security on board the train cars.
Because I was planning to write about the light rail, I rode again for comparison. And I was pleasantly surprised.
Rides 2 & 3: On subsequent trips, I encountered no problems at all. The trains were on time. The cars were clean. No drama. There were security officers visible on the platforms and even on the passenger cars. I saw families wearing jerseys on the way to a ball game. I saw people wearing work clothes scrolling on their phones.
When I left the Diamondbacks game, the Phoenix Mercury fans were leaving at the same time. The A line passes directly in front of the ballpark and the arena. There were crowds of fans waiting to board at the A line stations. There weren’t as many people at the B line station down the road, but still, the railcar was almost halfway filled at about 9:00 pm.
While there are more light rail extensions in the works, I can’t help thinking about a different future of transportation: the dawn of self-driving taxis.
I haven’t yet traveled in a self-driving taxi. My natural instinct is to be wary of new technologies, and I don’t like how the doors lock automatically. I am less worried about a wreck than I am of getting stuck in a parking lot.
However, I am growing more comfortable with the idea of self-driving cars. I think I am ready for them to take over the roads. I’m glad that Phoenix is a city of innovation.
In a world of self-driving cars, the light rail system might become more useful, not less.
The reason why the Valley Metro App tells me to take the bus downtown is because the bus stop is closer to my house than the light rail station.
This is a classic example of the “last-mile problem” that is common with transit systems. Unless you live within walking distance from a station, you are going to need another form of transportation to get there.
If the fares of self-driving taxis are low because they’re everywhere, more people will use them to solve the last-mile problem.
Phoenix doesn’t have a stellar public transportation system. Anyone who can afford a car is going to buy one to get around. The light rail system is more of an adornment than a critical piece of the transit puzzle.
As we trek into the future, self-driving technology is a potential game-changer. If anything is going to cause Valley residents to give up their cars, it’s going to be robots.
Paperwork vs. patients: Arizona’s community health centers have been a lifeline for low-income patients, but incoming Medicaid cuts could cause mass closures as 300,000 patients lose healthcare coverage, Jasmine Demers reports for the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Plus, the changing eligibility requirements could kick people off their healthcare plans, not because they no longer qualify, but because they can’t keep up with the paperwork. Meanwhile, the Trump administration plans to use AI to implement prior authorization in Medicare claims across six states, Arizona among them, per KFF Health News.
Another win for dark money: Arizona’s Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit from GOP leaders over the state’s dark money disclosure law, overturning a trial court’s ruling that said lawmakers didn’t have standing to sue, the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy reports. This is a different case from the high-profile challenge still pending before the justices, which could ultimately strike down the entire Voters’ Right to Know Act — the 2022 ballot measure that banned anonymous campaign spending. In this case, House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen argue the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on legislative authority.
Pound sand: A city of Tucson attorney wants a federal judge to make former Sen. Justine Wadsack pay the $7,838 he says the city wasted on the civil rights case she ended up dropping, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. The attorney said it took nine hours of legal work to prepare for the case and called BS on Wadsack’s claim that she missed a court hearing because she got her dates mixed up. Wadsack told Fischer to “pound sand” when he asked for comment.
Don’t pound sand, try this button instead.
No tents, just tickets: Casa Grande’s camping ban starts tomorrow, but homeless residents like David Shobe, who lives in his car, say they have nowhere else to go, PinalCentral’s Jodie Newell reports. Meanwhile, the annual “point in time” count documented 105 unsheltered people in Scottsdale on a single night in January, yet by July, Scottsdale Police had recorded about 3,000 contacts with homeless individuals, which works out to roughly 30 encounters and six arrests per person, according to the Scottsdale Progress’ Tom Scanlon.
School falls for scam: The Flagstaff Unified School District alerted authorities that the school had fallen victim to a “cybercrime” that resulted in the loss of $580,000, writes Kevin Reagan for 12News. The situation remains under investigation and was reported to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, the auditor general, county treasurer and the Arizona School Risk Retention and Trust.
In other, other news
The federal push for a land swap to launch the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona underscores the Trump administration’s unprecedented push to boost mining throughout the U.S (Jake Spring / The Washington Post) … Arizona wildlife agencies sponsored dove hunting to prevent overpopulation in early September (Elizabeth Sedlak / Cronkite News) … A Maricopa County deputy prosecutor has detailed challenges to expunge marijuana convictions (Matthew Casey / KJZZ) … A new state law has led courts across the state to wipe nearly $40 million in outstanding fees from juveniles’ records (Kiera Riley / Capitol Times).
If you want to know how you did on yesterday’s new state laws quiz, you can find the answers here.
Over the weekend, intern Alysa was handed a manila folder of newspaper clippings from 2004 — the same year she turned one. (Yes, we all feel old after reading that sentence.)
The clippings were about The State Press and ASU’s tumultuous relationship after the student news organization published a photo of a woman’s nipple. Random? Sure. But Alysa was entertained.
It got us wondering what newspaper stories, headlines and pages our readers have collected over the years. Let us know in the comments what relics of print media you’re hoarding.
Arizonans’ Google searches for “VPN” exploded over the past week after Pornhub cut off the state’s access over a new age verification law, per Phoenix New Times’ Morgan Fischer. (We previously wrote about the messy details of the law here).
A VPN can disguise your location and route you somewhere less puritanical, which can also come in handy for cybersecurity reasons or bingeing Japanese Netflix.
But Arizonans weren’t searching “VPN for privacy.” The top related searches were “Internet pornography” and, simply, “Pornhub.”
 | A guest post by
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As a person who voluntarily gave up her car about 7 years ago, I depend on public transit or walking, primarily to get around. And having recently spent three weeks in Switzerland where trains, buses, streetcars, etc. run on time, I have oodles of issues with our system. The plan a trip on the computer provides numerous options (never have used the app), but I still don't trust the times....often my buses come early and then there are the ones that come late. There is no digital indicator on bus stops to let a potential rider know and I have been in other places around the world where they do. And I agree that it is extremely irritating that the light rail doesn't let you know. But I am fortunate that my neighborhood is served by FIVE bus lines, and I can "hike" the .6 of a mile to the light rail. And knowing the system allows me a number of options. Thank goodness for the senior discount. $2 all day is still cheaper than any other method. And one can meet some rather interesting people. Most recently while sitting at a stop, a man who sat down near me asked, "Excuse me, are you a Jehovah Witness or a Catholic?" My answer is another story...
I think light rail and buses remind us we are connected to humanity, for better or worse. Self-driving rides make it possible to interact with no human. We already have far too much of that.