It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … that’s how our Valley Metro Light Rail experience can be summed up. The day was a blustery one, very cold at times in the shade, especially when the wind was blowing. However if you were in the sun, it could get quite warm. This is the tale of the 27th of December, 2008.
We arrived at the Price and Apache park-n-ride at just about 10am ready for our historic ride on the light rail. It was very cold this morning and between bundling up and meeting a few friends we missed the first few trains passing by. The Price/Apache lot is the second stop on the westbound light rail, leaving Mesa, traversing Tempe on its way to Phoenix. Once we assembled our crew, we jumped into the next train and started our journey.
(side note: anyone that has heard me discuss the “Metro” light rail has heard me say that it’s a D U M B name. While I’m not sure my choice is socially appropriate … PhART – Phoenix Area Rapid Transit … at least it’s more creative than the borefest of “Metro”.)
The first thing that struck me about the trains when you see them up-close is the use of glass all along the sides makes for a striking presentation. It really looks sharp. The nose and tail are also stylized, but not nearly as spiffy as the sides/doors.
The train that we entered was already near capacity … which meant that the one station before us was sending full trains down the line (bad idea #1 – starting FULL). We nearly lost part of our crew that was pushing a large two child baby stroller, but we all made it on, and we were on our way into town.
The inside of the train is very clean and simple. A raised seating platform is at either end of the car with seats along the windows and standing room everywhere else. The ride was very quiet and smooth, one could easily read/work if using the rail for a commute. One thing we did notice is the amount of stopping that was not related to loading/unloading. Since we were not near the front, we assumed it was due to red lights – which seems a bit ridiculous to me. The light rail should be incorporated into the traffic signals so that it gets right of way at every signal to speed the trip along. (bad idea #2 – need right of way).
One group of friends decided to go back one station to the starting of the line, then try to head west into Phoenix. It turns out that was a bad idea if their goal was to ride the light rail in less than TWO HOURS from when they got off the train at Sycamore/Main in Mesa. Yes, people were waiting in excess of TWO HOURS to ride the light rail. I don’t wait TWO HOURS for anything … let alone a mass transit system.
Once the trip started it was fairly uneventful, however it became increasingly crowded as we got closer to downtown Phoenix. We lucked out when a group exited the train and vacated four seats together so Heidi, Chloe, Paige, and my mom could sit down. Shortly before we got to the downtown area we picked up a few more friends and they crammed into the already filled train car.
Once we arrived at 3rd and Washington we jumped out of the train and started to explore the area. There was a “fair-style” food court with funnel cakes, ice cream, BBQ, and more for people to gorge on. After watching some street performers and visiting with the police horses we sauntered over to the “tents” to see what was being offered. There were quite a few vendors there … everything from United Way, to churches, to the New Times, and more. The kids found their way to the Phoenix Children Museum’s tent and had a blast playing and building with PVC pipes.
It was onto and into the renovated Civic Center where we found they were just celebrating the opening of their new food court. Near the west entrance they were handing out free cookies which people we grabbing by the handful. In the food court gauntlet each station was providing samples of their vittles, and it was all much better than the average mall food court eats. We actually ordered and paid for food from a sandwich shop as well as a Mexican food shop – again, tasty stuff. We only found when we were done eating that they were only open for their second day! Not bad considering this was a HUGE crowd.
After lunch we considered trying to visit the “Cat Show” that was in the south section of the center, but found it was a ticketed event (meh, cat snobs) and we didn’t feel like shelling out cash so I could have an allergy attack. Instead we bounced back out to the street and the kids got to play with the PVC a bit more, listen to cool music, and see stilt-walkers. It was getting cold so we decided to try and head for home. Of course, on the way out we saw a face-painter and HAD to stop for some painted faces. While the girls were getting painted, I went with some other friends to see what the lines looked like on the eastbound tracks.
The line was … hmm … how to say this … RIDICULOUS. I didn’t bother to ask how long it was since it wrapped around a few times on Jackson and then went south on 3rd. Bah! So it was plan B, or so we thought. Collectively we came up with the idea to ride the train westbound for a few stops, and when it came together (around Central/Portland) we would switch directions – the thought was that the eastbound trains might be slightly thinned by then. BAH!
We were wrong. After watching two or three trains pass with no one (a) willing to smash further into the train or (b) being able to smash further into the train we decided to use the “special” bus lines that were set up to provide overflow travel for light rail. It was quite annoying that we neither knew when the next train was arriving, nor did we know how full the train might be … all information that could have easily been provided to the people waiting on the platforms. (bad idea #3 – no info)
At this point, nerves are shot as we walked across the street to pick up the bus. After a potty break, a refueling stop at the coffee shop, and some popcorn for the kids we hopped on the bus and started the LONG journey from Central/Portland back to Price/Apache. I’m not sure how long the “real” bus route might take, but our “follow the light rail tracks” still took close to an hour to get back to Tempe. Ugh …
The fun continues … as our bus driver approached the Price/Apache parking lot, he decided to stop on the west side of the 101-freeway. It was a split-second decision … do we exit … do we ride and hope he’s going to stop. You guessed it, we rode … and kept riding … until we got to the end of the line at Sycamore/Main. BAH! So we boarded the westbound bus and were dropped off at the parking lot, but again on the west side of the intersection … now we were on the north side of Apache. Not a big deal, but there was plenty of traffic making it a hairy crossing x2.
In review, I’d give the Valley Metro Light Rail grand opening a C+. The trains themselves as well as all of the stops/platforms were really cool. Since this was new/historic it was bound to have some volume problems with the number of people trying to ride. I was disappointed that in 2008 we didn’t have better information along the route, that people weren’t smashing in to make room, and that there was an air of general chaos surrounding the whole event.
(edit: check out some of our photos here: link)