Ride Light Rail Free If You're Going To U.S. Airways For Concert, Game

• <p>If ACI and Metro Valley rail can afford to give up to 20,000 free rides on given days then why are they in the process of laying off 4 operators to save money?</p>

• <p>Actually, the "real" numbers are available. I believe that the projected average daily ridership that the Metro officials expected was 26K - for the entire year.</p> <p>Meanwhile, I haven't seen August numbers, but ridership in July was almost 30K, and it was near 35K for the first few months. I'd imagine it will pick up again in the cooler fall and winter months, which should mean a significantly higher ridership than projected.</p> <p>Again, these are off the top of my head, but I'm a fairly passionate proponent of Phoenix and rail transit generally.</p> <p>As for accusing light rail officials of trying to increase light rail ridership to make their jobs more secure, I'm really at a loss for words. Encouraging people to use mass transit <i>is their job</i>. And like everyone else in the city, they are probably working on a very tight budget. If they think that their agreement with the Suns will lead to a greater community investment in the light rail - again, that's their job.</p> <p>If you think they're doing it to make their jobs more lucrative - well, I don't know anyone who wouldn't like to get a raise, but I have a feeling that if they were interested in big cash moneys, they wouldn't be working for the city, they'd be in some sort of private development where their skills would easily transfer. Probably planning developments that are the antithesis of the smart growth that the light rail is at least attempting to encourage.</p> <p>Witness the number of development "consultants" that used to be on planning boards, or working in P&Z offices in Buckeye.</p>

• <p>I think it seems like a simple use of "Free" to encourage future light rail ticket sales. The games are the main reason most people drive downtown and if the can encouraged to ride the rail then we can increase ticket sales to the light rail and reduce traffic and traffic related city costs. If people decide to ride the rail for the first time because its free and find it use full it will only make them more likely to use it more often, and hopefully get them to come downtown more.</p> <p>People in Phoenix need to be trained to see public transportation as a useful service. The economic and environmental reason to invest in this are so obvious and over due that I can't see any problem in this at all. </p>

• <p>You make some fair points. I think the light rail leadership has an interest in making it appear successful so they can expand the project, and thus their pay, and obviously the political leaders in charge of those people have a huge incentive to not make it look like they wasted a billion dollars. Neither of us has numbers though, so we'll wait for the inevitable audit and see what shakes out. As I said, I'm going on what I hear and see, but maybe the numbers will prove me wrong hen they;re REAL numbers... we'll just have to wait and see.</p>

• <p>I'm sure that your anecdotal evidence is far superior to any scientifically designed study, but just for the sake of argument - you aren't really being skeptical, you're being superficially cynical.</p> <p>For starters, why would the light rail want to inflate ridership numbers? To further their nefarious plot to bring public transit to more portions of the Valley?</p> <p>To follow, if you think the initial light rail ridership figures were quoted at a low-ball figure, I'd be inclined to agree with you. But common sense dictates that they wouldn't be so ridiculously cautious that the light rail proposal would sound silly. In other words, nobody would set the bar stupidly low, or set it at a stupidly ambitious high point. So, the fact that the numbers are being greatly exceeded is still relevant.</p> <p>Even if you think this is a politically motivated move intended to spur more light rail development - in case you haven't been following the news, a lot of plans for the light rail have been tabled for the forseeable future.</p> <p>I don't think light rail officials are stupid enough to think, "Oh, shit! If people get free rides to the Suns games, maybe the city of Glendale will suddenly decide they want to invest the money in light rail extension!"</p> <p>If you want to talk skepticism, we could talk about the light rail (and valley metro, generally speaking) and their failure to include typically and predictably disenfranchised communities - those of color, and those of low-income - in any of their plans. Or you could talk about any number of alternatives the city could have used.</p> <p>Yeah, I'll save my skepticism for actual, important issues.</p> <p>This just makes you sound whiny. Just like when one of the New Times writers bragged about how they are too lazy to ride the light rail to work, the attempts of you guys to sound clever, sardonic, or whatever-the-fuck-you-call-our-generations'-obsession-with-irony just fall completely flat for everyone I know.</p>

• <p>So they set the "expectations" and they count the "riders" and it's doing well? Sorry dude you need to be more skeptical. I drive right by two stations every day, and if people were already riding to events they would not need this, obviously.</p>

• <p>Actually, the light rail has been far exceeding ridership expectations thus far.</p> <p>Sharp as a tack, as always, Marty boy! And about as clever.</p>

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