Trolley Thursday 3/12/20 - Valley Metro Rail

A phoenix is a legendary bird that is said to expend itself by flashing into flames upon its death, then remake itself from its own ashes, ensuring that the bird is immortal and is a symbol for renewal and longevity. The city of Phoenix is much the same, as the original Phoenix Street Railway (PSR) was seriously affected by a large fire in 1947 and abandoned the year after, but in its ashes rose the Valley Metro Rail in 2008. On today's Trolley Thursday, we look at how the Valley Metro was able to spread its wings, and the struggles it has had in its current 12 years of operation.

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A 1999 Valley Metro Bus wearing the 1993-2006 paint scheme.
(Msr69er)

The current Valley Metro Rail began with the "Transit 2000 Regional Plan", or "Transit 2000", introduced in... the year 2000. Through a .5% sales tax, Phoenix voters aimed to improved the bus service and create a light rail service for better transportation at an affordable budget. The plan wasn't new, having been first proposed in 1989 as the "ValTrans" elevated rail system, but it was turned down by voters due to "cost and feasibility concerns." The initial plan called for $1.4 billion across twenty miles in construction costs, with a further $184 million in operational costs once the system was running, but it showed promise.

Valley Metro Rail's original route, prior to extensions.
(The Transport Politic)

Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa were to be connected by the new technically-interurban light rail line, which closely followed an original PSR plan drawn up to expand out to Mesa via Tempe in the early 1910s. Nothing came of this plan due to various reasons, but in 2005, ground was broken that would finally bring this early concept to life. The twenty mile stretch went from West Montebello Avenue in North Central Phoenix, then cut east at Washington and Jefferson Streets before winding into Tempe and ending at Sycamore in Mesa, with twenty eight stations in all designed to reflect their surroundings and blend in better. 

The trains would run similar to the Metro Blue and Gold Lines and other modern streetrunning installations: a raised "center reservation" down the middle of the street, with small private right-of-ways found at bridges. A minor hiccup occurred during construction when significant stretches of rail were found to have cracks due to improper plasma cutting with the fault landing square at the construction contractor's doorstep. The cracks were found in March of 2008, but repaired by May at a cost of $600,000 (not footed by the contractor). Despite this, the last of the concrete and rail were laid anyway in April and the first 50 light rail cars from Kinki Sharyo arrived for testing.

A Valley metro Kinki Sharyo LRV departs Smith-Martin/Apache, one of
many median stations on the line
(Steven Vance)

Phoenix Street Railway No. 116 sits on the sidelines during
the Valley Metro's opening festivities, having recently turned 80
(Ixnayonthetimmay)

The system would be rated at 750 volts on the overhead cantenary, and the maximum speed for the interurban would be 58 miles per hour. These cars would have to complete the 20 miles in just under an hour, which was pretty clippy timing given there were 28 individual stations. Just before the line's inauguration, the Valley Metro celebrated PSR 116's birthday, as she she had turned 80 on Christmas Day 2008 and the line's opening was planned for the next day.

The initial ridership proved a success, and it just kept rising and rising as the initial 44% farebox recovery was soon surpassed as the enormous ridership brought in plenty of revenue to offset the operation costs by $44 million by 2014. Urban development was also fostered in downtown Phoenix and Tempe, which gave the Valley Metro more incentive to grow. The first extension stretched into Central Mesa, costing $200 million over 3.1 miles and adding 5,000 daily riders to the fareboxes in its four new stations.

A local business, the El Fenix panderia, supporting
4 Lanes or No Train, in South Phoenix
(Associated Press

Regrettably, Phoenix's light rail was not without its enemies: enter grassroots group "4 Lane or No Train", which came into the public eye in 2018 opposing system expansions that would have met the city's planned expansion in 2034 to 66 miles total. Proposition 105 called for a rejection of a central reservation to be built on Central Avenue with six miles of the street being whittled to two-lane traffic. 4 Lane argued that this would "restrict business accessibility", which many small businesses in Phoenix gravitated towards. Further, the cost of the expansion was highlighted as a major threat, which is usually what ends up killing projects like this. (Light rail is a long term investment, after all) However, 4 Lane's "grassroots" efforts were actually being funded by two of the most infamous names in public transit since National City Lines: The Koch Brothers.

David (left) and Charles Koch (right), anti-rail billionaires
behind the new Streetcar Conspiracy. I made the picture
deliberately small.
(TIME Magazine)

The brothers need no introduction: Charles and David Koch are (and were, in David's case) a pair of libertarian-conservative brothers who got their money through oil, so like the Streetcar Conspiracy before them, they had a vested interest in promoting bus lines over light rail. In honing in on the increase of sales taxes for citizens and warning about the loss of possible business, the Kochs were able to stem light rail growth in Little Rock, southeast Michigan, central Utah, and Tennessee to name a few through various puppet "grassroots" groups and think tanks to drive home their agenda. Following David Koch's (the social one) death on August 23, 2019, Phoenix voters rejected Proposition 105 in a landslide 116,190 to 69,662 just four days later. 

The first Valley Metro tain arrives at the new 50th Street
station, and it's not in service. Great.
(Gannett Fleming)

In the leadup to the landmark vote, new extensions at 50th Street's infill station and Gilbert Road in Mesa helped make the Phoenix system more robust. The Northwest Phase 1 (an original Transit 2000 plan now pushed back... let's say a lot) and South Central extension from the downtown Phoenix hub both started construction in late 2019, with the Northwest Phase 1 (reaching north into the city) expecting to open by... 2023 (we hope). Future extensions include the Tempe streetcar in 2021, the Northwest Phase II (reaching the western parts of Phoenix) by 2023, and the Capitol/I-10 West extension in two phases (2023, 2030). ASU West, Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler are all being researched for possible extensions, proving the system has the capabilities to keep on expanding.

In the meantime, ridership and travel times remain relatively reasonable, with the entire route taking 83 minutes from Phoenix to Mesa. The system also boasts one of the highest ridership compliances in the country, at 94%, with no foreseeable decline in ridership right now. Though the system remains a single line (much smaller than the PSR), it has certainly proved itself healthier and hardier than its predecessor, with the hopes it continues to be one of the best streetcars in America and a source of growth for Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and its surrounding neighborhoods.

A recent study map from early 2019 showing the planned expansions of
the Valley Metro Rail.
(Downtown Mesa!)

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Well, dear reader, I'm in a bit of a panic as is my editor. Unfortunately, Arizona doesn't have any other significant light rail or trolley systems to talk about beyond Phoenix and Tucson. However, fret not! As I write this by the seat of my pants, this month is also going to look at another state barren of its streetcars: Nakkune's home state of Wyoming! I'm sure we can find some way to fill time while this month is still young. In the meantime, follow our social medias, go buy a shirt if you want, and ride safe out there!