Valley Metro
 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Phoenix metropolitan area |
| Transit type | Light rail, bus, BRT, Vanpool |
| Number of lines | Light rail: 1 Bus rapid transit: 2 Bus: 102 |
| Number of stations | 32 (light rail) |
| Daily ridership | 219,989 (December 2015; avg. weekday boardings) |
| Annual ridership | 70,759,847 |
| Chief executive | Scott Smith (interim) |
| Headquarters | 101 North 1st Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85003 33°26′59″N 112°04′29″W / 33.449861°N 112.074806°W |
| Website | valleymetro |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 1993 |
| Operator(s) |
|
| Technical | |
| System length | 26.3 miles (42.3 km) (light rail) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority, more popularly known as Valley Metro, is the unified public brand of the regional transit system in and around the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, responsible for public transit. Within the system, it is divided between Valley Metro Bus, which runs all bus operations, and Valley Metro Rail, which is responsible for light rail operations in the valley.
Valley Metro is a membership organization. Most services are separately funded and operated by individual cities and suburbs in the greater Phoenix region. These cities have agreed to participate in Valley Metro as a unifying brand name to streamline service and reduce confusion among riders. Each city appoints a representative to the RPTA board of directors, and a chairman, vice chairman, and treasurer are voted on amongst the board members for a one-year term.
The two largest operators of bus service are the city of Phoenix and the Regional Public Transportation Authority (operating multi-city routes and services primarily in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, and Tempe). Circulator service in Glendale is operated by the city of Glendale directly, and the Scottsdale Trolley circulators are contracted by the city of Scottsdale.
The RPTA operates a customer service, marketing and long-range transit planning operation from headquarters in downtown Phoenix which is shared among all Valley Metro member cities. A few routes which operate within several member cities have their funding and operations shared between those cities. Some RPTA funding is used to augment service provided by the member cities (this is expected to increase over the next several years due to the 2004 voter approval of an extension to the original 1985 sales tax for transit funding). The city of Phoenix alone operates 73 percent of all Valley Metro routes (several of which also serve suburban cities).
The RPTA was formed in 1985 as the result of Phoenix-area voters approving a one-half percent sales tax increase for expansion of the local freeway system, and for expansion of mass transit. The RPTA was then chartered under the laws of the state of Arizona. At the time, almost all transit service in the Phoenix area was operated by Phoenix Transit System, with a few other bus services such as in Mesa (Mesa Sunrunner) and Scottsdale (Scottsdale Connection) having started around 1990. Valley Metro, as an integrated regional transit service, did not begin operations under its own brand identity until 1993, when the RPTA board of directors chose that name, the logo and color scheme as described below. At this time, Phoenix Transit System and Mesa Sunrunner were rebranded as Valley Metro, and several new routes operating under the RPTA were started.
...
Wikipedia