Phoenix light rail won’t be running when bars close
by The Arizona Republic on Dec. 23, 2008, under Edge, Local, Special
Starting Monday, the last light-rail trains in Phoenix on most nights will finish around 11:45 p.m.
PHOENIX – Bar owners, patrons and even members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving are scratching their heads over Metro light rail’s decision to put the trains to bed at 11 p.m. rather than running them past 2 a.m. when bars close.
Starting Monday, the last trains on most nights will finish around 11:45 p.m.
Some say it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“Absolutely ludicrous,” said David Wimberley, owner of the George and Dragon English Restaurant and Pub on Central Avenue. “What’s the point of having it? This is just going to hurt the economy. That’s tax money the city is going to lose. We spend all these millions of dollars on this bloody light rail, but nobody can use the bloody thing!”
The hours that the trains run were set to coordinate with bus schedules and peak ridership forecasts, according to Hillary Foose, spokeswoman for Metro light rail. Metro also set the schedule to allow at least three hours for maintenance overnight.
“We’re the first to admit, this doesn’t take into account the current marketplace, the current attitude about public transport, the current rising bus-ridership numbers, the fact that there’s an ASU campus downtown,” Foose said.
Foose said Metro is open to extending hours of operation on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on how many people ride the trains late at night. But as a system funded by tax dollars, trains will run when the most people will benefit, Foose said.
