Light Rail AZ

Tips on Navigating the Phoenix Light Rail System

The new light rail system opening in December looks pretty easy to use. Most of the 20 mile route contains 2 sets of tracks where the cars will pass each other. At each station, you simply board a train heading in your desired direction. For instance, most stations are built in the middle of the street. If you are boarding a train on Apache Boulevard, you will enter the station and the west bound train will pick you up on the north side of the station while the east bound trains allow passengers to board at the south side of the station.

However, in downtown Phoenix, the tracks split forming a single track for north/south and east/west trains.

Let's use a baseball game for an example: I have talked to a ton of sports fans that are looking forward to taking the light rail to a Suns game or to see a Diamodbacks game at Chase. The stop at 3rd St/Jefferson is VERY close to both of these venues. Most people know that there is a light rail stop at 3rd St/Jefferson near Chase Field but most probably don't realize that this is an east bound train. Not to worry, you just need to know your way around. If coming from North Phoenix, you will arrive right outside of the door at 3rd/Jefferson, but when going home you will walk about a block and a half to the 3rd St/Washington stop. By clicking on this pic of the 3rd St/Washington station, you might get a better idea of what I am talking about. The reverse is obviously true for people coming from the east valley. Before the game, you will exit at the Washington stop and will board the Jefferson stop on your way home. I know the folks at Majerle's Sports Grill love this, as they are right by the 3rd/Washington station! :-) Light rail will definitely be a benefit to the businesses close to the stadiums.

To help you navigate and better understand these areas, we are working on a light rail map that allows you to see the location of the stations and to zoom in/out to see views of the areas and stops. This is a work in progress and we will be "tweaking it" for a while. You can zoom in to see the downtown stations and even type Majerles into the "find" box on the left hand side to get an idea of how close they are to the station. We will be adding cool and better functionalities in the future. :-)

At Rail Life, we want to be your resource because we understand that "your life is on the line!"

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2009 NBA All Star Game in Phoenix to be big test for Light Rail

Many sports fans know that the 2009 NBA All Star game will be played in Phoenix on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009. This game represents a fun filled weekend for celebrities, NBA pros and fans alike. One of the biggest changes for this years venue will be the fact that people will be able to ride light rail to the game and to many of the fun places and events happening the entire weekend. For many locals, it might be a great idea to take advantage of one of the eight Park and Ride locations instead of fighting the traffic and paying higher than normal parking fees. In fact, I remember paying $50.00 for a sweet spot at a 2001 World Series Game. For this game, you can now park for free and get dropped of closer than most of the "sweet" parking spots.

The light rail will also be a great way to get to some of the hotels, restaurants and other local attractions. Thousands of tourists will be here the entire week for fun and for pre-game activities. The 2009 NBA All Star game is an excellent opportunity for Arizona to showcase this new way of moving large amounts of people.

RailLife.com will be a great way for people to get information about many of the great areas and things to do along the light rail line. We look forward to welcoming guests from all over the world for one of the first really big events to hit town after the December grand opening of our new rail system. I know that Metro and the cities involved are already making plans to ensure that all goes well in February.

At Rail Life, we are huge sports fans and are looking forward to begin sharing information on how to easily get to the games and to the excitement surrounding the areas near by.

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Phoenix Light Rail - Flickr Group

Come join us! For residents of Arizona, or anywhere else, if you would like to show your pictures of light rail cars or of the fun places, businesses, housing, restaurants, hotel's, schools, entertainment etc along the 20 mile light rail route, we have just created a "Phoenix Light Rail" group on Flickr. Please join in and participate! I KNOW some of you have some great pictures to share!

In addition to the group, you can view all of Rail Life's pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/raillifepics/

Do you live near the line? Do you have a favorite restaurant on the light rail line? Are you a student that will be using light rail? Sports fans that can't wait to take the light rail trains to the games? Serious, the choices are endless. We will post links to the best ones from time to time right here on the blog. Hey, there's an idea; maybe a weekly link to our favorite pics?!? We want to help show some excitement for the changes coming to our communities. So, click on THIS PHOENIX LIGHT RAIL GROUP to join in and share pics as you take them. If you already have some good pics, go ahead and add them..

Basic rules are.. Keep it clean, keep it relevant to life on the line. Have fun! We will be adding pictures regularly and hope you will too. Thanks for stopping by!

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Old and New - Transportation systems evolve

Last week, I was in San Francisco for two different conferences. I had a great time, met some really cool people and enjoyed the convenience of utilizing San Francisco's public transportation system. I even specifically picked a hotel that was between the two conferences and was adjacent to a BART station so that I could try it all out. You know, kind of "Rail Life research!" :-) From the airport, during traffic, I was at my hotel in less than a half hour and the cost was just over five bucks. The bus system on Market street was surprising to me as well. I recall seeing at least 4 different types of bus that stopped directly in front of the same hotel. For a buck fifty, I could get to most parts of the city and yes, it took me within a block of my conference on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, I rode BART toward down town and exited within a very short walk of the other conference as well. Before my trip, I made sure to brush up on my etiquette by reading "Muni Manners." I think it came in handy a couple of times. :-)

Here in Arizona, there is incredible opportunity to create some really cool things along our new light rail line. Some of the areas are largely un-developed and others are already pretty cool. Prime examples of where we have opportunities to create some really great new environments would be along Washington between Tempe and downtown Phoenix and along the Apache Corridor in Tempe. Tempe has done a really cool study along the Apache Corridor and there have been recommendations for creating transit oriented developments (TOD's) along the boulevard. These exciting new areas should incorporate street facing shops, café's and businesses along with pedestrian friendly access, off street parking (rear of buildings?) bike path's to access the area, ample shade and a vibrancy that we currently have very little of. At Rail Life, we are excited for the changes that WILL be coming to the areas along the light rail route. We don't need to become San Francisco, we need our own face, our own identity but we will embrace a new style of living to enhance the other many options that our state has. Tourists will love the convenience of the light rail route. The ability to get to the Mill Avenue District and yet be a few minutes from Downtown Phoenix and see a play, a baseball or basketball game, get to the convention center etc etc.. This place is changing right before our eyes and at RailLife.com, we are glad to be along for the ride! Please join us! :-)

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Phoenix Business Journal to feature Light Rail

Light Rail fans might want to make sure and take a look at the upcoming, May 16 issue of the Phoenix Business Journal. They will be doing a feature called "Block by Block by Light Rail" which sounds pretty darn cool.. Our friend Karen sent us this brief description of what to expect..

"The Phoenix Business Journal has a 20-page pullout, Block by Block by Light Rail, coming out May 16. The section focuses on businesses and neighborhoods near light rail stops. There's a feature on transit oriented development (TODs), Apache Boulevard and coverage of businesses that have actually survived construction hassles. The Business Journal also spoke to a number of those in the Phoenix business community about if they think light rail will change the city. The section also includes a list of landmarks near light rail that will be undergoing renovation, a light map, and a time line on the history of Phoenix commuter rail."

Stay tuned.. By the end of the summer, Rail Life will begin to roll out our community pages, hotel pages, shopping pages, sports pages etc., complete with searchable mapping capabilities, line section information, park and ride information and all kinds of really cool "stuff" for you to enjoy. Stick around Phoenix... "Your Life Is On The Line!"

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Tips on Navigating the Phoenix Light Rail System

2009 NBA All Star Game in Phoenix to be big test for Light Rail

Phoenix Light Rail - Flickr Group

Old and New - Transportation systems evolve

Phoenix Business Journal to feature Light Rail