Today's paper had another large article about the Phoenix Light Rail Project. Kind of a, light at the end of the tunnel / homestretch thing. Near the end of the article, it mentions:

"As part of its grant agreement with the federal government, Metro promised at least 26,000 boardings a day for the first year of operation. To meet that target, Metro is planning a series of marketing events along the line this year. As the agency prepares to begin testing in each line segment, light-rail officials plan to hold "milestone events" to let people tour the vehicles."

I have heard a little bit about some planned events but not a whole lot. I do know that the first weekend is going to be free to ride and some events with music, media and probably hot dogs/apple pie will be thrown in for good measure. Granted, it's early and they have time to get the word out but I recently read some information about the new rail line in Charlotte, North Carolina that I thought was interesting. According to Debe, a blogger in Charlotte, Ridership for the first month of their system was approximately 9000 passenger trips per day. Now, if you consider that at roughly 1/2 the size of their system in comparison with the Arizona Light Rail system, it could be a little thin for Metro.
I'm sure the business owners along the route hope the 26,000 number will be easily matched and I look forward to not only watching the numbers roll in come December but participating in the parties. :-)