We get a lot of questions on how light rail will operate. Many of these questions have to do with navigating the light rail line and how long it will take to get from point a to point b. Here is a little bit of info as provided by Metro. If you want to travel the entire (approx 20 mile) light rail route, it is projected to take 57 minutes. The trains run at posted speed limits up to 35 miles per hour. Some of the destination times can be broken down as follows:
Chris-Town Mall to downtown Phoenix, 20 minutes
Chris-Town Mall to the airport, 32 minutes
Chris-Town Mall to ASU, 42 minutes
Downtown Phoenix to Sky Harbor (44th St. airport shuttle) 14 minutes. *
Downtown Phoenix to downtown Tempe, 23 minutes
Tentative hours and frequency are: (source Metro Fast facts, last update 8/18/08) Hours. The service day begins at 4:40 a.m. on all platforms. Trains depart all platforms for the last full-trip of the evening at 11 p.m., arriving at their respective ends-of-the-line at midnight.
Currently, the scheduled run times are: During the week trains will arrive at all stations every 10 minutes between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. At all other times, trains will arrive at stations every 20 minutes. On weekends, trains will arrive at stations every 15 minutes between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. At all other times, trains will arrive at stations every 20 minutes. During special events, trains may operate more frequently to accommodate large crowds.
* Note; if traveling from downtown Phoenix to the airport (or vice versa) please allow extra time for the shuttle service from the light rail station at 44th and Washington streets. From the METRO station at 44th/Washington, passengers cross the street to the south and board an airport shuttle bus. The airport shuttle bus connects to all terminals and arrives approximately every six minutes.