Will Scottsdale Ever Get Onboard With Light Rail? (Phoenix, Tempe: limo, to buy)

[asufan]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

What about these then?

• Red - Fire Line
• Blue - Water Line
• Green - Cactus Line
• Orange - Pumpkin Line
• Silver - Silver Line
• Pink - Adobe Line
• Gold - Gold Line
• Brown - Earth Line
• Purple - Chia Line

As for Pink being the Fairy Line, I got the idea from Pokémon since pink is the color that represents the Fairy type.

That's certainly an idea. I was thinking they could be named after the Power Rangers.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by yukon

Running it all the way up to FLW though is not likely to happen, it gets to be too low-density and don't know that it would make sense for the entirety of that run because okay you take the train up to FLW and what's up there? A big intersection, some car dealerships, and some outdoor shopping malls, e.g. the Lowe's and whatever else. Not exactly a compelling reason to spend millions of dollars a mile. I doubt it would ever get past Old Town.


Would running it to FLW give access to the businesses at the Airpark and Kierland (via shuttles maybe, like Dallas does)? LOTS of businesses in those areas with the worker demographic that would be likely to use the rail.

YEARS, and tens of millions of dollars, to take it that far. I just don't see it happening. The 72 bus runs quite often, and serves that area well to the extent that people up there use a bus.

[dvxhd]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

What about these then?

• Red - Fire Line
• Blue - Water Line
• Green - Cactus Line
• Orange - Pumpkin Line
• Silver - Silver Line
• Pink - Adobe Line
• Gold - Gold Line
• Brown - Earth Line
• Purple - Chia Line

As for Pink being the Fairy Line, I got the idea from Pokémon since pink is the color that represents the Fairy type.

You'd have to propose them to Valley Metro, because they'd have final say in naming conventions. I still think your red, blue and brown names don't really represent the area very well, and names don't even have to be something relative to the color, such as Coyote, Papago, Hohokam, etc. Other names present today could be outdated in the future, though the name would still stick. Locally, you could use Spectrum Mall (still largely referred to as Christown) and Piestewa Peak (still largely referred to as Squaw Peak), and outside of Phoenix, places like Foggy Bottom, DC (named because it was previously susceptible to fog) and the cities of Kyoto and Nanjing (both referring to their respective cities as capitals, which both were but are no longer today). By that I mean the starter line could be named "Tri-City Line", because it currently runs through three cities. In 50 years it could run through five, but historically (today) it would've served only three.

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by dvxhd

By that I mean the starter line could be named "Tri-City Line", because it currently runs through three cities. In 50 years it could run through five, but historically (today) it would've served only three.

I know this is not very original, but I would just call the current line, the "Main Line", if they are not going to go with letters and color it blue. Then the spur coming off it past the capitol building, name it the "Capitol Line". Even though the Tempe Streetcar is going to be something like the red headed stepchild of the Metro and be even slower than the light rail, I'm sure they will just end up calling it the "Tempe Streetcar Line" or just "Tempe Streetcar".

[dvxhd]

Originally Posted by cjseliga

I know this is not very original, but I would just call the current line, the "Main Line", if they are not going to go with letters and color it blue. Then the spur coming off it past the capitol building, name it the "Capitol Line". Even though the Tempe Streetcar is going to be something like the red headed stepchild of the Metro and be even slower than the light rail, I'm sure they will just end up calling it the "Tempe Streetcar Line" or just "Tempe Streetcar".

While it's unnecessary now, somewhat soon they are going to need to come up with line identifiers. Among numbers/letters, colors and names, I hope they opt for names. Of every major city with rail in this southwestern most part of the country, Phoenix would differentiate itself more, as both LA and San Diego went with color identifiers (though San Diego does use symbols with each, as in a wave for blue, palm tree for green), and names give it more of a sense of identity. I don't see an issue with Main Line. London has a "Central Line", Sydney an "Eastern Suburbs Line" and Tokyo named one "Namboku" (North/South). Still, I hope Valley Metro gets a little more creative than that when it comes time to name multiple lines.

[TempeAZnative]

Since they used colors before to identify lines such as Red line which runs basically the current line rail line, and Blue/yellow, ect I would venture to say that is what they will do when they need to name multiple lines.

[GeneR]

Have U.S. Light Rail Systems Been Worth the Investment? - CityLab

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by GeneR

Have U.S. Light Rail Systems Been Worth the Investment? - CityLab

The statistical control used in the numbers are questionable at the very least. Since they don't cite or state how they came up with the numbers I'm skeptical. i.e. not taking into account new suburban developments.

Using of raw numbers or ridership increase in proportion to population growth would have been more useful data. By taking the entire city population as a whole and measuring ridership against growth (generally sprawl in the 80s and 90s) doesn't tell us much more than we already knew.

This also assumes that the only benefit of mass transit is ridership itself and incidental economic affects like development and upward growth. It makes a few slight statements about it, but it doesn't provide any data. Any reasonable bystander can see that the path along the Light Rail in Phoenix and Tempe is wholly different than it was before the Rail was implemented. It sort of writes it off as if it's urban advocates alone who are responsible rather than some effect of having the Rail itself in place. That's clearly not intuitive.

[Valley Native]

If light rail in Scottsdale is determined to be necessary, how about this idea: have it privately funded (similar to how the Las Vegas monorail was built). After all, according to some people, Scottsdale is only for the very rich (which of course it isn't all that much). But in any case, it does tend to have more of an upscale lifestyle than other Valley cities, which means it attracts people with more money. I'm sure there are bound to be some wealthy business people, or even a few celebrities with either a Scottsdale address or who frequent Scottsdale often. These are the ones who could (and should) help fund the cost of light rail out of their own investments if the city is opposed to tax money being used. If it could work in Vegas with the wealthy hotel/casino owners flipping much of the bill, I don't see why it couldn't work elsewhere.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

If light rail in Scottsdale is determined to be necessary, how about this idea: have it privately funded (similar to how the Las Vegas monorail was built)..... If it could work in Vegas with the wealthy hotel/casino owners flipping much of the bill, I don't see why it couldn't work elsewhere.

The problem is that it's not working in Las Vegas. The LV Monorail has come close to insolvency and nearly been shut down before. Its fares are too high to be affordable for casino employees, and its hidden location behind casinos makes it unappealing to tourists. It has been so ineffective as a transit solution for Las Vegas that a local transportation commission has recently proposed building light rail down on the Strip. There are a variety of arguments for and against light rail in Scottsdale, as well as room for discussion about how it should be financed, but the LV Monorail shouldn't be considered a role model for anything.