The Phoenix City Council approved a major milestone in the future of the city’s transit landscape, which adds bus service hours and frequency when scheduled service changes take effect this October.
“We heard loud and clear from Phoenix residents that they want the option to catch a bus later in the evening just as they do with light rail, and they want more frequent service to reduce wait times at bus stops,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “Providing more options for working families and residents is what our long-term transportation plan is all about, and that’s what we are going to deliver.”
The improvements equal a 20 percent increase in service miles, from about 17 to 20 million. This means more service hours and shorter wait times for Phoenix bus riders.
In 2014, the Phoenix Public Transit Department went directly to the public to ask what they wanted from the voter-approved Transportation 2050 plan. Among the many suggestions the public gave during early outreach was longer bus hours that match the light rail schedule, and more frequent bus service.
The $17 million improvements include extending the service day by three hours every day of the week for Phoenix’s 44 local fixed bus routes and Dial-a-Ride. In addition, those same routes will have a frequency of 30 minutes or less, seven days a week – in particular during off-peak hours and the weekend.
“Last year Phoenix residents voted to approve a transportation plan that would include enhanced bus service,” said Councilwoman Thelda Williams who chairs the City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. “Today, the Phoenix City Council voted to approve a plan for more hours of service and increased frequency—improved service that was a direct result of input from our residents. Transportation infrastructure with bus service that connects residents to their destinations and attracts economic development is what our residents asked for and it is what Phoenix is committed to deliver.”
This is just the first step in this service expansion.
In April, Phoenix Public Transit Department is proposing the expansion of bus service to match light rail hours seven days a week, another 1.3 million service revenue miles. The two-phase implementation allows the city’s two bus service providers to hire and train the 200-plus employees it takes to drive and maintain the buses for this service improvement. The total miles to be added to the system in both October and April is nearly 4.5 million miles.
T2050’s impact on Phoenix transit has just started. Other improvements transit riders can look forward to in the coming months are new shade shelters throughout the city, construction of bus bays and more new buses and Dial-a-Ride vehicles.
