July 28, 2010

In the News:
Scottsdale bus route cuts start Monday; 1 route to be free, The Arizona Republic, July 22, 2010
Riders left waiting amid transit cutbacks, The Arizona Republic, July 26, 2010
Tempe biking fatalities show need for protective measures, The Arizona Republic, July 24, 2010
eBikes take in a new view of downtown Phoenix, The Arizona Republic, July 27, 2010

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Scottsdale bus route cuts start Monday; 1 route to be free
by Jane Larson 
Jul. 22, 2010 10:44 AM
The Arizona Republic

Cuts to some Scottsdale bus routes start Monday, but users who fought to save one south Scottsdale route will actually gain from the budget wrangling: Their rides will be free, at least temporarily.

Scottsdale is converting Route 76, Miller Road, from a local bus route operated by Valley Metro's contractor, Veolia Transportation, into a neighborhood circulator operated by Scottsdale-based trolley company Dunn Transportation .

The change in operators was projected to cut the route's cost from $911,500 last fiscal year to $536,500 this year, saving the city $375,000 annually.

Dunn can operate the route less expensively because it doesn't incur the expense of collecting, counting and transporting fare money, Vice President Jerry Derwin said. Pay rates for its drivers are lower than for their unionized counterparts on fixed routes.

Route 76's schedule and stops stay the same, and the route still runs along Miller Road and to Scottsdale Community College. Effective Monday, the route will add a loop to the south, going from SkySong south to McKellips Road, then east on McKellips and north on Miller.

Riders will experience the new trolley side of Route 76 in two ways:

•  Dunn Transportation will run a combination of Scottsdale's vintage-look trolleys and the traditional magenta-and-teal buses on the route. Riders should get used to seeing both vehicles.

"It could be all buses one day or all trolleys," Derwin said. "We want to give everyone the trolley experience, and at the same time we want to see how the buses work out."

The six 30-foot buses could be repainted or wrapped to look more like the trolleys, he and city spokeswoman Annie DeChance said.

•  Fare boxes have been removed from the buses. Rides will be free, just like on Scottsdale's neighborhood and downtown trolleys, while the city evaluates fare structures over the next six months.

"Oh, my goodness . . . That will be good," rider Joan Levitt said as she waited for Route 76 on Wednesday. She uses her monthly pass four or five times a week to volunteer at the Civic Center Library, but liked the idea of the route becoming more like Scottsdale's downtown and neighborhood trolleys.

Derwin said she hopes ridership will increase as word gets out that fares are free and that the trolley company is operating Route 76.

As a bus route, the 76 was one of Scottsdale's lesser-used routes, with 120,615 total boardings in fiscal 2008-09.

The downtown trolley was more popular, with 195,643 boardings during that period. Scottsdale's neighborhood trolley was the most popular circulator in the Valley, attracting 377,282 boardings that fiscal year.

Trolley supporters at hearings this spring volunteered to pay 25 cents to $1 for rides. Others suggested the city raise money by selling advertising, sponsorships or passes for residents or tourists.

The city will evaluate revenue ideas and the expense of adding fare boxes and setting up a secure collection system. The city must estimate how much ridership would decline if fares are charged. Santa Barbara, Calif., lost 40 percent of riders on its free shuttles when it instituted 50-cent fares, transit officials have said.

Scottsdale cut $1.4 million from this year's transit budget, the same amount it lost when the Legislature propped up the state budget with Lottery money previously allocated to transit. The specter of more cuts looms next year unless extra revenue sources are found.

Other bus riders were not as fortunate as those on Route 76. Among the cuts and changes:
•  Route 572, the Surprise/Scottsdale Airpark Express, makes its last run Friday night.
•  Route 66, Mill Avenue/68th Street, will not run in Scottsdale starting Monday.
•  Route 72, Scottsdale/Rural Road, and Route 81, Hayden/McClintock, will run less frequently on weekdays starting Monday.
• Route 72 will extend all of its runs north to Thompson Peak Parkway, but Route 81 will reduce the number of runs it makes north to Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.

When Valley Metro started the Surprise-Scottsdale Airpark Express in July 2007, it was the first express bus to connect Valley suburbs without going to downtown Phoenix. The regional transportation agency thought the service would catch on with West Valley residents who commute to the airpark. But many workers found it daunting to get from the 572's limited number of stops to workplaces blocks away.

"It might have been a little before its time," Valley Metro spokeswoman Susan Tierney said. "It goes to the Airpark but it doesn't go in the Airpark, and that might be a hindrance to some people."

American Express Co. is encouraging its employees who used Route 572 to carpool or create a vanpool, spokeswoman Christa Burkhalter said.

The route might return when the economy and sales-tax revenues rebound, Tierney said. The 572 was funded with Proposition 400 money, a transportation sales tax that county voters approved in 2004.

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Riders left waiting amid transit cutbacks
Bus routes eliminated, light rail reducing service
by Sean Holstege 
Jul. 26, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Today, Valley bus riders will once again have to cope with fewer routes, less-frequent buses and shorter hours as the regional system revamps 50 lines.

Many passengers will have to find more creative ways to get from A to B, including taking more transfers than before or finding different routes. As with any broad cut to transit service, it is the poor who will be the hardest hit because they make up most of Valley Metro's ridership. The disabled and elderly, who tend to be more transit- dependent, also will keenly feel the cuts.

Today's cuts are not as severe as some planners feared in the spring, but for some cities they represent the fourth round of service reductions in two years, with more trims planned in some places. For the most part, weekend, late-night and early-morning bus service will be cut the most because those buses carry the fewest passengers.

Across the Valley, nine bus routes will be eliminated, including two local routes, three express routes and four neighborhood circulators.

In addition, 15 routes have been rescheduled, 16 have been rerouted and 10 lines have changes to both the schedule and route.

Some buses that cross city limits will turn back and force passengers to wait for a second bus on the same route.

Dial-a-Ride service, which caters to seniors and the disabled, will be more limited.

The light-rail system also is reducing service for the first time since opening in late 2008. Peak hours will be shortened, and during that time Metro will run trains every 12 minutes instead of every 10.

The bus changes are certain to confuse some passengers because Valley Metro's new bus books do not detail all the changes. Cities couldn't finalize their budgets until after the publication deadline, bus officials said.

Valley Metro is not a single bus system but a collection of independent services managed by the region's cities.

Almost all of the cities have had to cut budgets. The transit cuts are prompted by declining sales-tax revenue and the Legislature taking all $22 million in annual Arizona Lottery money dedicated to transit service and using it to balance the state's books.

Cities said they staved off deeper cuts with budget moves. Phoenix passed a 2-cents-per-dollar sales tax on food. Tempe dipped into transit-fund reserves. Scottsdale got City Council support to spend other funds on bus operations, and Glendale found federal grants. Mesa took funds from regional routes to salvage local runs.

Most transit departments made adjustments to consolidate or reroute bus lines with few riders. Some cities put off adding new service to save operating costs.

Scottsdale Transit Manager Madeline Clemann said the cuts were surgical but the effect was like a head injury to a human nervous system. "You lose some nerve pathways, but your body finds other nerve pathways to keep the muscles moving."

Senior riders

Seniors, particularly in Phoenix, are facing acute changes.

The city is gutting two time-reserved shuttle programs many seniors depend on. Dial-a-Ride and the separate Reserve-a-Ride program have allowed seniors to book reservations on small shuttles to take them on errands.

Today, the city will eliminate the reservation system on Dial-a-Ride. Disabled seniors will only make same-day bookings for shuttles that arrive within an hourlong window, not a set time. This will make returning with groceries or scheduling medical visits more difficult for many elderly residents.

Reserve-a-Ride was scaled back earlier this month to take elderly passengers to and from only senior centers or on group trips. Both can take most of the day. Passengers with mobility or health problems say they can't always keep up with groups or stay out that long.

As an option, the city is pushing a new program, Senior Cab. Seniors can buy up to $40 a month in taxi vouchers, at 30 cents on the dollar.

But some seniors, like 69-year-old Karen Kendall, say the cab system is a joke because short return trips to the supermarket cost $20.

"You wait a long time and cab drivers are pretty belligerent because they don't get a tip," said Kendall, who lives in city-run senior housing in Phoenix's Sunnyslope area.

"I'm luckier than most because I can walk," she said, explaining she uses city buses. "There are a lot of seniors who are cut off and don't know what they will do."

She and other seniors say people can't use Dial-a-Ride because rates increase with distance and can get expensive. It's also inconvenient because the waits are unpredictable, and they've had to cancel medical visits if the waiting room is busy or take cabs back from grocery stores if perishables start going bad in the heat.

The cuts to all forms of transit are forcing seniors to stay home, pay more or beg for rides from friends and family, they say.

"This isn't right. It's affecting too many people, and (the city officials) don't care," Kendall said.

The disabled

Katie Griffith of Gilbert says when the city gets rid of Sunday Dial-a-Ride, it will wipe out her means of getting around. Griffith is 24, has cerebral palsy and relies on shuttles to get to church in Gilbert, which she described as a critical part of her life. She says she has no choice but to stop attending.

"It's like taking away part of my freedom to do things like everybody else," she said.

David Carey, a 40-year-old Tempe man, gets around on a wheelchair, light rail and city bus service to get to work at the Arizona Bridge to Independent Living at Washington and 50th streets.

Starting today, the Route 1 bus will run only every 45 minutes, which Carey said could add an hour to his trip.

Transit planners Valley-wide said they cut routes where other options existed. In Carey's case, the other option is light rail, but the station is almost a mile from his office. For most people, that's a discomfort, but for Carey it could be fatal. He said he suffered a spinal-cord injury that not only put him in a wheelchair but prevents him from sweating, so he can't regulate his body temperature.

If he misses the bus connection, there's nowhere cool to wait another 45 minutes, and his body can reach dangerous core temperatures if he heads down the street after even several minutes, he said.

Carey advocates for more transit to help disabled people. He sees a vicious cycle.

"When you move a route to 45 minutes, that's not service. And then fewer people ride and it gives them more excuse to make even further cuts," he said. "It's definitely going to hurt a lot of people."

He warned that disabled people will have no choice but to turn to Dial-a-Ride, which costs more to run.

Working people

Others affected by the cuts rely on weekend and late-night buses. Many are shift workers like Mahalia Rozensteruik.

The 41 year-old lives in south Phoenix and has to take three buses, including the free airport shuttle, to get to her job at Sky Harbor International Airport, where she helps US Airways passengers at the check-in counter and departure gate.

On weekdays, the trip takes 40 minutes; on weekends, up to an hour. That's if all the buses are on time, don't break down or if she leaves work on time.

But if flights get delayed, Rozensteruik can't get out of the airport by 8:30 p.m. in time to meet the last bus. Starting next week, her weekend buses will run every hour. Her trip will get longer, more difficult and she's more likely to have to take a cab home. That costs her $20, she said. She earns $13 an hour, so every time she works late, all the money she earns goes into getting home.

If she misses a bus or a bus breaks down on the way to work, she could be late. If she's late, she can get demerits, and too many of those can lead to a dismissal.

"I can't afford a car. I had a divorce and bought a house and don't want more debt," Rozensteruik said.

She said she understands the government budget picture and has learned to adjust, but isn't happy about it.

"I feel like they don't care about the little people who have to take the bus," Rozensteruik said. "They keep saying they want people to take more transit, but they don't provide that service."

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Tempe biking fatalities show need for protective measures
by Derek Quizon 
Jul. 24, 2010 07:19 AM
The Arizona Republic

Local bicycle-safety advocates say the death of Mesa resident Bradley Jason Scott, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while crossing the intersection of Southern Avenue and Rural Road on a bike July 10, highlights the need for more protective measures for cyclists in the city.

Scott's death was the third bike-related fatality in Tempe this year. There were no fatal bike accidents in 2007 or 2008, and there was just one in 2006, according to a city report. Tempe police reported two fatal bicycle accidents in 2009.

Rebecca Clark, a board member for the Tempe Bicycle Action Group, said the accident occurred at an intersection the group has labeled "problematic" because it is busy - the Tempe Public Library and the Tempe Historical Museum are nearby - but lacks a bike lane or other protective measures for cyclists.

"If you're on a bicycle, the only way you can get there is to ride on the sidewalk - which in my opinion is an unsafe practice - or to ride as a vehicle in traffic . . . which tends to make a person feel kind of insecure on a bike."

The board has also pointed to University Drive and Ash Avenue, College Avenue and Broadway Road, Alameda and McClintock drives and Southern and College avenues as "problematic" intersections.

Two of those intersections were the sites of this year's other bicycle-related fatalities. ASU student Chris Volpe was killed at the intersection of Ash and University May 10. Just seven days later, Jay Fretz was killed at the intersection of Alameda and McClintock.

Clark said the city has a few options for making those streets safer for cyclists. The most obvious would be to add bike lanes. If that is too costly or disruptive, the city should also consider additional signage that directs cyclists to the same destinations at Southern and Rural through less busy side streets, she said. Signs alerting motorists that bicycles are using full lanes could remind drivers they are sharing the road with bicycles.

Eric Iwersen, senior planner with Tempe's community development department, said the city is in various stages of planning to make improvements to those streets that would make them safer for cyclists. That includes the addition of bike lanes and certain measures to slow traffic, including lower speed limits, and the addition of medians and speed tables.

Work on College between the U.S. 60 and Apache Boulevard is scheduled to begin this fall and to be completed by next spring, he said. Improvements on Broadway Road between Mill Avenue and Rural Road will begin "within the year," he said, and should be completed by next fall.

Work on University Drive between Priest Drive and Mill Avenue, and Hardy Drive between Rio Salado Drive and Broadway Road will be completed in the next two to three years, he said, adding that Alameda Road is a "strong candidate" for improvement.

In the meantime, Clark said, cyclists must practice safe riding in areas where there are no bike lanes.

R.S. Matt, former board member with the Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists, said the fatalities should serve as a reminder to cyclists of the importance of riding safely in traffic.

The accident, caught on video by a traffic camera, took place at night, which should remind riders of the importance of staying visible, Matt said. A headlight and a rear reflector are required by Arizona law for riding at night. Red tail lights are not required but highly recommended.

There is ample information on the Internet, he said, including publications from the Arizona Department of Transportation and safety videos from the League of American Bicyclists.

"If bicyclists will take just a few hours of their time to educate themselves, they could ride much more safely and with a whole lot more confidence," he said.

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eBikes take in a new view of downtown Phoenix
See Valley from a new perspective on an electric bike
by Jessica VanZalen 
Jul. 27, 2010 10:40 AM
The Arizona Republic

When it's too hot to walk and too boring to ride in a car, take in a new view of downtown Phoenix through Copper Square Adventures' eBikes.

The idea for the electric bikes came when owners Silverio and Susan Ontiveros visited Vancouver, British Columbia, last summer and saw the bike rental shops around the city.

The couple who runs Copper Square Adventures hiking and tour company wanted to bring the idea to the Valley so visitors and residents could get a new perspective on the city.

Last fall, they began renting seven eBikes with baskets and helmets in downtown Phoenix, including maps of hotspots to visit, local parks and coffee shops.

This fall, the Ontiveroses will initiate guided city tours on the bikes, which can go as fast as 20 mph and travel 60 miles when fully charged. The hybrid between a bike and a scooter has pedals in case it runs out of juice, a hand accelerator and hand brakes.

"We are hoping to make Phoenix more approachable and more exciting with these bicycles so people get to see parts of Phoenix you don't normally see, the unique neighborhoods and businesses and shops in the arts district," Silverio Ontiveros said.

The bikes can be brought aboard Metro Light Rail to ride around Tempe and other areas near the rail line.

But don't expect to drop by the rental and touring agency for a peek. The Ontiveroses rent the bikes from the building where they live on Lincoln and Second streets in Phoenix. They will deliver the bikes to customers and to hotels.

Silverio, who was a Phoenix police officer for 33 years, says as long as riders are familiar with bike lanes and traffic laws, they will be OK riding in downtown traffic. However, there are steps the city could take following other large cities' examples to promote safe bicycling, he said.

"In Mexico City, the municipal government is encouraging people to ride bikes," he said.

Several European cities have bike-rental programs with stations outside of tourist areas and subway stops.

"I still have a positive feeling that this will take off (in the U.S.)," Silverio said. "In China, there are over 100 million of these electric bikes. I think in the U.S. there are 100,000."

So far, about half of the customers who've rented the bikes have been Valley residents. The couple ride the bikes to church and on errands about town.

"People see it, write down (our) number and ride with their friends," Silverio said.

EBIKE RENTAL
Cost: 2-hour ride, $29; 2-4 hours, $39; all day until 6 p.m., $49; each additional hour, $15. Discounts available on rental of three bikes or more.
Reservations: coppersquareadventures.com, 602-330-3620.

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