A Monday morning in May 2009, and you’re waiting for the train.

The new Metro light-rail system has been up and running since December, and most days, you can leave your car at home in north Phoenix and commute by bus and rail to one of Tempe’s new high-rise offices along the lake.

Since gas hit $6 a gallon earlier this year, you’ve noticed a lot more people on the train.

The spring weather is starting to heat up, and after a short bus ride to the station at Central Avenue and Camelback Road, you’re cooling your heels under one of the shade structures on the station platform. Most of the stations are in the center of the street, but this one is tucked into the southwestern corner.

People are lined up to buy tickets at an automated kiosk, but your transfer from the bus covers your fare. You’re ready to get on board. Looking around, you see people heading for work, Arizona State University students, airline travelers with suitcases, and a few transient types.

The station’s LCD screen tells you the train will arrive in another minute.

8 a.m.: Two 90-foot-long rail cars, linked together, roll almost silently into the station. Unlike subway trains in New York or Chicago, there are no screeching rails or whining motors. Just the low rumble of wheels on a seamless track.

The streamlined cars ride low, with skirts hiding the wheels. Once the train stops, the floors line up with the station platform, with no step up or down.

You push a button to open one of the doors and step in. There’s a vacant seat on the aisle. You sit down and push your briefcase underneath. The seats are cantilevered from the sides of the car, so there are no legs or other obstructions blocking the space under your seat.

There are no advertisements inside or outside. Valley Metro put a moratorium on ads for the first year, then will decide whether to allow them.

A woman rolls her bicycle through the door and slides it into the bike rack mounted on the wall.

8:01: The doors close and the train moves away from the station. You marvel at how smoothly the train moves out. The people standing in the aisle don’t even fall into each other.

Rolling down Central, you check out the construction on the western side of the street and wonder once again why you didn’t have the foresight to buy land. Oh well.

8:02: The train halts at the Central High School stop, where a crowd of rowdy teens rumbles off. As it takes off again, you glance at the stop-and-start cars along Central on either side.

8:04: At the Indian School Road station, there’s a crowd of rush-hour travelers waiting. Here, the train operator decides to open all 16 doors on the right side of the two rail cars to let the crowd step in smoothly. Each car holds 200 people, and it’s getting pretty near that number. Standing room only.

You consider gallantly giving up your seat to an elderly person, but fortunately, there are none in sight.

Despite the close quarters and hot weather, the rail car feels pretty cool inside. But then, why shouldn’t it with the two mammoth 12.5-ton air-conditioners on the roof? It’s enough to cool one of those mansions on Camelback Mountain.

8:11: After a few other stops on Central, the train arrives at the main downtown hub at Van Buren Street, where about half of the passengers step off. Some are headed to jobs downtown, others to the new ASU campus. Still others make connections with buses on Van Buren.

As the car empties a bit, you have a clear view of the scores of people scurrying around the station. Must be that $6 gas.

Inside the train, a young man backs his wheelchair into a specially designed section without the operator’s help. His companion swings down an adjacent seat so she can also sit in the wheelchair section.

8:13: The train reaches the 90-degree left turn at Jefferson Street, curving like a python around the track. Each car has three sections so that it can bend around such turns. The trains are limited to three connected cars because that is the length of a station platform, or a city block.

8:14: The stop at Third Street goes by quickly. This is a popular stop on nights when the Suns play at the old America West Arena, now named after some East Coast airline, or when the Diamondbacks play at Chase Field Ballpark, which some call the Chase. Who can keep track?

The stations along Jefferson are spaced farther apart, so the train glides farther without stopping. There are stations at 12th and 24th streets, then a long stretch of smooth rolling before the 44th Street station. The cars have a top speed of 55 mph, and on this segment, it gets up to the 45-mph speed limit.

8:26: At 44th Street, people get off with suitcases and duffel bags to catch a shuttle bus to Sky Harbor International Airport. Someday, an automated People Mover is supposed to whisk folks from here to the airport. But with an estimated billion-dollar cost, it won’t come anytime soon.

8:32: The train crosses the sculptured bridge across Tempe Town Lake, everyone’s favorite part of the ride. Out the left window you see rowers cutting across the water.

8:34: You stop at Mill Avenue and step off with a gaggle of ASU students. The train quietly pulls out from the station and continues east toward Mesa.

After carefully crossing the tracks, you stop for a Starbucks coffee, then walk up Mill toward work. You’ll be back after quitting time.

--
Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 10, 2005 12:00 AM