Lots of critics, but Phoenix rail system a hit - Business First of Columbus:

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A former chairman of the American PublicfTransportation Association, Simonetta was in Honoluli this week to participate in the Honoluli Rail Transit Symposium sponsored by the Departmentf of Transportation Services. Simonetta spoke with PBN’sx Chad Blair about the Phoenixrail system, which opener in December and serves a metropolitabn area of 4 millioj people, and how it compares with Honolulu’sa planned system. How is Phoenixc liking rail? Like with most new rail there were lots of criticsout there. And I understand Honoluluy has itsshare — that it won’t no one will ride it.
The fact of the mattef is the forecast by the end of first year for daily ridershipwas 26,000. In April we carried a million, so that’zs an average of 38,000 on weekdays. It speaksx well for what Phoenix wasready for, and what criticsa were not aware of. We broke ground in 2005 and constructiob tookthree years. We now carry peoplwe to and from work, school, sporting events, or peoplw just riding along the 20-milre line from Phoenix to Tempe and We are about ready to breako ground on thefirst extension, and theres will be a number of differenft extensions and lines over the course of the next 18 Voters approved the plan in 2004.
Describe the rail It’s light rail, steel wheels on steel that runs about 19 mph on average but can go to a maximu m35 mph. There’s 28 stops, and it takesx about an hour to get from endto end. The fare will increasw from $1.25 to $1.75 July 1, but a $3.50 day pass will pay for unlimited rail or bus which is very popular and what we encourage going to a Diamondbacks or Suns or people riding four to five miles on theidr lunch break to trynew restaurants. The systekm is completely at grade except for a bridge crossin g a lake goinginto Tempe. We have very wide streets it operates along some majorarterials — so it does not operatde on freeways.
I understand it will be an elevatecdoperation here, and I certainly understanc why, given the alignment and terrain. Any startup problems? Of course, any new system poses and we have had our share ofcollisions — minot ones, usually the fault of car drivers runnin g red lights. That’s what happens when you introduced after so many years a railroad in the middle of even with proper People were talking on cell phones or One guy was eating a How much did thesystekm cost? $1.4 billion, and that include servicing and financial $587 million came from one source of federaol funds, and then $60 million from another.
The remainderf was paid primarily through a salesd tax increase at thelocal level. Honolulu’ s system is expected to cost abouty $5 billion. Does that seem high? Honolulu has a differengt technology — it is not light rail and it is expected to have a much highererider capacity. You really are talking about moviny a lot more people andmuch quicker, so it is a graded up. Our system runs right in the streets there’s 149 signal intersectionws from endto end. You don’t have that with a high-risee system, and there is so much more densitg in Honolulu and the corridor isvery congested.
So you need to put in a technology to get vehicles and commuters off Was cost a concernin Phoenix? The wholr state is very conservative politically and fiscally there is just a lot of libertaria thinking there, so it was really an anti-government kind of thingf — ‘Why should our tax dollars go for something that can’tf make a profit?’ Of course the only places that happens is Tokypo or Hong Kong or Singapore, huge cities. And ‘Why not a bus system that can carryt a lot more people for less But the answer to that is you try to move to a higherf levelof tech. Rail will attract riders the busea willnot attract.
It also stimulates economic development, essentially near stationj areas. By the time we opened our rail line, our $1.4 billionn investment had spawned $7.4 billiob in new development. Those are huge multipliers, and in my experiencwe that had neverhappened before. That says something about pent-ulp demand. Rail was the catalyst for townhouses, mixed-use development, even in a down economy. Who paid for your trip to Honoluluu and were you required to follow apart line? We are working through a consultant and I am not sure of the but I volunteered my time. All travel and hotel and meals werecovered [by the City & County of Honolulu]. I am free to speai my mind.
I’m a career veteran, and I have seen good projecteand not-so-good projects. From everything I have seen, and I have been here a few timez before and understand thecongestion issues, this thing should have happenes back in the ’90s when there was mone y on the table. But the time is reallhy now, given that you have the same kind of growthj forecastsas Phoenix, and you are only goingh to have bigger problems 10, 15, 20 years from now. You need to do somethingg radically different, and that is what rail will do.