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An estimated 5,000 trips per day will be taken on the system. People will pay $1.75 for a trip that costs the taxpayers $15+ to provide services. And of course the taxpayers will lose money by the boatload.

With a $300 million cost and an estimated 5,000 trips per day the cost will be $60,000 per ride. I'm sure even a drunken sailor could find better ways to spend our tax dollars.

But Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton thinks that great and says “It’s critical to Phoenix and the area of 19th Avenue. We can’t be a great city unless we have a great light-rail system”. Personally I think Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has saw dust for brains.

Source

Phoenix extension of light rail to break ground

By Sean Holstege The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:44 PM

Metro’s on-again, off-again light-rail extension along 19th Avenue in Phoenix will break ground today.

The event will be met with a mixture of relief by those who want access to the rail system and dread by nearby businesses and residents who fear the disruption from long-term construction.

The three-station extension is scheduled to open by early 2016. The $300 million project will add stations at Glendale, Northern and Dunlap avenues, and is expected to attract an estimated 5,000 additional riders a day. [Wow! The cost is $100 million a mile for this boondoggle which will lose boatloads of money! Second when government light rail bureaucrats says 5,000 new riders a day they usually mean 5,000 total trips, not riders. So really the 5,000 figure means 2,500 round trip rides]

The new line will end at Dunlap and 19th avenues, 3.2 miles north of the current terminus at Montebello and 19th avenues.

“It’s critical to Phoenix and the area of 19th Avenue. We can’t be a great city unless we have a great light-rail system,” said Greg Stanton, mayor of Phoenix and chairman of the Metro light-rail board. [So Mayor Stanton, "great cities" p*ss away the taxpayers money like drunken sailors???]

“It’s opens up a world of possibilities,” he added. [Huh!!! It's just a stinking 3 mile extension of the existing money losing light rail line]

Stanton was referring to development potential along the busy street and the ability to lure car commuters from a wider area. The stations at the ends of the line are Metro’s busiest because people use the park-and-ride lots there to shorten their drives. Private developers have invested billions of dollars in new projects near light-rail stations.

But not everybody is wild about the prospect of three years of construction.

“At the beginning, it was a shock and a bit of disappointment,” said Luis Fernando, vice president of the Arizona Car Wash Co., which owns a car wash at Bethany Home Road and 19th Avenue. “It will affect 30 to 40 percent of our business.” [If you want a great method to drive people out of business light rail constructions is a fantastic idea]

Fernando decided to find out more, and he learned of Metro’s free advertising and promotion plan for affected businesses. He found out that construction was “a lot more organized” than when the 20-mile starter line was built and that the contractor was going door to door to ask business owners their preferred hours of construction. [Yea, as if the contractor is really going to listen to these business owners, most who DON'T WANT light rail construction]

Fernando and other 19th Avenue business owners organized and met with neighbors to make the most of a disruptive situation. He said companies that failed during the initial light-rail construction weren’t adequately prepared. [So blame the business owner for going out of business, instead of the government idiots who created the problem]

“No matter what we do, this (rail construction) is going to happen, so you might as well turn a bad thing into a good thing,” he said. [Translation - Bend over, your are going to get screwed by the government] In the end, “it will be a benefit; it will increase property values,” and the rail will add visibility to his business, he added.

Enthusiasts and critics of the Valley’s light-rail system have been here before. Metro canceled the extension project in 2009 a week before construction was to begin. All the money for the work came from a city sales tax dedicated for transit projects, but when the state economy collapsed, the money vanished.

The line that was to have opened in 2012 was halted indefinitely, pending a rebound in revenue. It was the latest twist in a project that has been scaled back and delayed.

Phoenix and Metro used the time to buy as much right of way and move as many utility lines as possible. It was a lesson from completion of the original track in 2008, when slow land acquisition and unforeseen problems with water, sewer, power and communications lines held up work.

The so-called Northwest Extension is now restored. When work begins in earnest next week, it will mean Metro will be adding track on both ends of the original 20-mile line at the same time.

“It shows that I, as mayor, am firmly committed to the extension of light rail,” Stanton said. [And p*ssing away our tax dollars like a drunken sailor for the special interest groups that benefit from light rail]

A 3-mile, four-station extension into downtown Mesa began last summer. The $200 million Mesa addition will open to service in 2016. [And of course that is another boondoggle that will waste our tax dollars at the other end of the line in Mesa.]