Students at the Tempe and Downtown Phoenix campuses will change the way they use public transit this year with the new Valley Metro light rail and revised bus routes.
Tempe’s public transit division, the Phoenix Transit Department and Valley Metro have been working on a series of adjustments to bus routes that could affect ASU students in Tempe and downtown Phoenix.
ASU Parking and Transit Services information specialist Leona Morales said the agencies are trying to mesh all the different transportation options.
“That way it’ll be easier for all students, faculty and staff to take advantage of all of them,” she said.
One of the first changes students will see is the expansion of Tempe’s Orbit Earth bus route, which will provide direct transit to Tempe Marketplace from the Tempe campus.
Starting Monday, students will have the option of taking the newly added “Earth Back” route, which goes directly to the shopping center, as an alternative to the current route, which goes through north Tempe neighborhoods, said Tempe transit spokeswoman Susan Taaffe.
Civil engineering freshman Leon Pegay said the new route would make getting around more convenient.
“Most people use the Earth to get to Tempe Marketplace anyway,” he said. “They make way too many stops there.”
Anthropology sophomore Garvin Anders said he was glad to see Orbit expanding the route and providing an alternative to Valley Metro’s Route 81, which travels along University Drive and is “inconsistent with timing and frequency.”
Students will be faced with more drastic changes to bus routes later this year, which are being adjusted by city transit agencies to work better with the light rail when it opens in December.
The two changes most likely to affect ASU students are the overhaul of the Red Line, which extends from Mesa to Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, and Route 30, which travels along University Drive.
According to proposed changes, the Red Line will be renamed Route 40, will extend eastward to Superstition Springs Mall in Mesa and will only travel as far west as Sky Harbor Airport.
The frequency of Route 30 buses will be reduced from every 15 to every 30 minutes during rush hour, with the new Orbit Earth route picking up the most of the traffic along University Drive.
Phoenix transit representative Marie Chapple said the light-rail route, which will follow the current Red Line very closely, will provide students with a shorter commute than Red Line buses offer.
“Rail has less stops than a bus … so the traffic is less of a concern,” Chapple said.
Taaffe said the adjustments were designed to streamline public transit by getting rid of excessive overlaps between bus services and changing routes to allow easy transfer to light-rail trains.
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
