Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Explore light rail with these special and holiday events‏

With guests in town and time away from the daily grind this holiday season, consider METRO light rail as your connection to the Valley’s best special events and destinations. METRO has created an event listing featuring special and holiday-themed events taking place at venues located along the 20-mile line. Download this guide from the “Good to Know” section of www.metrolightrail.org.

This guide was developed to give riders a glimpse of the wide-ranging event opportunities available within walking distance from the line. It features event details, venue contact information, closest light rail stations and notations for free, family fun, holiday and Rail Ride events.

The Rail Ride event program is a ticket partnership between METRO and the US Airways Center and Phoenix Suns. Any US Airways Center event ticket serves as your light rail pass for that day – four hours before the event and through the end of the transit day. More information on the Rail Ride program can be found on the METRO homepage.

While this guide showcases dozens of events occurring through the first of the year, it is not meant to be a complete listing. For a more complete list of the Valley’s arts and culture destinations along light rail, download the METRO Arts and Culture Ride Guide at metrolightrail.org

Source: Metro Light Rail

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

METRO October ridership – another record-breaking month

METRO ridership reaches an all-time high with 1,124,924 riders in October. With 70,000 more riders than the high in September, daily ridership peaked at 41,077 for the average weekday, 30,517 for the average Saturday and 17,160 for the average Sunday/holiday in October.

In September, METRO ridership totaled 1,054,286 boardings, resulting in an average weekday ridership of 40,772, average Saturday ridership of 28,612 and average Sunday and holiday ridership of 16,726.

METRO had its single highest ridership day on Friday, Oct. 2 with 50,562 riders. Several factors could be contributors to this peak including the arrival of the fall season and visitors as well as events such as the First Friday art walk in downtown Phoenix.

METRO achieved 50,000+ riders one other time on May 13 during ASU’s spring commencement featuring President Barack Obama. METRO served 50,011 riders that day.

Source: Metro Light Rail