Light rail in Phoenix and Maricopa County

Light rail in Phoenix and Maricopa County
Originally uploaded by rllayman

Today's Arizona Republic reports on the value of connectedness via light rail, in "Light-rail corridor in Tempe fuels increase to businesses." When I was out there in October, I set up a meeting with the City of Tempe Transportation Department (they are as progressive as the Arlington County, Virginia operation) and in talking with them I was surprised to learn that the Mesa (I wrote Scottsdale originally, incorrectly) light rail station is the busiest in the system, with lots of retired people getting on the transit line and going to places like Tempe and Phoenix to shop.

According to one of the business owners in Tempe, who is quoted in the article, business is up, both because of riders from the light rail system, and from the improvements that are happening as a result of the light rail investment, which in turn has fostered residential development and other improvements.

From the article:

Raveen Arora doesn't need a researcher to tell him that development along Apache Boulevard has been a success in the wake of light rail's opening last year.

Arora has owned India Plaza, near Apache and McClintock Drive, since 2002. Since light rail's opening in December, Arora has seen his business increase by nearly 10 percent despite the recession.

He attributes much of the increase to the residential projects that have opened on Apache in the past year and to the light-rail commuters who have spotted his shopping center and decided to stop by for Indian food or groceries.

The area has experienced a major makeover since the days it was known to draw prostitution and nightly police sirens, he said.

"Crime has reduced. There were streetwalkers . . . they're gone," he said. "We're getting a lot more upwardly mobile people who are using light rail, and they are not shunning Apache."