Valley Metro Bus

Valley Metro Bus

Founded	1993
Headquarters	U.S. Bank Center 101 North 1st Avenue, Suite 1100 Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Locale	Phoenix, Arizona
Service area	Maricopa County
Service type	Local, express, shuttle, paratransit
Routes	104
Hubs	17
Fleet	1,061 buses
Annual ridership	56,482,963
Fuel type	Diesel, Diesel-electric Hybrid, CNG, LNG
Operator	City of Phoenix, RPTA, other various city governments
Website	http://www.valleymetro.org

Valley Metro Bus is a transit bus system for public transport in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Buses are operated by private companies contracted by Valley Metro and the City of Phoenix. Service currently operates throughout the broader Phoenix Metropolitan Area. All buses have wheelchair ramps or lifts, and except for paratransit vehicles, all buses have bike racks.

Operations

There are over 100 bus routes contracted by Valley Metro, including regular routes, limited-stop routes, and community circulators. Bus frequency, hours, and days of operation vary by route. The most heavily used routes have peak service frequency of every 10 minutes and run as late as 3:30 am, while less used routes run every 30 minutes off-peak, with service ending at midnight.

Route types and naming conventions

There are currently 60 local bus routes that form Valley Metro's super-grid bus system. They are numbered roughly according to the address on the Phoenix area's street grid on which they travel. For example:

• Route 35 is a north-south route which runs along 35th Avenue, which is the 3500 block, west, on the street grid.
• Route 0 runs north-south along Central Avenue, which is the dividing street or "zero point" separating east and west Phoenix on the street grid.
• Route 50 runs east-west along Camelback Road, which is the 5000 block, north, on the street grid
• Route 72 runs north-south along Scottsdale and Rural Roads, which are the 7200 block, east, on the street grid.
• Route 104 runs north-south along Alma School Road, which corresponds to the 10400 block, east, on the street grid (but not in the city of Mesa itself, which uses a different street numbering/zero point origin from the city of Phoenix).
• Routes 7 and 8 each run on 7th Street and 7th Avenue respectively. Given that Phoenix has numbered thoroughfares designated as "Avenues" west of Central and "Streets" east of Central, Route 8 is one digit higher to avoid confusion with Route 7 which are both the 700 blocks.
• Route 17 runs east-west along McDowell Road, which actually is the 1600 block, north, on the street grid. Route 17 is one digit higher to avoid confusion with Route 16, which runs north-south along 16th Street which is the 1600 block, east, on the street grid.

The community circulator routes are mostly a free service, the exceptions being the Avondale Zoom routes with a 50 cent fare each; formerly the Glendale Urban Shuttle (GUS) routes had a 25 cent fare each to ride; this fare was eliminated on October 23, 2017. They supplement the standard grid service with routes that connect neighborhoods to nearby business districts. Circulator vehicles are typically minibusses, with the Avondale Zoom routes, Scottsdale Trolley routes, and select Tempe Orbit routes using mid-size buses and the DASH circulator serving Downtown Phoenix using 40-foot buses. The naming convention varies by the communities they serve, such as the Scottsdale Neighborhood Trolley, Tempe Orbit Jupiter, and Phoenix SMART.

The LINK routes were limited-stop, streamlined bus connections to transit centers served by Valley Metro Rail. These routes used upgraded bus shelters that have LED "Next Bus" signs and bus rapid transit-styled vehicles with traffic signal priority. They were named after the street they travel on. The two routes were the Main Street LINK and the Arizona Avenue LINK. LINK service was discontinued on October 24, 2016, and was replaced by enhanced local service on Routes 40 and 112.

The six RAPID routes are limited-stop commuter routes in the city of Phoenix that travel from Park and Ride lots in outlying neighborhoods near major freeways to RAPID stops in the downtown business core. These routes are mostly named for the freeway on which they travel, such as RAPID I-10 East and South Mountain RAPID routes (two routes connect newly developed neighborhoods along Baseline Road with downtown via Central Avenue). They are unidirectional, traveling toward downtown in the morning and out of downtown in the afternoons. These routes use NABI 45C-LFW suburban buses with a special paint scheme.

The express routes are also limited-stop commuter routes. They operate similarly to the RAPID routes, from outlying Park and Ride lots and pick-up points in suburban areas outside the city of Phoenix, with higher fares than standard routes, but the same as RAPID routes. They are numbered in the 500s, with the second digit indicating the area they serve, using the following scheme:

• 51x - Scottsdale
• 52x - Tempe
• 53x - Mesa and Gilbert
• 54x - Chandler
• 56x - Southwest Valley (Avondale, Goodyear, Buckeye, and Tolleson)
• 57x - Northwest Valley (Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, and Sun Cities)

These routes use a mix of bus types, ranging from transit-style buses with hard seats to "semi-suburban" buses (with highback, non-reclining seats) to full suburban buses (with a single door, luggage racks, and personal reading lights). These routes are also unidirectional, traveling into downtown Phoenix in the morning (using the major freeways after traveling on surface streets for part of the trip) and out of downtown in the afternoons.

Route list

Color key:

Color	Operator	Note
Blue	Transdev-Phoenix	Formerly Veolia-Phoenix. Operates the North and South Phoenix facilities.
Orange	First Transit-Phoenix	Operates the West Phoenix facility.
Pink	First Transit-RPTA	Operates the Mesa and Tempe facilities. Replaced Veolia-RPTA (Mesa) and Veolia-Tempe on July 1, 2013.
Purple	Total Transit	Contracted by the RPTA. Operated from the Total Transit facility in southeast Glendale.
Turquoise	City of Glendale	Only non-contracted routes in the system. Also operates Glendale Dial-a-Ride.
Olive	RTW Management	Operations only, maintenance performed in-house.
Brown	Ajo Transportation	Contracted by the RPTA.

No.	Name	Type	Operator	Facilities	Note
0	Central Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
1	Washington/Jefferson Street	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
3	Van Buren Street	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
7	7th Street	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
8	7th Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
10	Roosevelt	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
12	12th Street	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
13	Buckeye Road	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
15	15th Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
16	16th/32nd Street	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
17	McDowell Road	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
19	19th Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
27	27th Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
28	Lower Buckeye Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
29	Thomas Road	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
30	University Drive	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
32	32nd Street South	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
35	35th Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
39	40th Street North Phoenix	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
40	Apache/Main Street	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
41	Indian School Road	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
43	43rd Avenue	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
44	44th Street/Tatum Boulevard	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
45	Broadway	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
48	48th Street/Rio Salado Parkway	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
50	Camelback Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South, Phoenix North
51	51st Avenue	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
52	Roeser Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
56	Priest Drive	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
59	59th Avenue	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
60	Bethany Home Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
61	Southern Avenue	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
62	Hardy/Guadalupe	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
65	Mill/Kyrene	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
66	Mill/Kyrene	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
67	67th Avenue	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
70	24th Street/Glendale	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
72	Scottsdale/Rural Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
75	75th Avenue	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
77	Baseline Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
80	Northern/Shea	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
81	Hayden/McClintock Drive	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
83	83rd Avenue	Local	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
90	Dunlap/Cave Creek Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
96	Dobson Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
104	Alma School Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
106	Peoria Avenue	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
108	Elliot/48th Street	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
112	Country Club/Arizona Avenue	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
120	Mesa Drive	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
122	Cactus Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
128	Stapley Drive	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
136	Gilbert Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
138	Thunderbird Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
140	Ray Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
154	Greenway Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
156	Chandler Boulevard/Williams Field Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
170	Bell Road	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
184	Power Road	Local	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
186	Union Hills Drive	Local	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
514	Scottsdale	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
520	Tempe	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
521	Tempe	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
522	Tempe	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
531	Mesa/Gilbert	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
533	Mesa	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
535	Northeast Mesa/Downtown	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa
541	Chandler	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
542	Chandler/Downtown	Express	First Transit-RPTA	Mesa, Tempe
562	Goodyear/Downtown	Express	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale
563	Buckeye	Express	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale
571	Surprise	Express	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale
573	Northwest Valley/Downtown	Express	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale
575	Northwest Valley/Loop 101/Downtown	Express	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale
685	Gila Bend Regional Connector	Express	Ajo Transportation	Ajo
GL	Grand Avenue Limited	Express	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale	Provides express service, but with a local fare.
ZOOM North	Avondale Zoom North	Circulator	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale	$0.50 fare to ride.
ZOOM South	Avondale Zoom South	Circulator	Total Transit	Southeast Glendale	$0.50 fare to ride.
GUS 1	Glendale Urban Shuttle 1	Circulator	City of Glendale	Northwest Glendale
GUS 2	Glendale Urban Shuttle 2	Circulator	City of Glendale	Northwest Glendale
GUS 3	Glendale Urban Shuttle 3	Circulator	City of Glendale	Northwest Glendale
BUZZ	Mesa Downtown BUZZ	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
ALEX	Phoenix Neighborhood Circulator - ALEX (Ahwatukee)	Circulator	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
DASH	Phoenix Neighborhood Circulator - DASH (Gov. Loop)	Circulator	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
MARY	Phoenix Neighborhood Circulator - MARY (Maryvale)	Circulator	First Transit-Phoenix	Phoenix West
SMART	Phoenix Neighborhood Circulator - SMART (Sunnyslope)	Circulator	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
68CM	Scottsdale 68th Street/Camelback Trolley	Circulator	RTW Management	Scottsdale
OLDT	Scottsdale Old Town Trolley	Circulator	RTW Management	Scottsdale
MLHD	Scottsdale Miller/Hayden Trolley	Circulator	RTW Management	Scottsdale
MSTG	Scottsdale Mustang Trolley	Circulator	RTW Management	Scottsdale
FLSH	FLASH Forward (Arizona State University)	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
FLSH	FLASH Back (Arizona State University)	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
EART	Tempe - Orbit Earth	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
JUPI	Tempe - Orbit Jupiter	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
MARS	Tempe - Orbit Mars	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
MERC	Tempe - Orbit Mercury	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
VENU	Tempe - Orbit Venus	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
STRN	Tempe - Orbit Saturn	Circulator	First Transit-RPTA	Tempe
SR-51	SR-51 Rapid	Rapid	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
I-10E	I-10 East Rapid	Rapid	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
I-10W	I-10 West Rapid	Rapid	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
I-17	I-17 Rapid	Rapid	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix North
SME	Central/South Mountain East Rapid	Rapid	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South
SMW	Central/South Mountain West Rapid	Rapid	Transdev-Phoenix	Phoenix South

Note that the listed facility assignments for Transdev-Phoenix operated routes are normal assignments, however, routes normally operated from the South facility may occasionally be substituted with buses from the North facility and vice versa.

Customer service

The Transit Book (known until December 2008 as the Bus Book, and mentioned above) is updated twice yearly and contains maps and schedules for all routes. Copies are available at no charge at Valley Metro ticket offices, many public libraries, community colleges, and other civic facilities around the metropolitan area, and on the buses themselves. Because the Transit Book is difficult to carry around easily (the size is similar to a medium-sized catalog, averaging about 250 pages), patrons often use it to quickly reference the time when their next bus will arrive and simply leave the book sitting at their bus stop when finished, for the use of other riders.

Additionally, route schedules are posted at most bus stops in Tempe, selected bus stops in Scottsdale and Glendale, and at major transit centers in the city of Phoenix and throughout the Valley. On RAPID routes, schedules are electronic and are based on real-time information.

An automated next scheduled arrival service, NextRide, provides future arrival times for routes that serve a bus stop or light rail station. Each bus stop and light rail station has a five-digit "STOP#" found on a sign affixed to the bus stop sign post, shelter, or rail station. By calling the customer service number or by sending a text message, the passenger will be provided with the next three scheduled arrival times. If it is within 15 minutes of a scheduled arrival, a real-time estimate of when the bus or train will arrive will be provided, based on the vehicle's current location along the route.

A customer service call center is operated for passengers to plan their bus trips with the assistance of either an automated voice response system or a live customer service representative. The Valley Metro website [1] also has an online trip planning function, and includes all schedules and maps featured in the Transit Book; since 2006, Valley Metro is relying more on the website to post schedule information and is printing fewer paper copies of the Transit Book.

Passenger information systems

Like most major cities, all buses (except for the non-Phoenix circulator vehicles) include the Route Scout on-board passenger information system, which includes a lighted marquee displaying the correct date and time, and an audio and visual Stop Requested announcement. Automatic Voice Annunciation (AVA) for audio and visual announcements for each major intersection, as well as minor cross streets.

Previously, these were voiced by longtime Phoenix radio personality, Liz Boyle [2] [3], however, these prerecorded announcements are slowly being phased out in favor of speech synthesis, to allow for easier updates. This same system is used by the LA Metro fleet and was introduced on the 2004 New Flyer D60LF buses.

Valley Metro Rail vehicles feature a similar passenger information system that uses speech synthesis technology, rather than a recorded voice, to announce approaching stations and give other travel-related announcements. Train operators may also use the vehicle's public address system at their discretion.

The RAPID bus stops as well as the former LINK bus stops include a display with real-time predictions for the next arrival at that stop. Additionally, all Valley Metro Rail platforms feature annunciation for the approximate arrival of the next train, while also allowing for messages regarding potential delays and general service information.

Valley Metro service providers

Name of Provider	Service Contracted By	Local Routes	Express Routes	RAPID Routes	Local Area Shuttles	Paratransit	Routes Previously Operated
Transdev (formerly Veolia Transport)	City of Phoenix	0, 1, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 19, 27, 28, 32, 35, 39, 44, 50, 52, 60, 70, 80, 90, 106, 122, 138, 154, 170, 186, Light Rail (ATC)		SR-51, I-10 East, I-10 West, I-17, Central Ave/South Mountain East, Central Ave/South Mountain West	ALEX (Ahwatukee Local Explorer), DASH (Downtown Area Shuttle), SMART (Sunnyslope Multi-Access Residential Transit)		Red Line (Weekday operations, route discontinued 29 December 2008), Blue Line (Route discontinued 29 December 2008), 581 (Route discontinued in 2012)
MV Transportation	City of Phoenix					Phoenix Dial-a-Ride	ALEX (Service transferred to Transdev-Phoenix on July 1, 2016)
First Transit (formerly Laidlaw Transit Services)	City of Phoenix	3, 13, 17, 17A, 29, 41, 43, 51, 59, 67, 75, 83			MARY (Maryvale Area Ride for You)		Green (Renamed Route 29 on 29 December 2008), 560 (Route discontinued in 2012), I-10 West RAPID (Service transferred to Veolia/Transdev-Phoenix in July 2012), 19C (Route discontinued in October 2015), GL (Service transferred to Valu Trans/RPTA in April 2016)
First Transit	RPTA, City of Tempe	30, 40, 45, 48, 56, 61, 62, 65, 66, 72, 77, 81, 96, 104, 108, 112, 120, 128, 136, 140, 156, 184	514, 520, 521, 522, 531, 535, 541, 542		BUZZ (Downtown Mesa BUZZ), FLASH Forward/Back (Free Local Area Shuttle), ORBIT		Red Line (Weekend operations as Veolia-Tempe, route discontinued 29 December 2008), 76 (as Veolia-Tempe, Service transferred to Ollie the Trolley and now known as Miller Road Trolley), 84, 92, 114, 277, 510 (as Veolia-Tempe, Route discontinued July 2012 and replaced by Route 514 due to budget crisis), 511 (Route discontinued October 2014 due to low ridership), 512 (as Veolia-Tempe, Route discontinued July 2012 and replaced by Route 514 due to budget crisis), 532 (as Veolia-RPTA, Route discontinued in July 2012 due to budget crisis), 534 (as Veolia-RPTA, Route discontinued in 2008 due to low ridership), 540 (as Veolia-RPTA, Route discontinued July 2012 due to budget crisis), FLASH McAllister (route discontinued on December 14, 2015 due to low ridership), Main Street LINK (Route discontinued on October 24, 2016, replaced by enhanced service on Route 40), Arizona Avenue LINK (Route discontinued on October 24, 2016, replaced by enhanced service on Route 112)
TotalTransit (formerly Valu Trans)	RPTA		562, 563, 571, 573, 575, GL		Avondale Zoom (North and South)		70X, 572, 251 (Merged with Route 51 in April 2018)
RTW Management (operations only)	City of Scottsdale				Downtown Trolley, Miller Road Trolley, Neighborhood Trolley, Talking Stick Trolley, Resort Trolley		Hospitality Trolley (Seasonal route discontinued after 2014-2015 winter season due to low ridership)
Ajo Transportation	RPTA		685				660 (Route discontinued October 2011 due to low ridership)
City of Glendale	City of Glendale				GUS 1, GUS 2, GUS 3	Glendale Dial-a-Ride

Unification of Tempe bus operations with the RPTA

In 2012, the City of Tempe introduced a proposal that would unify its transit operations with the RPTA. Under the new agreement, all Tempe bus operations would be handed over to the RPTA, where the Tempe transit facility would be utilized by the RPTA to reduce costs and improve efficiencies for certain routes by reducing deadheads due to its more central location than the existing RPTA facility in Mesa.

On November 24, 2012, the City of Tempe agreed to move forward with unifying its transit operations with the RPTA. The contract for both agencies was initially planned to be awarded to First Transit on December 13, 2012, however, Veolia Transport protested the award because First Transit wasn't releasing information of where their cost savings would come from. The protest was denied and the contract was officially awarded to First Transit on January 24, 2013.

Bus fleet

Valley Metro and member cities maintain a growing fleet of over 800 vehicles for public bus routes and nearly 200 for paratransit.