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| - As I emerged from the blue "tunnel" in front of the new high-rise building being constructed across from the Chase Tower, I saw a train a few blocks away. "I can catch that train," I thought to myself.
Boy was I wrong! The Valley Metro ticket machines are quite a fickle mistress. Not only are the buttons sticky and hard to push down, but the "dollar eater" is as fickle as any break room Coke machine. I had to have perfectly flat dollars for the machine not to reject them and they had to be submitted perfectly straight to be "consumed." This is in contrast to the machines in NYC and DC that will take just about any dollar. Needless to say, I missed the train messing around with its cash machine and the fact that it also doesn't seem to be easy to pay with a credit card. Bummer dude!
While waiting, I had a seat. Or should I say "I had a pain"? These seats are uncomfortable! No slouching on Valley Metro seats! Unless you are sitting all the way back or sitting hunched over with your back all the way against the back of the seat, you are made extremely uncomfortable by the "wavy" design of the seats.
Yes! The train arrives. I was pleasantly surprised to board a standing-room only train on my way from Central/Van Buren to Central/Indian School. The inside of the train was bright and clean, but of course that will change over time. Oddly, it announces "Central/Van Buren" after you depart. Some kink that must be worked out with the announcement system.
On my way back to Roosevelt/Central from Indian School/Central, I noticed that the plastic covers over the dollar slots had already been snapped off at the Indian School/Central station. A dumb move to make those covers cheap plastic on the cheap fare machines! On my way back, I enjoyed a seat in the "elevated portion" of the train and, again, was happy to see that the train was as crowded as any DC Metro train (subway) would be on a Saturday evening.
Why just "A-OK" and not "great" like other people have rated the system? This is simply an "A-OK" system. For an area as vast and highly populated as the Valley, the system is slow and the train cars are cramped and very "plastic/cheap" feeling compared to the heavy rail systems back East or in California. I hope people will ride the system and get out of their cars, but this thing definitely needs to be complimented by a heavy rail "commuter rail" system for service to the West Valley and East Valley.
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