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| - I do not have a lot of public transportation experience so take this review for what it is worth as I've only ridden a few times... but my experience has always been good. Just so you know where I am coming from I've ridden rail systems in Boston, Philly, Phoenix, and Germany.
I would venture to guess that anyone from a city with a well established public rail system (Boston MBTA, DC Metro, NYC Subways, Chicago L & METRA, Bay's BART, etc) will think that the PHX lightrail is a joke. And to be honest in a way it probably is. However, I would say that it is not all that bad! Phoenix is a huge SPRAWLING city. Just for comparison, NYC is 468 sq miles and Phoenix is 517sq miles (not including suburbs on either). Take into consider population density and you will see that Phoenix drops way-way-way down the list.
What this essentially means for the rail system is that less people live close to the rail/subway than in other cities (comparison, NYC has a population density of 27,779 people per square mile versus Phoenix at 2,797. Yes, NYC is 10x more dense). So to have a rail, any rail, that works, to me, is a feat worth mentioning. Sure, it could be better, but for what obstacles it must overcome to work it has done very well in my opinion.
To put things in even better perspective... in many of the big metro-rail cities... a lot of people solely rely on the rail for transportation. Here in Phoenix I would guess that a higher proportion of people have cars. So people are voluntarily riding here. Furthermore, Phoenix is hot as hell in the summer - so those of us riding voluntarily are waiting for the train in the heat (which I truly think that most Phoenicians are absolutely addicted to their A/C). Not so much in other cities.
The train always seems clean to me. In general, I don't see bums or people masturbating on the cars. The cars are always on time despite having to drive in traffic instead of underground or on suspended rails like other cities.
I mean, I'm not sure what people who vote this system down for? Do you want Phoenix to spend vast amounts of money to bring the train to your suburb where it would only pick up 3 people a day because everyone is in their personal car (again, it is my belief that most Phoenicians will not tolerate waiting for a rail car while standing in the heat). The only thing I wish that the rail had was later hours, at least on the weekends... or maybe a more direct route to the airport.
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