In 1999, federal and local funding permitted the approval and construction of the Deer Valley Park-and-Ride, located at Bell Road and I-17. The facility began serving the public in the spring of 2000 with 232 parking spaces for commuters and quickly became the region?’s most heavily used park and ride facility.
In anticipation of expanded Valley Metro service, the Public Transit Department completed upgrades to the 5.5 acre facility in March of 2003 to accommodate express bus riders, car and vanpoolers, electric car drivers and upcoming RAPID users. Major improvements included expansion of parking spaces to 350 spaces, shaded canopies for all vehicle spaces, new security cameras, a security guard station with monitoring equipment, chilled drinking fountains, high profile vehicle accommodations, bike lockers, new landscaping and sidewalks, an electric vehicle charging station, future automatic ticket vending machines and new RAPID passenger shade structures. This project is part of the Transit Plan approved in March 2000 by Phoenix voters and is just one example of Transit 2000 dollars being used to improve all public transit services for Phoenix residents.
The RAPID service is a new bus line patterned after rail travel, and includes larger, sleeker, more comfortable buses, designed with commuters in mind. It will use the new park-and-ride lots and have fewer stops so riders can commute faster. With more frequent buses and expanded hours to better accommodate business schedules the number of riders using transit should double. . .☺