Photos by Courtney Pedroza and Alexandra Scoville
In the third Downtown Devil Discussions event of the semester, four panelists weighed the relative effectiveness and usage of modes of transportation in Phoenix.
“Bridging the Lines: Transit Connectivity in a Major Metropolis” featured Sarah Muench, founder of the online biking publication Clipped in AZ; Mark Melnychenko, special projects administrator for the city of Phoenix Street Transportation Department; Aaron Golub, assistant professor at ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning; and Braden Kay, director of research and community engagement at Reinvent Phoenix.
Summing up a semester of transit-themed discussions, the panelists weighed in on light rail, busing, bike share, road improvements, carpooling and private car sharing. The discussion was the last to be hosted by Connor Descheemaker, the current Downtown Devil director of community initiatives.
To open the discussion, Descheemaker asked which public transportation service is the best asset and which is most underutilized. Muench said busing services were the most underused relative to their potential.
“There are a lot of people who don’t use the bus who could be using it,” Muench said. “But they don’t want to use it because the bus is too slow for them or they don’t want to be around the people who are using the bus.”
Melnychenko agreed that the bus system is a neglected and crucial element of transportation in the city.
“The bus system has always been the ugly stepchild,” Melnychenko said. “We don’t know how important that is. It takes the bulk of the region’s transit trips and is really integral to the success of the system.”
The panelists praised recent street improvements on First Street and Grand Avenue as well as plans for improvements along Van Buren Street.
Golub described streets in the past, especially before the rise of the automobile, as “linear parks where people mixed.”
Since the advent of the car, Golub said streets have been neglected as an inclusive public space. But, he said, the space could be reclaimed with Phoenix’s adoption of policy from the Complete Streets Coalition, which encourages making streets accessible to all users, including bikers and pedestrians of all ages.
“(The street) was a safe place to be and move,” Golub said. “Now, unfortunately, that space is completely consumed by private vehicles, which mostly move too quickly and are unsafe. It’s a really lost opportunity. With the coming of Complete Street standards, they could be converted back into something a little more livable.”
Kay said he believes the newly unveiled bike share program will help make Phoenix a “vibrant economy” that can draw in talented young people and compete with “the Portlands, the Seattles, the Salt Lake Citys, the Denvers” that already have multiple transit options.
However, he did not find it likely that bike share would dramatically increase access to public transit for those who are already out of its reach, instead serving nearby neighborhoods like Garfield.
“It’d be interesting to see if bike share really reaches marginalized communities, (but) I would tend to bet it probably won’t,” Kay said. “What I think bike share really is going to do, potentially, is be great for tourism, ideally, and add to the culture we have of options.”
Contact the reporter at bkutzler@asu.edu
