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Arizona sunshine

 
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2009 8:59 pm    Post subject: Arizona sunshine Reply with quote

The timecruncher visited Tuscon, AZ for the annual Trapeze Software User's Conference. Trapeze is the software many transit systems in the US and Canada (and quite a few in Europe and the UK) use for fixed-route and paratransit scheduling. The fixed route version is my realm, and although it is responsible for me having less fur on my scalp than I used to have as a driver (the program is buggy at times), I have made my peace with it and enjoy the travel to the southwest every Spring.

That said, I scheduled my arrival in Tuscon as early as possible on Sunday, May 10, picked up my rental at Avis and headed down the road.

Now Tuscon is a mid-sized city, about a half million population, but this is the first street sign you encounter leaving from the auto rental lot at the airport:



I get a kick out of this every time I visit the town. Sorry, its the redneck in me that finds a "free range" sign so out of place on the outskirts of a big city. Never did see any cattle grazing on the streets of Tuscon, I might add.

I drove directly to Phoenix, about 100 miles, to sample their new light rail operation:



Most of the route is middle-of-the-street running, on [barely] separated right-of-way. They run 35-45 mph on this stuff, and don't seem to be plagued by the auto/train collision problems that Houston has had.



I rode from Tempe to the downtown transit center. Not much going on Sunday afternoon, just a couple of Valley Metro's ubiquitous NABIs coming through. They have a bunch of New Flyer D40LFS units, but I wasn't able to get photos. Note the "historic" collection behind the bus:



Its not every day I see a Twin Coach with an almost flawless body!

This is the only city I know of with a Route 0 (as in zero). Another view of a NABI turning at the transit center as I waited for my return train:



Got back to Tempe, found an In and Out Burger for late lunch, and headed through the 100-degree heat back to Tuscon.

timecruncher
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