NEWS RELEASE - PROPOSITION 2000 APPROVED BY PHOENIX VOTERSCity of Phoenix, Arizona, Official Municipal Web site - City NewsProposition 2000 Approved by Phoenix Voters
Contact:
Angie Harvey Carole Verschoor
(602) 261-8255 (602) 261-8254
March 15, 2000
Proposition 2000, a ballot initiative to expand and improve public transit services in the city of Phoenix, was overwhelmingly approved by Phoenix voters on March 14. Sixty-five percent of voters supported the initiative, with 35 percent voting against it. Passage of Proposition 2000 will raise the city's sales tax on nonfood-item purchases by 0.4 percent, creating the city's first dedicated local funding source for public transit. Previously, city funding for public transit has come exclusively from the city's general fund, meaning that transit had to compete year-to-year with other basic services for tax dollars.
Passage of Proposition 2000 also makes the city eligible for matching funds for light rail construction from the Federal Transit Administration. The city is seeking approximately $800 million in federal matching funds for both light rail construction and the purchase of new buses. In all, the Transit 2000 plan envisions $4.8 billion in spending on citywide public transit over the next 20 years. Roughly 65 percent of this total will go toward improving the city's public bus and dial-a-ride systems, with the remaining 35 percent being spent on the construction and operation of a 24-mile light rail system.
The city of Phoenix will act immediately to implement the Transit 2000 plan. Today, the city will:
o Begin hiring and training the new operators and mechanics required for the expansion of the bus and dial-a-ride systems. (Phoenix Transit System will hold a job fair for bus operator candidates on Saturday, March 18, and Sunday, March 19, at the South Maintenance Facility, located at 22nd Ave. and Lower Buckeye Rd. Those interested in attending should call (602) 495-5908 for more information. Please call between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.)
o Order 40 new buses, 6 new neighborhood circulator mini-buses, and 30 new dial-a-ride vehicles. (Over the life of the plan, the city intends to expand the city bus fleet by 210 buses and the dial-a-ride fleet by 95 vehicles. These figures do not include replacement buses and vehicles, which are ordered periodically.) In addition, by the end of the year, the city will take delivery of 40 replacement buses that were previously ordered.
o Begin preliminary engineering for the initial segment of the light rail system.
o Begin hiring and training additional security personnel.
Public transit users will notice significant improvements as early as August, when the following service changes will take effect.
o Sunday and holiday service will be introduced on all local routes, with buses running every hour from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
o Saturday service will be provided on the five Phoenix routes that do not currently operate on Saturdays. Buses on these routes will run every hour from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.
o Service hours for Phoenix Dial-a-Ride will be extended. Service will be available from 5 a.m. to midnight on weekdays, and from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Measures will also be taken to improve response times for passenger pickups.
Moreover, by the spring of next year, weekday service hours will be extended on all local routes, with service from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday and holiday service frequency will increase to 30 minutes on 11 local routes; 40 new passenger shelters and 20 new benches will be installed; land for the new South Central Transit Center will be purchased; the Desert Sky Transit Center will be renovated; and design work will begin on two new park-and-ride facilities.
Commenting on the success of Proposition 2000, Neal Manske, interim director of public transit for the city of Phoenix, said, "I'm happy to be in a position to make the kinds of transit service improvements our residents deserve. As we implement the Transit 2000 plan, the Public Transit Department will continue to focus on customer service and safety, just as we have always done."
