Observations of the Light Rail Station near Sun Devil Stadium:
- Light Rail comes around every 15-20 minutes. Five minutes before the Light Rail arrives an announcement comes over the PA system telling you it will be arriving in 5 minutes. Similar announcement is made at 2 minutes before the trail arrive. Female voice that is calm and pleasant to hear is the announcer.
- Scrolling screen located above the sitting areas of station tells when the
- Light Rail will be arriving and it also gives the date and time.
- Students going and coming to campus
- Pay for ticket- go up to ticket machine and there is a touch screen that gives choices that the person can choose on what type of ticket they want to purchase or to rescan previous bought tickets. once you select if you want to buy a 1 ride pass, a 2 ride pass or an all day pass you touch which one you want with you finger. The next screen that comes up asks if you to buy 1 pass, 2 passes, 3 passes, or 4 passes. Select which one you would like and another screen will appear wanting you to select what type of payment you want: Debit/Credit or cash. Touch which one you want. If you chose to pay by Debit/Credit, directions appear on the screen. If you choose to pay cash there is a slot next to the screen below the slot for your debit/credit card, and a coin slot next to the cash slot. push your card or cash or change into the slots and on the screen will show that the ticket is printing and below the screen your ticket and/or receipt will print out and you grab it and can go onto the light rail
- Student u-pass: you just put your U-pass card up to the orange pad on ticket machine and wait 3 seconds for a “ding” and you can go on the light rail. quick and easy.Cheap.
- It might seem easy to go onto the Light Rail without paying but you really can’t. There are Metro officers that get on and off at different stations that go up and down the light rail asking people to give them their tickets so they can scan them and check to see if the person did in fact pay for their ride and not just go on. On the ticket it stamps the date and time and how many rides the goer has bought.
- Quiet place, nice and shady to protect riders from the bright sun
- Easy place to study/ do work on light rail or at station
- Friendly nice people. Not the typical homeless people that you think will be on it. People going to work or school or home.
- Drops you off right on campus, convenient for going to class everyday or on game days drops you off right by stadium( don’t have to pay for parking)
- Clean and cold water fountain for thirsty
- Crowded around 4-5 o’clock (rush hour) so there are hardly any places to sit so it is mostly standing but there are plenty of handlebars to hold onto ( and you want to, drivers tend to go pretty fast and the slam on the brake and the turns get a little bumpy)
- Sitting area at station made of metal but they are somewhat comfy painted a light mint green/blue to be calming and stand out and match the colors of the actual light rail
- On the Light Rail there are plenty of seats on the light rail. There are too two set of three chairs can be folded up for wheelchair handicapped. Also there are 5 sets of two seats facing forward or backwards. And a couple of seats on the side of the light rail. Throughout the light rail is full of handle bars above the seats, on the seats or by the doors.
- He seats have somewhat of a cushion and are nice to site on for a period of time. I would not recommend to sit on them for hours on end but for a short period they do the job.
- There are hanging bike racks for riders to put their bikes. The rider must be able to lift their bikes above their heads to put their bikes up and get their bikes down, and there are seats next to the hanging bike racks so the riders can sit next to their bikes.
- Riders can also choose not hang their bike and either stand with it against the wall or sit with it in a seat with plenty of room for other riders to walk by and sit near.
- Seeing students get on light rail reading their textbook or working on their papers before going to class
- The Light Rail’s windows are tinted so that sun does come through but it is not blinding you.
- Air conditioning is throughout the Light Rail so even though you might be waiting outside for it for 15 to 20 minutes, once you get on it it is nice and cool. It is even cool when its packed full of people and 112 degrees outside.
- There are plenty park and ride parking lots located at some light rail stations
Image:
"West Side Light Rail Project Gets a Green Light." RENTCafe Rental Blog. N.p., n.d.
Web. 16 Sept. 2012. <http://www.rentcafe.com/blog/cities/phoenix-az/west-side-
light-rail-project-gets-a-green-light/>.
I think Alexandra’s location is great. It is the perfect location since it is not to large, yet enough going on to write about. I have never been to the light rail location on campus, so I found a lot of her information extremely informative. Although I am lucky enough to have a car on campus, I still want to take the light rail into town. This will eliminate any parking situations if an event is going on. I did not realize all the different ways you can pay for the light rail. A student pass would have been a smart idea to look into if I did not want to bring a car since; the light rail is easily accessible to Arizona State University students and is quick, easy, and cheap. I also find it interesting how Alexandra and I took notes differently. I decided to use bulletin points and organize all the categories while she wrote whatever she noticed at the moment. Her notes are still completely organized and easy to read but in a different way than mine. After reading Alexandra’s notes I think she will make a great rough draft, and after editing an outstanding essay.
ReplyDeleteYour Observations were great! They were very detailed and long which should automatically help you write your paper. You described so many different aspects of the Light Rail which gives everyone a great understanding of what it is and what is does for the people in this area. I feel like including the facts about the passes and where to go to find out when the train would be coming was a good observation. That’s information I didn’t know, and from the beginning I already have learned something new. And actually useful, it’s something I can look into my sophomore year. I would love to know more about the U-Pass, it seems simple enough.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you also went far enough to describe the light rail cars themselves and the different aspects that that offers shows how serious you took this assignment. It is very clear and I get a good image of the light rail for someone that has never been on it before. I feel like your notes were detailed enough but they didn’t include any extra information that wasn’t really needed. I feel like you understood your assignment completely and went about getting it done well!
Good job with your observations ! I think they are super detailed, which will help you when you write your paper. I also think it was a good idea to include specific details such as time intervals and the type of payment you can use to purchase a lite rail ticket. You made it easy to picture what it would be like to sit at the lite rail station and wait for the train. I have been there before, but if I had not been there before, I would be able to picture it perfectly with your descriptions. Good job (:
ReplyDeleteThe observations were very good in detail, the fact that you got in detail enought to mention the time spread between travel. Also, the things to do to try and pass time while in the heat like sitting in the air conditioning. Mentioning the cushioning on the seats for comfortability and the fact that taking a bike to the train would be suitable because of the bike racks that are supplied to use when you get on the lightrail.It does sound like you have a good idea of where you're heading with this paper and what the professor is looking for, and looking deeper into what the lightrail really means to you and what else it supplies other than just transportation from spot one to spot two.
ReplyDeleteGreat job with your observations. They are detailed very well and are as specific as it gets. Some things you can add would be the type of payments and time intervals that come with them. The observations and details really give a great image on how the light rail is and works. I walk by there everyday as I go to the parking lot in which I park my car and you have details that I have never even noticed before! I especially loved the details on the inside of the light rail all the way down to how many seats are on certain parts of the light rail. Really stupendous work!
ReplyDeleteYour observations are very good. They are very detailed just as they should be in order to have a great and detailed paper. It was very informative and I learned things that I haven’t expected in the past. I like the way you used bullet points to organize you observations and make reading easy for everyone. I expect a great paper from the detailed observations. I expect to be using this light rail if I piss off my mom and she decides to take my car.
ReplyDelete