Valley Metro has started to determine details of the conversion of our current single (very long) light rail line to a two-line system. This will happen next year when the South Central construction is complete.
It looks like the east-west tracks between downtown Phoenix and Mesa will become the A Line, and the north-south tracks between MetroCenter and South Phoenix will be the B line.
The agency is now asking for public input about what to call the downtown hub where people will transfer between the two lines:
https://www.valleymetro.org/news/202...ne-rail-system
I'm not thrilled with any of the proposed naming conventions. I'd rather just go with CityScape, but maybe that's off limits due to it being associated with a specific commercial destination. If not that, may it could be called "Downtown Crossing" like the hub where the Orange and Red lines meet in Boston.
Regardless of the names chosen, I'm still curious about two other aspects of this change:
1) What changes will Phoenix's street transportation department make to improve conditions for passengers crossing the street to transfer from one train to another? Ideally, I'd like to see all four corners converted to scramble intersections in which the lights have a phase when all vehicular traffic is stopped and pedestrians can cross diagonally. I'd also like to see both right-on-red and left-on-red prohibited at those intersections.
2) What frequency of service will Valley Metro provide once the conversion to a two-line system is done? If headways are still at their current level of 15-minutes, you're going to have a lot more jaywalking by passengers who don't want to miss a train and wait 15 minutes for the next one. Also, increasing total travel time between the Midtown and Uptown areas of Phoenix and Sky Harbor and the East Valley may result in lost ridership.