More than two dozen bus routes face the chopping block as Valley Metro updates its bus system for the first time in more than 20 years.
The metro Phoenix public transit agency is proposing 86 service adjustments, including expanding weekday and weekend service, adding new connections and cutting low-performing routes. It would reshape service for a metro area that sees 30 million passenger trips annually.
Those 86 modifications fall across 59 of Valley Metro's 97 routes.
Valley Metro began looking at service adjustments post-pandemic as ridership declined. Ridership numbers still remain lower than before 2019, but it grows each year, the agency said.
Changes include more frequent service for 29 routes, new connections for 21 routes, additional weekend
or evening service for 16 routes and reduced or eliminated service for 25 routes. Some of the routes that could see reduced service could also see increased service on the weekends, like Route 17, or new connections, like Route 39.
Frequent weekday service — service that is 15 minutes or less — will increase from seven to 19 routes, and 11 routes could see frequent weekend service.
Bus routes that run through central Phoenix face the most change, with proposed cuts to 12 routes and increased service to 16 routes. In West Phoenix, routes that could see increased service outnumber those that face cuts.
Mesa and the East Valley are also more affected by the proposal than the West Valley in both cuts and gains, though the East Valley currently has more bus routes than the West Valley. Broken down proportionally, more than half of the routes in each area could see at least one change.
For neighborhood circulators, Mesa's Downtown BUZZ line and Phoenix's Downtown DASH and South Mountain RAPID lines could see reduced or eliminated service, while Phoenix's ALEX Circulator could see new connections and more frequent service.
Other neighborhood bus services operated by Valley Metro, like Tempe's Orbit, are unaffected by any changes.
The reshaped network wouldn't go into effect until fall of 2027.
To see the full list of changes, go to https://www.valleymetro.org/projects/bus-network-redesign. Riders and residents can comment on the proposed changes until Nov. 30.
Lauren De Young covers transportation and the cities of Tempe and Chandler for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at ldeyoung@azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Your bus route could be 1 of 25 cut as Valley Metro overhauls service
