How does a transit system ramp up to serve tens of thousands

of new riders from mega events like the Super Bowl and World Series?

Or handle record breaking heat like this year's 31 day streak

with temps above 110 degrees?

All in America's fastest growing county?

Welcome to Transit Unplugged.

I'm host and producer Paul Comfort, and today we answer these questions

with Jessica Mefford Miller, the Chief Executive Officer of Valley Metro

Regional Public Transportation Authority in Phoenix, as we ride aboard her

light rail system and new streetcars.

Plus, we enjoy a bonus chat with Ryan Johnson, the CEO of America's

first planned car free neighborhood of Culdesac, as we walk through

his amazing new community in Tempe.

And if you want to see what we're talking about, you won't have long to wait.

We filmed our visit and show you plenty more, like behind the scenes

footage of their operations control center and rail maintenance facility,

plus their solar grid that supplies all power to their maintenance shop,

and we include bonus interviews with leaders like the Mayor of Tempe.

Plus, we share the amazing local food and culture of this Western American

scene, all on our January episode of Transit Unplugged TV on YouTube.

Check it out.

Now come with me on board the Valley Metro light rail system on a ride

with CEO Jessica Mefford Miller.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Welcome to Valley Metro light rail, Paul . We have a 28

mile light rail system, 38 stations.

We've got two expansion projects under construction.

So, we'll open a new line in 2024 and then again in 2025.

Awesome.

And this has been going on for a while, right?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: It has, yeah.

Actually, our light rail is almost 15 years old.

Wow.

Now I understood that, um, Scott was telling me, your predecessor,

that there was a lot of concern.

We're in Mesa right now.

That's right.

And they were running this through and businesses were upset.

Tell me about that and how you overcame that.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Well, you know, valley Metro is a street running

light rail system and we are building in already established communities.

So that means there's an impact of construction.

So we've got a couple of programs.

One in Phoenix, we're working in partnership with City of Phoenix.

We've got a business assistance program, and to date, we've awarded over a million

dollars in grants to small businesses that are impacted by construction.

You know, we are building the service for the community.

We want those businesses to be here to serve the community once we open.

And how do you identify businesses that are affected?

Do they apply for assistance?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: There's an application process, but we actually

have staff embedded in the project corridors who are working with the

residents and the small businesses.

So, we're reaching out to them.

And what's the results of all that, that program?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: You know, it's, it's been met with a lot of positive

appeal and we've not seen many small business closures even during the

pandemic when a lot of our construction activity was at its peak on our South

Central and Northwest extension projects

. That's great.

Alright, so let's back up now.

And tell me about your system as a whole.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: So, Valley Metro, we serve 18 different

member cities plus Maricopa County.

So name

some of them.

You got

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Phoenix as the main one, right?

Yeah, so our biggies are Phoenix, Mesa, and Tempe, and they're

served by light rail and bus.

Tempe is also served by streetcar, but here in the valley, even our

little towns, my little town of Gilbert is about 275, 000 people.

That doesn't sound like a little town.

Does it?

Doesn't, doesn't.

And we've got other cities that are big in East Valley like Chandler.

We've got a lot of growth happening in the West Valley in communities

like Goodyear, Buckeye, and Avondale.

I mean when you say a lot of growth, Uh, this is the fastest

growing region in the country, right?

It is.

Maricopa County?

That's right.

Wow.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Yep, we are growing up, and we are

growing outward at the same time.

So in communities like this here in Mesa, we're seeing densification,

especially seeing that trend happen in Tempe, in the city of Phoenix.

But we're still expanding outward, particularly in the westward direction.

So they've got a different set of mobility needs, and they're on a

different arc on their trajectory.

And so, here we're delivering local bus service, commuter service,

microtransit, and paratransit service.

You were telling me earlier that you feel like, you know,

because public transit really post pandemic has shifted ridership patterns.

It has.

Tell me about how you, how you here in Phoenix, uh, and in

Valley Metro are addressing that.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Well, Paul, where we've been and what

the core of our business still is, is urban arterial bus routes.

light rail service on our dense communities, streetcar service that

opened in 2022, and then some of our lower density suburban routes.

But what we're seeing, Paul, is an increase in ridership in the evenings

and the weekend periods , and a little bit less ridership on our

commuter oriented routes that are heading into downtown Phoenix.

Yeah, everybody's seeing that, right?

Yeah, people are working remotely.

We've got a lot of tech employment here in the mountains.

Is it some remote work?

And so we're having to really assume a more entrepreneurial

disposition as an agency.

We are keeping our thumb on the pulse of what our consumers want, and that

includes demand response and service, smaller vehicles, and in some of

those low density communities , a 40 foot bus coming every 30 or 60

minutes might not be their solution.

So that's where we're experimenting with microtransit.

Unpack that a little bit.

When you say you're experimenting, what are you doing?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: So we are working with member cities.

There are microtransit pilot programs happening now in the city of...

Chandler.

They've got their FLEX service and then out west in Buckeye and Goodyear

and Surprise, they have a microtransit service as well called We Ride

it's been really popular and so we've expanded that.

So Valley Metro is supporting that and the future might take

on some of those operations.

And do you, um, Do you contract that out, or how does that work?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: We do contract that out, yeah.

Valley Metro actually delivers all of our service through contracts.

That's bus, light rail, streetcar, Really?

All your service?

All of our service, that's right.

And

so you go out to bids?

We do.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Like how often?

Uh, you know, it depends on the contract.

We just awarded a contract for East Valley Bus Operations Service, and that's got

a, um, five year base and then multiple option years, so up to ten years.

But earlier today, I was at your rail maintenance shop.

You do all that in house?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: We self perform all of our rail vehicle and

all of our rail system maintenance.

That's right.

And, and, one thing that struck me, obviously,

Phoenix is known for heat.

Yes, it is.

Uh, you broke all kinds of records this year, evidently, in July, when

you had 31 days over 110 degrees.

That's right.

What the heck, man!

Yes!

So that obviously impacts your, I mean, at night time.

I heard that it was like 60 days where it didn't go under 90 degrees.

That's right, yeah.

So there's no relief.

So what do you do as a transit agency?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Well, you know, Paul, it is hot in Phoenix.

It's a hot economy, a hot culture, and hot weather.

And so, but we're built for it.

You know, this light rail vehicle that we're on right now, this car

alone has more air conditioning power than 10 residential homes.

So we're carrying more AC units on all of our vehicles than

systems would in other climates.

The vehicles themselves have done very well.

So where we've got to actually focus a lot of our heat mitigation

efforts, Paul, is on the people.

On our customers, on our employees.

So our employees are carrying water backpacks.

They're carrying hydration tools.

Out in the community, we're distributing shade.

We erect temporary bus stops where we're having construction activity.

We distribute water, personal shade like umbrellas.

It's an ongoing effort to keep cool and hydrated here in the desert.

And I talked to a lady earlier today that works

for you who told me that you've got a CEC program or something.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: That's right.

Tell me about that.

Yeah, well you're going to meet Ricardo later this morning.

He's one of our customer experience coordinators.

And the CECs are ambassadors.

Their role is to welcome people on board the Valley Metro light rail and streetcar

system, make sure they know where they're going, provide assistance, and they also

do drives like our heat relief drives where we're supporting people when

it's at our hottest moments and they also assist with their special events.

You know, we do big business.

for special events.

Yes.

We used to host Super Bowl 57 this year.

Oh, that's right.

And World Series was just last week.

Yeah, oh,

Jessica Mefford-Miller: sorry about that.

Right, right.

We were glad to have the chance.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, yeah.

You have a lot of big events out here.

We do.

And so do you see a spike in ridership?

Always.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Yeah.

That's right.

And so many of our big events are located downtown right on light rail or in

Tempe, like the Arizona State University campus that is by light rail and

streetcars.

tell me about how maintenance differs on your vehicles when it

comes to, uh, because you've got You're in the desert too, right?

Particulate matters, all

Jessica Mefford-Miller: that.

What are you doing?

So maintenance on vehicles, whether you're talking about your Honda Civic at home, or

a light rail vehicle, we're going to get more wear and damage to the vehicles here.

Vehicles take a beating from the sun.

And so there are certain components, we're looking at our tires, we're

replacing tires a lot more often here than you would in a cooler climate.

Those air conditioning units need service a lot more often, and of course,

we can't put vehicles out if the air conditioning system isn't working,

so the components just have to be replaced a little more quickly, but we

work to try and predict those failures and replace them before they occur.

That's smart, yeah.

One of the things we didn't talk about yet was batteries.

So you're moving to EVs, a lot of people are getting their Tesla or their EV, how

is battery life affected in the heat?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: So, for us, our range, so we've got a hot climate,

and then we've got long routes.

Phoenix has got a super grid system, and so we need our buses, in some

cases, to travel 260 miles over the course of their duty cycle.

So, as respecting our new buses, battery life is going to be one of

our most critical considerations.

Because we don't want to split up those blocks, that's going to require more

operators to support that service, and because of our air conditioning use.

We're drawing down more energy than buses would in cooler climates.

And where are you at on ridership now,

post pandemic, as opposed to,

Jessica Mefford-Miller: you know, prior to it?

So we're approaching 60 percent of our pre pandemic ridership,

Paul, and where we've seen the best rebound is on our rail system.

It's bus system which is languishing a little bit.

We're about to embark on a comprehensive operational analysis, so we're taking

a fresh look at our on street services.

We'll be making some changes so that we can better serve consumers needs

today and tomorrow because they look different than they did five years

ago.

I mean, you've really got to be, you were telling me

over lunch, and I really like the word you use, entrepreneurial.

We have to, we have to, what did my friend Lauren Skiver used to tell me?

If they ain't buying it, we got to stop selling.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: That's right, We can't expect that our consumers

are going to adapt their lifestyle and travel patterns to match our system.

We've got to lean into that, so we're doing a lot of surveys.

We just recently finished a major travel survey diary, and we're going

to use that in our system redesign.

So I see here on the vehicle you've got a Transit Security Officer.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: That's right.

What do they do?

Well, she works for Allied Universal Security, one of our contract partners,

and so she is inspecting fares and making sure everyone has a fare.

We're a proof of payment system, like most of our rail systems in the U.

S.

She's also answering questions and providing assistance to our customers,

and if she needs to, she'll summon a higher level of engagement within Allied

Universal or law enforcement partners in any one of our three rail cities.

Do you have your own law enforcement agency?

We do not.

We do not.

We rely on our partners in Mesa, Tempe, and Phoenix to

provide law enforcement support.

Do you pay them, or they

Jessica Mefford-Miller: just are available?

Well, City of Phoenix has a transit enforcement unit, and so they support bus

and light rail across City of Phoenix.

And then we have different programs in Mesa and Tempe for officers who

are assigned to the precinct or proactively patrolling light rail

just like they would in the street or sidewalk in their community.

Alright, looks like this is our stop.

Alright.

We're going to get off and go to this amazing place called

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Culdesac, right?

You are going to love it.

It is car free living in the heart of Tempe.

It has been wildly popular.

Awesome.

We're off, now what station is this we got off at?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: This is Smith Martin Apache Station.

And this is right by Culdesac.

That's right.

So tell me about Culdesac.

What are we going to see here?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: So Culdesac is car free living.

It's a dense development, really designed to create a community.

In this housing development, they've also brought in Tacos Chihuas, one

of our favorite local taquerias.

Oh, that's right, we just had lunch.

That's right, that's right, we had lunch at Tacos Chihuas in downtown Mesa.

They've got a bike shop here, and they also have an electric vehicle car sharing.

so that their residents can have access to a car if they need it.

They've got transit passes and they also have bike and scooter programs.

There are so many ways to get around Tempe, Paul, without a car.

So is this part of the town of Tempe?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: This is, yes, this is here in the city of Tempe.

But it's a

development.

That's right.

It's designed from scratch to not have

Jessica Mefford-Miller: cars.

That's right.

Yep, when I first visited Culdesac, it was under construction and these

buildings hadn't yet been erected and now they are populated with residents who

are enjoying an active urban lifestyle.

All right, so I just, we just got off the light rail system

with Jessica and now I'm here in this magical place of Culdesac, Ryan.

Tell me about it.

You're the CEO of this?

Yes.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

So tell me about Culdesac.

What is it?

Culdesac Tempe is the first car free neighborhood

built from scratch in the U.

S.

And there's 35 buildings today and we're open and there's a thriving community.

I actually live here myself.

Amazing.

And what, so it's car free.

What does that mean?

Like you can't park your car here if you, if you have a car?

It means that instead of owning a private vehicle, our residents

use a portfolio of transportation options.

Okay.

Including they all get an unlimited light rail pass.

Oh, nice.

And the light rail's right there.

We're looking at it right now.

That's right.

And we built a crosswalk, uh, right towards it.

And I just went over it and it felt very safe.

It did.

So, so this is shared use.

So you got like apartments and then you have retail.

We're looking at, what are we looking at here?

A grocery store?

Yeah.

taco restaurant, a

fantastic restaurant, we've got a coffee shop and wine bar,

we've got a co working space, a bike store, and we've got eight different

micro retailers over there in the plaza, including one of the residents started a

yoga studio, there's a vintage clothing store, an esthetician, and a tea shop.

Nice.

And, and so what's the game plan here?

You've got, uh, it's, it's, it's open for business now, but you're going

to grow, get more people, et cetera.

Yeah, so we're getting, we're expecting CFO on

the last of the buildings in this phase in February, and that'll

give us a couple hundred residents.

Today, uh, today we've got more like 60, and the second phase is underway

with buildings opening next year, and then we'll have phases after that.

And then as you can see, it's also catalyzed development in the entire area.

Yeah.

So when you click, when you reach maximum capacity, what are you thinking about?

A thousand people.

A thousand people.

And a bunch of stores.

You got a WeWork or a, uh, co-working space over there.

Work space.

That's great.

So if you're hybrid working, you can work in there.

Yep.

Yeah.

And, uh, this is Lectric Avenue.

So we're partnered with the number one electric bike company, and

electric bikes are another way that our residents get around.

Um, the number one electric bike company is in Phoenix.

It's called Lectric and, uh, the CEO lives in Tempe.

And, uh, one day when we were getting together, he said, we should call one

of the parts at Culdesac, Electric Avenue, and so we did a deal, and all

the residents get a free electric bike.

Really?

Yeah.

Dude,

that's awesome.

Yeah.

Wow.

And so you, do you buy here or you just lease?

You rent a place?

This one's for rent.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's great.

And it's, it's 17 acres total.

Yep.

And do you plan to expand and do more other places around the country?

Yeah, there's demand for this all over the country.

The majority of the U.S wants to live in a walkable neighborhood.

The National Association of Realtors did a study and every

generation would pay a premium to live in a walkable neighborhood,

including 92 percent of Gen Z.

So the demand is high.

After this has been open, we're hearing from cities and residents

all over the country and we have some exciting things that we're working on.

Okay.

Yeah, that's great.

What else do you want to tell me about it that I've missed?

That our residents use a portfolio of transportation options,

so that includes the light rail, electric bikes, electric scooters,

uh, rideshare, we're partnered with Lyft, um, autonomous vehicle ride hail.

Oh yeah,

I rode that last night.

Yeah, what'd you think?

The Waymo?

Yeah.

Yeah, what a trip!

The steering wheel's turning and nobody's there.

Yeah, and um, I don't know if you noticed, but one, you know, the uh, the

Waymos, they actually, they actually respect even painted bike lanes.

Um, so that's something that I think is going to surprise people with

how much it can improve road safety.

Yeah, absolutely.

Wow.

So, um, uh, tell me a bit.

So we had lunch at this, um, at the taco restaurant and they have

multiple ones here, but this was

like upscale.

Yeah, this is one of their, they have a, they have a few higher end restaurants.

One of them is called Bacanora.

It's on the New York Times top 50 in the country list.

Really?

And then there's a Spiritu in Mesa and they're a James Beard winner.

And then this is their new restaurant.

Kachina Chiwas.

It's a husband, wife couple, Armando and Nadia, and they're fantastic.

And they're, uh, active in.

In our community, and there's lots of events that we host together, and they're

actually going to be opening the coffee shop and wine bar called Cafe Chihuas.

Oh, nice!

And you mentioned events.

Do you do, like, do you have, this is a nice community, you have

things to bring everybody together?

Yeah, so, some of it happens every day because the retail

is open, and our residents have guests.

Um, we have some, some, uh, recurring and some ad hoc events.

So we do a weekly market called Little Cholla.

And we're expecting a few hundred people, up to 500 people, um, this Thursday.

A market?

Like, like what kind of market?

Yeah, it's a, it's a night market, so there's different vendors, um, we'll

have food trucks, um, local, local companies that are selling their goods.

Yeah.

Um, and, uh, it's kind of a whole, whole range of things, and it allows people

to be creative and have a small scale space without needing to open a store.

And it's a time for our residents to come together and from the

outside community to come together.

That's great.

Well,

this is great, Ryan.

I really wish you the best as you continue to grow.

Thank you.

We just took a tour of Culdesac.

I love the connectivity you've got with your transit system.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Yeah, it's a great development, super accessible.

We come right to the front door of Culdesac.

Amazing.

Now we're back on your light rail system.

We're on one of your brand new vehicles.

Tell me about this.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: So this is one of our new Siemens vehicles.

This vehicle is part of a series that arrived to support our Northwest extension

that's going to open in early 2024.

And also our South Central extension which opens in 2025.

Awesome.

And I can say that I am cool, comfortable, even though the doors are

opening and closing multiple times.

It's uh, you're four times or ten times the air conditioning

power of a house at work.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: That's right.

When it's hot in Phoenix, it's always cool aboard Valley Metro.

All these stations we're stopping at, they've got some great

artwork, and like, you know, mosaic tiles, and what's, that's awesome.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Every one of our stations, Paul, has art.

Much of it is by local artists.

Typically the stations are tying back to some features of the community itself.

It's a wonderful part of our Artsline, that's what we call it.

So you can go to valleymetro.

org forward slash artsline to learn more.

We actually conduct tours periodically of Artsline.

On some of our under construction projects like South Central, we also have an

arts grants program that awards small grants to local and emerging artists.

So we just did an opening of a mural at an elementary school adjacent to

the light rail corridor last week.

That's something.

That's great.

I love artwork mixed in with transit.

So tell us about where we're going now.

We're going to a place where your light rail system, what is

it, meet up with a streetcar?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: What's up with streetcar?

Yeah, so streetcar is a three mile, 14 station loop.

It meets light rail at two different places in Tempe.

So the streetcar is designed to be that local circulation all throughout

downtown Tempe and serves the Arizona State University campus.

I notice you and everybody here says Tempe.

Out east where I'm from, we all say Tempe, but you're supposed

to put the pronunciation

Jessica Mefford-Miller: in the last syllable.

That's how we say it here, yep.

Yeah, that's interesting.

The last syllable.

I'm becoming local, Paul, so

Tempe for me.

And, um, Tempe is basically a suburb of Phoenix, but it's

a big city on its own, right?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: It really is, you know, and Tempe has the most dense

development in all of the valley.

Really?

It does.

Wow.

Yeah, you're in for a pleasant surprise, I think, Paul.

It's not just Arizona State University, which does have a huge presence.

All right, we got off the light rail, and now on the other

side of the divide, we're here at a...

streetcar station.

Tell me about that.

And we just met with the mayor of Tempe.

Jessica Mefford-Miller: That's right.

So you can get around Tempe, Paul, without a car.

We have light rail, we have streetcar, we have local bus and circulators, and

we're right here at Dorsey and Apache, which is end of line for the streetcar,

where it meets up with light rail.

Is it going to grow any, expand?

It will.

planning the next expansion right now which will take Streetcar into West Mesa.

Ah, so that's great.

So it'll connect the two

Jessica Mefford-Miller: towns.

It will, absolutely.

We're already connected by light rail and with that Streetcar

expansion we're going to pick up.

On more of those cultural destinations in Mesa.

That's great.

So you've got the amazing art, art here we just showed here.

You've got a growing system.

You've got the fastest county growing in the country.

You've got an upcoming referendum, which I hope the voters get out and

turn out and show their support for you.

I mean, where do you go in the next three to five years?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: Well, Paul, we are focused on our customer experience.

We are delivering an expanding system.

We're also leaning in to deliver new technologies and types of service

that are going to meet the ever changing needs of our communities.

We're also investing in technology, new systems, leveraging our talent.

We've got a great team at Valley Metro and then strengthening our

relationships with our communities.

You know, we serve 18 cities and towns.

plus Maricopa County.

We've got a big service area, and within that, there is so much character and

culture in each of those communities.

for people that are moving here, uh, because you're

getting probably over a hundred people every day, I imagine.

That's right.

Moving here.

What would you tell them about, come on, try our system?

Jessica Mefford-Miller: You know what?

The Valley has something for everyone, and Valley Metro is an accessible,

safe, and convenient way to hit all of the major cultural spots,

employment centers, and a lot of great residential neighborhoods in the Valley.

Very good.

Thank you for

being our

Jessica Mefford-Miller: guest on the podcast.

It's my pleasure, Paul.

Thank you.

Hi.

This is Tris Hussey editor of the Transit Unplugged podcast.

Thanks for listening to this week's episode and a special

thanks to our two guests, Jessica Mefford Miller and Ryan Johnson.

Now coming up next week on the show.

We have two special interviews recorded, live in Edmonton, Alberta

at the CUTA conference that Canadian.

Urban transit association.

First Paul speaks with Marco D'Angelo president and CEO of CUTA and then

with our regular contributor, Mike Bismeyer where Paul and Mike talk about

the young leaders summit and what it means to be a leader today in transit.

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