New World Light Rail vs. Old World Tram

Trains on the single line run about every 10 minutes, stops include the airport and baseball stadium, as well as the university

If you’ve read much on my blog, you know that I love the tram system in Poznan.  It’s our preferred method of getting around the city.

Yesterday, for the first time, I rode the light rail from Tempe to Phoenix.  Lauren and I were going downtown to a Food Truck lunch.

I was curious about comparing the two transportation systems.  This is what I came up with:

Poznan
First tram – 1880
Track – 40 miles

Phoenix Metro Area
First light rail = 2008
Track – 20 miles

It surprised me that the length of track in Phoenix was  half as long as in Poznan.   I would have guessed it to be a much smaller percentage.  The light rail has been well received and it ranks 12th in the country for ridership, and yet, it seems woefully inadequate.  The areas served are very limited.

Phoenix pales in comparison to Poznan.  I think that’s because Poznan is an area of 100 square miles.  The Phoenix metro area is over 16,500 square miles – 165 times as much space.  There are plans to expand the coverage, but with the differences in population density, it will never be as practical.  The population is only 9 times greater.  We like to spread out in the southwest.

On the plus side, every light rail stop has a ticket machine, very handy.  And I didn’t check every stop that we went by, but several seemed to include some public art.

Mosaic sculpture at our stop

Today, well make the trek to Tucson to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  I’m glad to be here with family for the occasion, but I’m missing the Pilot of the Year Ball in Poznan tonight.  Ed has promised to take some pictures.  The honoree is one of the young pilots who was finishing up his training in Tucson just as Ed left for Poland and was one of our Polish guests at Ed’s farewell party.  We have always called him Jack, but I now know that his name, Jacek, is pronounced very differently, Yatsek would be more like it.  Jacek and I got to chat at the party, and that’s where I learned important things like meals in Poland always begin with soup.  I’m sure it’s no surprise that I would ask him about Polish food.

One thing did surprise me though.  I asked what he had flown before the F-16, and he replied with  MiG 29s.  It makes perfect sense, but it caught me off guard at the time.  Ed was on active duty during the Cold War, and I never would have expected to be entertaining MiG pilots in our home.  Very cool that we were!