[Source: Scott Wong, Arizona Republic] — Phoenix plans to scale back evening hours for its free Downtown Area Shuttle, or DASH, as a business group gears up to launch an evening trolley service in the city’s core. Beginning Dec. 29, all DASH buses will operate from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. Since late July, bright green and blue buses on the system’s Downtown Loop had run until 8 p.m.
Connecting Central Station, sports venues, educational facilities, and the Roosevelt corridor, the Downtown Loop aimed to make it easier for people to get around to restaurants, bars and sporting and entertainment events after dark. But a change in funding prompted the City Council last week to eliminate those evening hours.
The Downtown Phoenix Partnership, a group of downtown business and property owners who had been financing the extended hours, shifted that money to a downtown trolley service. The group hopes to have the free trolley, similar to one in Scottsdale, running by Jan. 1. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
