AzNate's Transit Website - Photos & Current and Historical Transit Info

[AzNate]

Hello! I am AzNate, I've been a long-time lurker of the forum, but finally decided to create an account today to present my website that I've been working on intermittently this past year, as I hope it might be of interest to some people here. As you might guess from my username, I'm from Arizona, the Phoenix area to be exact, so I currently only have pictures and detailed information regarding Valley Metro in Phoenix. Once I am finished with the Phoenix pages, I would like to add information for other Arizona transit agencies in the future. So far, my website has detailed info and history about current Valley Metro bus routes & rail systems, as well as pictures of buses or trains on routes where I've been able to take some pictures of them, and route maps, service alerts, and live vehicle tracking where available. (Similar to things you can find on Transsee but not as advanced)

I would like for the information presented on my website to be as accurate as possible, so if you notice something incorrect or something that you can provide some details on, please let me know! (Especially if you have any information about Valley Metro bus routes in the 90s because I've really been struggling to find detailed information about some things from back then!)

Also, if you have other suggestions or feedback on things, I'm interested to hear that too. (Do also note that things are still under construction and may be unavailable or likely to change)

Anyway, here's the link if you want to check the website out: https://transit.aznate.tech

[M. Parsons]

Looks good so far! Although my knowledge is non-existent for Phoenix, I really appreciate the time and effort you are putting into the historical side the routes. The Valley Metro Rail history is fantastic, and it certainly looks like a lot of effort went into even just coming up with the dates that the defunct routes operated, let alone as you build those pages out. 

It's easy to toss up photos of transit taken in the present, it's a bit more of an effort to go and present the history as well.

I think Phoenix is the first time I've encountered a transit system with a route 0.

[AzNate]

Thank you! I was motivated to do this because I realized I didn't know too much about the history of Phoenix bus routes, so I wanted to do some research on them and put it all in one place. I also like taking pictures, so this is a good way to do both.

Yeah, the local bus route numbers are formed based on the street address block since most of our local routes tend to stick to one road because of our gridded street system, so since 7th Street is the 700 block east of Central, they gave it route 7, and since Scottsdale/Hayden Rd is the 7200 block east of Central, it's route 72. This means the Central bus gets the number 0 because it's the origin of all the east/west addressing blocks. Washington Street is the origin of the north/south blocks, but it gets route 1 to differentiate it from 0. (Similar situation with 7th Avenue being route 8 instead of another 7).

[AzNate]

November 28, 2024

• Just added a bunch of new pictures from the past couple of days for the light rail and bus routes 12, 27, 29, 35, 59, 66, 75, 80, 83, 90, 685, GUS 2, GUS 3, MARY, and SMART
• Also fixed some things like the broken schedule for 156 and some vehicles being misnumbered in picture captions

https://transit.aznate.tech/new/

[AzNate]

December 6, 2024

• Got a new camera, so I took a bunch of pictures today of the light rail and bus routes 30, 40, 45, 48, 62, 66, 96, FLASH, Earth, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus
• Also fixed the light rail page not showing route 40 as a connecting route

https://transit.aznate.tech/new/

Here are some samples of some pics I took today:

[AzNate]

December 10, 2024

• Added pictures of buses on routes 17, 41, 72 (holiday-wrapped bus!), 136, 515, 535, Orbit Earth, 68th St/Camelback Trolley, and Miller/Hayden Trolley (unfortunately some pictures are blurry with this batch due to bad lighting conditions and fast-moving buses)

https://transit.aznate.tech/new/

[AzNate]

December 17, 2024

• Added a new light rail picture and new bus pictures for route 40, route 80, route 81, route 104, route 120, route 128, route 136, route 140, Miller/Hayden Trolley, and Mustang Trolley
• Added 4 new pictures to the Oddities & Errors page

(I did not know I could just copy the changelog from my website and have all the links still work, so now you can directly access the updated pages from this thread I guess!)

[AzNate]

January 20, 2025

• Currently testing out a custom, transit-focused photo gallery instead of using my road photo gallery. I'm unsure whether I want to stick with this gallery or use the same gallery setup as before but specifically set up for my transit pictures rather than road ones. (Some feedback on the image gallery experience would be appreciated!)

[AzNate]

January 26, 2025

• Added new pictures of the light rail, streetcar, and a bus on route 72.
• Added some historical bus pictures of Valley Metro 4068, Phoenix Transit System 4701, 4840, and 7051, and Sioux City Transit 1037 that I acquired from user 90mac on eBay to the photo gallery.
• Adjusted the routing and bus stop placement on route 19 at Happy Valley Rd & 23rd Ave to reflect the new bus stop location on 23rd Ave per January 27 service changes.
• Updated the history sections for route 19 and route 27 to match the current bullet point format.
• Updated the routing of route 27 to reflect its realignment along Lower Buckeye Rd, 35th Ave, and Durango St per January 27 service changes.
• Updated the schedules for Orbit Mars and Orbit Mercury to show their increased peak hours frequency on school days around Arizona State University, per January 27 service changes.
• Also updated the schedules for route 1, route 10, route 19, route 27, route 30, route 35, route 45, route 61, route 62, route 72, route 77, route 96, route 112, route 136, route 156, route 563, ALEX Circulator, Orbit Earth, Orbit Jupiter, SMART Circulator to reflect January 27 adjustments.

[AzNate]

February 3, 2025

• Added new pictures of the light rail and buses on route 0, route 17, route 40, route 81, Orbit Mars, Orbit Mercury, and Orbit Jupiter.

February 23, 2025

• Added a new picture of a bus on route 56 and route 108. Also added LA Metro and Big Blue Bus pictures to the photo gallery.

March 2, 2025

• Added a new picture of the light rail and buses on route 45 and route 136.
• The destination displays on tracked light rail vehicles now properly display non-standard destinations in the middle of the route.

[AzNate]

March 14, 2025

• Added a new picture of the light rail and buses on route 0, route 0A, route 1, route 3, route 7, route 8, route 41, route 45, route 50, route 51, route 66, route 72, route 122, route 138, route 522, route 571, route 575, Grand Avenue Limited, 68th St/Camelback Trolley, Orbit Earth, and Orbit Mars.
• Added a picture of a Scottsdale Giants Stadium Shuttle trolley to the Photo Gallery.
• Route maps will now be displayed below the route summary information on smaller displays for better usability.
• Routes with destinations via another destination will now properly alternate properly on destination boards on the bus tracking maps.
• Buses 8082-8155 now have silver destination display text on route maps like in real life.

[AzNate]

April 1, 2025

• Implemented a new image gallery. Enjoy better performance, albums, searching, and categorization!
• Added a new picture of the light rail and buses on route 30 and Orbit Mars.

[AzNate]

April 3, 2025

• Added new pictures of buses on route 1, route 3, route 7, route 45, route 72, route 96, route 521, route 531, route 535, and I-10E RAPID.

April 5, 2025

• Added a new picture of the light rail, PHX Sky Train, and buses on route 30, route 32, route 44, route 45, route 80, route 81, route 138, route 170, Miller/Hayden Trolley, and Mustang Trolley.
• Redesigned the history sections on the PHX Sky Train, route 30, route 32, route 44, route 80, route 138, and route 170 pages to use the bullet list format.

[AzNate]

April 28, 2025

Large update today for April 2025 service changes and FY 2024 ridership updates!

• Added new pictures of buses on route 0A, route 3, route 7, route 13, route 15, and route 52
• Updated all current routes with FY 2024 ridership data and added comparisons to FY 2023 ridership
• Updated routing and history of route 531 to reflect April 2025 service changes
• Updated information on route 515 to reflect its elimination and moved it to the defunct routes category
• Updated schedules for route 3, route 7, route 12, route 13, route 16, route 17, route 19, route 29, route 30, route 39, route 50, route 56, route 70, route 75, route 77, route 81, route 83, route 90, route 128, route 154, route 184, route 186, route 514, and Orbit Mars (school trips) to reflect April 2025 service changes
• Fixed some historical information about route 32
• Fixed connections to route 531 not appearing on the route 136 page

[AzNate]

May 10, 2025

• Every defunct, local bus route now has a page!
• Added new pictures of the light rail and buses on route 0, route 3, route 7, route 19, route 27, route 28, route 35, route 43, route 45, route 70, route 90, route 106, route 136, route 521, route 531, route 571, GUS 1, GUS 2, and GUS 3.
• Redesigned the history sections on the route 28, route 35, route 40, route 43, route 45, route 70, route 90, route 106, and route 184 pages to use the bullet list format.
• Fixed the FLASH termini and mileage on the Phoenix Area Transit page.
• Updated the route 43 schedule to reflect April 2025 service changes.
• Updated route creation year for route 43.
• Added history info for the version of route 40 that existed from 2000-2002.
• Added previous versions of route 40 and route 184 to the Defunct Routes table.

Edited May 10 by AzNate
Added new changes

[AzNate]

May 20, 2025

• Added new pictures of buses on route 0, route 10, and a new, 2024 Gillig on route 140.
• Redesigned the history section on the route 140 page to use the bullet list format.

Here's a pic of the new Gillig:

[AzNate]

May 22, 2025

• Added new pictures of buses on route 40, route 61, route 108, and route 184.

June 7, 2025

Lots of new changes today with the opening of the South Central Light Rail Extension. TLDR: added pages for the new A & B train lines, added new pictures of light rail and buses, Streetcar now has vehicle tracking, and updated schedules, historical info, and lots of bug fixes & minor changes

• Updated Valley Metro Rail and Streetcar pages, added pages for the new light rail A Line and B Line, and updated the pages and schedules for bus route 0, route 0A, route 1, route 3, route 7, route 8, route 10, route 12, route 15, route 17, route 19, route 27, route 29, route 30, route 32, route 35, route 40, route 41, route 44, route 45, route 48, route 50, route 52, route 56, route 60, route 61, route 62, route 66, route 70, route 72, route 77, route 80, route 81, route 90, route 96, route 104, route 106, route 112, route 120, route 122, route 128, route 136, route 514, route 521, route 522, route 531, route 533, route 535, route 542, route 562, route 563, route 571, route 575, Grand Avenue Limited, I-10E RAPID, I-10W RAPID, I-17 RAPID, SME RAPID, SMW RAPID, SR51 RAPID, Downtown BUZZ, Fiesta BUZZ, FLASH, Orbit Earth, Orbit Jupiter, Orbit Mars, Orbit Mercury, and Orbit Venus to reflect light rail service changes.
• Streetcar now supports live vehicle tracking!
• Added new pictures of the light rail, including A Line and B Line trains, as well as buses on route 0A, route 7, route 10, route 16, route 19, route 35, route 39, route 50, route 51, route 60, route 61, route 67, route 70, route 75, route 77, route 81, route 83, route 90, route 128, route 154, route 170, route 186, route 514, route 521, route 542, route 562, route 571, I-17 RAPID, the Downtown DASH, MARY Circulator, Miller/Hayden Trolley, and Mustang Trolley.
• Redesigned the history section on the route 0, route 0A, route 1, route 3, route 7, route 8, route 10, route 12, route 15, route 16, route 17, route 29, route 39, route 41, route 48, route 50, route 52, route 56, route 60, route 61, route 62, route 66, route 72, route 75, route 81, route 83, route 96, route 104, route 112, route 120, route 122, route 128, route 136, and route 154 pages to use the bullet list format.
• Added an old route map and significantly improved historical details on the route 7, route 8, route 12, route 15, route 16, and route 29 pages.
• Added historical information from 1992 for route 56.
• Updated the bus displays on route maps to support the white-text displays on the new 2400-series buses. Also updated to reflect the orange-text display on bus 6714.
• Made displays for northbound 68th Street/Camelback Trolleys more accurate.
• School trips should now be tracked on route maps.
• Fixed the incorrect outbound stop on route 542 near Central Station.
• Corrected eastbound Downtown DASH terminus from 4th St to 4th Ave.
• Fixed many CSS issues on Safari.
• Fixed Invalid Date appearing on service alerts without an end time.
• Fixed many other minor bugs and issues across various pages.

Edited June 8 by AzNate
added changes from May 22

[AzNate]

June 27, 2025

• I have added pictures of Sun Tran buses and the Sun Link streetcar to the photo gallery from my trip down to Tucson

[AzNate]

July 16, 2025

• Fixed the Valley Metro Rail and Streetcar route map.

July 27, 2025

• Updated route 0 to reflect its combination with route 0A and moved route 0A to the Defunct Routes category.
• Updated schedules for route 0, route 12, route 44, route 45, route 48, route 56, route 59, route 61, route 62, route 72, route 77, route 96, route 104, route 106, route 108, route 120, route 128, route 138, route 140, Orbit Jupiter, Orbit Mercury, and Orbit Venus to reflect July 2025 service changes.

[AzNate]

August 4, 2025

• Fixed broken vehicle tracking and service alerts affecting all routes due to an API URL change.
• Added pictures of a train on the B Line and buses on route 59, route 184, and Grand Avenue Limited.
• Removed text referencing bus trackers updating every 30 seconds on the route 0A page because there are no more buses to track.

[AzNate]

August 17, 2025

• I have added many pictures from ABQ RIDE, Denver RTD, Bustang, Rio Metro, Santa Fe Trails, and the New Mexico Rail Runner to the image gallery.

For example:

   

[AzNate]

August 29, 2025

• Added new pictures of buses on route 45 and route 62.

September 5, 2025

• Added a new picture of a bus on route 45.

October 4, 2025

• Added a new picture of a bus on route 45.
• Added a new possible background image.

October 14, 2025

• Added new pictures of a train on the A Line and buses on route 17, route 48, route 66, route 72, route 81, Orbit Earth, Orbit Jupiter, Orbit Venus, 68th St/Camelback Trolley, and Miller/Hayden Trolley.

October 27, 2025

TLDR: New pictures and updates for October 27 service changes

• Added new pictures of a train on the B Line and buses on route 44, route 138, route 521, route 522, route 575, Grand Avenue Limited, Orbit Saturn, and Orbit Venus.
• Updated the B Line page to reflect the reopening of the Washington/Central Ave station per October 27 service changes.
• Updated the route 0, route 3, route 7, route 10, and Downtown DASH pages to reflect the reopening of Greg Stanton Central Station, as well as modifications to bus stops on route 8 per October 27 service changes.
• Updated the Grand Avenue Limited and all of the RAPID and express route pages to reflect their rerouting in Downtown Phoenix per October 27 service changes now that long-term construction is finished.
• Updated the route 44 and route 138 pages to reflect the relocation of Paradise Valley Transit Center per October 27 service changes.
• Updated the route 685 page to reflect the new terminus stop in Ajo that was changed on June 30.
• Updated the schedules for the A Line, B Line, S Line, route 0, route 1, route 3, route 7, route 8, route 10, route 30, route 44, route 51, route 56, route 61, route 72, route 77, route 112, route 136, route 138, route 140, route 186, route 514, route 521, route 522, route 531, route 533, route 535, route 542, route 562, route 563, route 571, route 573, route 575, route 685, Grand Avenue Limited, Downtown DASH, I-10 East RAPID, I-10 West RAPID, I-17 RAPID, South Mountain East RAPID, South Mountain West RAPID, and SR 51 RAPID to reflect October 27 service changes.
• Updated ridership numbers for FY 2025 on all current routes, and route 0A and route 515.
• Fixed vehicle trackers on express routes being colored orange instead of red.
• Redesigned the history section for route 186.
• Added light rail as a connecting route on the route 92 page.