You’ve seen them around. They’re long, tall, and full of passengers. They are the Valley Metro buses! While you may have seen them, have you ever wondered what makes them run so smoothly? As it turns out, there’s a lot more to it, than meets the eye! We interviewed Valley Metro’s finest bus fleet maintenance specialist, Joey Templeton, to find out how it all works behind the scenes. “We have 209 buses here” Templeton says as we start our tour, “The first bus leaves here at about 3:30 a.m.; the last bus comes in at about 3 a.m. We have buses all day and night going in and out.” All of these buses require teamwork and maintenance from the Valley Metro teams. Some of these include: the drivers, dispatchers, fleet maintenance crew, cleaners, and refuelers.
They have many different kinds of transportation to meet everyone’s needs. Long buses joined together with an accordion looking connector in the middle are called articulated buses. They can be 60–63 feet long! You may also see regular size buses that are between 37–45 feet long. Some of these are the Valley Express buses. “Those go out first thing in the morning and bring people down to downtown Phoenix and they go back out in the afternoon when everybody is done with work. They go downtown and they bring them all back up uptown.” Templeton explained. Lastly, the circulator buses can be found in neighborhoods and are 17–20 feet long, but here’s a twist, these ones are free to ride!
The safety of the riders is Valley Metro’s highest priority. “We are one of the only agencies with an extra condenser on the back of our bus to make sure our passengers are cool when it’s 115 degrees out,” Templeton comments with pride. Knowing that heat is a huge factor in Arizona, they take the harsh temperatures very seriously. Therefore, their maintenance crew services their buses regularly to keep them running smoothly and to catch any issues before they become a roadside breakdown. While the maintenance crew is servicing the buses, they also have dispatchers watching the buses on the road by using computer programs that track the vehicles. These dispatchers constantly map and route any detours when there are traffic problems. They keep in contact with the drivers to make sure the passengers have a safe ride, and those waiting at the bus stop won’t be left in the heat for long.
After a day of work, the buses are sent to the refueling station and later to the cleaning station. Valley Metro has their very own bus cleaners and washers. First, the refuelers fill the buses with either natural gas or diesel, using their own gas “station”. Valley Metro’s cleaners and washers wash the bus inside and out every time the bus has been used. Buses will enter into something that resembles a car wash, and then go into a cleaning area where the cleaner makes sure the inside is clean and safe for the next riders. After a long day of helping the greater Phoenix area, the buses will then be ready to use once again.
As you can see, Valley Metro has a lot going on behind the scenes. It only works if all of these talented people work together as a team. Each and every time a bus goes out on the road, there’s a lot of work that goes into it. Valley Metro knows how important their services are to residents of Arizona. They take their job seriously, and work very hard day and night to make sure everyone’s needs are met. So, the next time you ride the bus, think about all of the efforts that went into providing you with a safe and clean ride.
