Light rail's potential impact on Gilbert unclear

The Valley has been soaked with light-rail madness for the last four days, with hundreds of thousands of residents taking advantage of the free rides available during its debut.

East Valley commuters take to the rails

The easternmost point of the line is miles away from Gilbert's northern border, and the town is dissected by a freeway that makes commuting by car much easier than it used to be.

So how much does light rail matter to Gilbert?

Some of the town's leaders and aspiring leaders say they have seen some of the excitement filter down to the southeast Valley, but don't think the system is on track to reach into the town anytime soon.

Town Councilman Les Presmyk said it will take at least 10 to 20 years for the system to reach Gilbert and a lot of other links will have to fall into place for that to happen.

"We're going to have to wait for five or six miles of light rail to be built through Mesa or Chandler, that we don't have any control over, before we can even start to think about having it here," he said.

Presmyk, who sits on the board of directors of Valley Metro, the regional mass-transit agency, said Gilbert's link to the $19 billion system will most likely hinge on Mesa and Chandler committing to seek funding in the next countywide transportation election for an extension of the line from its current end point at Mesa's western edge.

Valley Metro has not tried to track which city this week's free riders have come from, so there's no way for him to guess how many Gilbert residents have ridden the train.

He said light rail's debut has spurred some excitement, but "not a groundswell" from the Gilbert community. But improved bus access to Mesa does pique interest.

"There's a fair amount of interest, especially as people realize next year there's going to be bus service directly from our park-and-ride lot to the Sycamore and Main station (in Mesa)," he said. "People really start thinking about the possibilities of using it to commute to work or to go to ASU or get to downtown Phoenix."

Starting in 2010, another express bus will begin running down Power Road, giving residents on the eastern side of town a quicker connection to the light-rail line, town spokesman Garin Groff added.

Town officials have been talking about trying to bring some type of commuter rail service along existing tracks to Gilbert since the 1970s, Councilman Don Skousen said, "although that was before the freeway came through, and a bunch of other things" eased the commute.

Eric Hurley, the 21-year-old candidate for mayor in the coming elections, said members of his age group are excited about the light-rail line and that it would make sense to extend it at some point.

"I think the light-rail line is a start in the right direction," he said. "It's only 20 miles long, so it's kind of short when you think of how big the Valley has gotten."