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It is interesting that the government tyrants at Valley Metro say the law doesn’t apply to them and they don’t plan on obeying the law.
Valley Metro plans to charge $1.25 for a one-way trip on their light rail which is 25 times the price allowed by law. Valley Metro doesn’t plan on giving the transfer passes the law requires.
Since Valley Metro is operated by the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa that means that the government rulers in those cities have also said they are government tyrants who are above the law.
SourceHere is a copy of the Arizona law that sets a maximum rate of 5 cents or one nickel for a ride on the light rail train.Old law caps rail rides at 5 cents
by Melissa Blasius - Dec. 18, 2008 10:36 PM
12 NewsMETRO Light Rail could be overcharging its riders when it opens this month, according to some interpretations of a decades-old state law.
Back in the days of the old Phoenix trolley system, the state legislature set price caps for commuter railroads. Statute 40-372 reads, "A street or interurban railroad shall not charge or receive more than five cents for one continuous ride in the same general direction... except upon a showing before the [corporation] commission that a greater charge is justified." The 5-cent rail fare law is still on the books.
"We have many antiquated statutes in law that we just haven't cleaned up. That's one of them," says state Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix. Former state Rep. Greg Patterson wrote about the law in his Espresso Pundit blog. "No one is saying it's really something that should be the law," Patterson tells 12 News. "The question is: Is it really the law?
Some state leaders say federal transit laws in the 1980s eliminated rail price caps nationwide, making the Arizona law non-binding. Legislators could end the confusion by repealing the statute when they return to session next month.
A METRO spokeswoman says light rail officials reviewed the law years ago and determined the price cap doesn't apply to the modern system. METRO advises riders to pay the posted fare. A regular one-way fare costs $1.25. METRO opens its light rail line on December 27.
SourceTo folks at Valley Metro said they saw the laws years ago and that it doesn’t apply to them.40-372. Street railways; fares; transfers
A. A street or interurban railroad shall not charge or receive more than five cents for one continuous ride in the same general direction within the corporate limits of any city or town, except upon a showing before the commission that a greater charge is justified.
B. Every street or interurban railroad shall upon such terms the commission finds just and reasonable furnish to its passengers transfers entitling them to one continuous trip in the same general direction over and upon the portions of its lines not reached by the originating car.
I suspect they are lying and that the folks at Valley Metro got blindsided and didn’t even know about the law until some reporter with the Arizona Republic showed it to them.
Valley Metro started on light rail at least 5 years ago. I am sure if they knew about this law five years ago they would have gone to the Arizona State Legislator and asked them to repeal the law.
But they didn’t and that is why I think they are lying when they claim they knew about the law.
Valley Metro is telling us a second lie when they say federal laws over ride this Arizona law.
The U.S. Constitution gives the federal government no powers whatsoever to regulate state or city railroads. And of course the 9th and the 10th Amendments forbid the federal government from regulating this stuff and gives state governments the exclusive power to regulate these type of things.
That’s what any legal scholar will tell you, but the Supreme Court has flushed the Constitution down the toilet and what legal scholars tell you are often meaningless.
Here is a bus pass and receipt that I paid $45 to ride on the light rail for 31 days. That is a $1.45 per day, which is 29 times the cost allowed by the above law.
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