POV Cab Ride | Valley Metro Rail | Gilbert Rd/Main St to 19th Ave/Dunlap in Real Time | July 2022

[@elginwavehtx]

lordy geez man this is one of the best cab view rides in the state of arizona!!!

[@jimstuart1104]

awesome, I've always wanted to take the light rail from one to the other. I didn't realize it was that long. My butt couldn't take it.

[@andrewsnjttrains75]

Another amazing video! Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving! As much times as I comment on your great content, it always pays off, even if any hardships you may experience (if for any, hope all goes well for you). Keep striving your great and dedicated work and best wishes for you to deserve the milestones you desire for! 👍😄

[@thestoredude3295]

I've been looking forever to find a video of the whole Valley Metro Rail that's actually good, thanks for uploading this. Would you be able to possibly do the same video, but from 19th & Dunlap to Main & Gilbert?

[@Shuotography]

I actually did shoot a video on the east/south bound return trip on the same train right after I shot this video. That video will go up eventually. Also unfortunately that video/trip was cut short because there was a police chase that ended up blocking the tracks in Mesa, resulting in the trip ending at Sycamore/Main Street. The trains were made to stop there and then return westward.

[@thestoredude3295]

Nice, looking forward to it

[@MedusalObligation]

@@Shuotography Well, before the East Mesa Expansion and the Gilbert Road Expansion, that was end of track.

[@OliversElevators]

Yay, finally! 🎉🎉🎉

[@DeadGuyOnTheBus]

By the way, if you listen closely as the train crosses intersections, you can hear a clicking noise :) That's the headlight flashers when the bell is operated. You can hear that from the passenger compartment and was probably the most annoying sound imo during my training when we rode as a class lmao

[@OliverHarrington]

The Kinkisharyo LRVs on the Link Light Rail in Seattle do this as well, although their headlights don't flash when the bell is operated. The clicking instead comes from the hazard flashers (like those on a car) that are turned on when a train is stopped on the mainline at the maintenance depot for an operator change. This is really the only time you hear any sort of clicking on the Seattle LRVs, but it does happen.

[@OliverHarrington]

⁠@thegoanimatevideomaker2004 it’s a Kinkisharyo low-floor light rail vehicle. It doesn’t have a specific model number because Kinkisharyo LRVs are pretty much all custom-built to each customer’s specifications, but they all fall under the umbrella of the low floor LRV. The newer trains on the Phoenix light rail system are Siemens S700s, which is a more common, off-the-shelf model.

[@alexrutherford3105]

this line is in some desperate need of grade separation

[@residentmaple]

As a Phoenician... don't even get me started. Grade separation, faster speed limits, or hell maybe even just priority at traffic signals?

[@DeadGuyOnTheBus]

@@residentmaple Most of the intersections have priority for the LRVs but the signal dept official for Mesa/Tempe doesn't like the light rail so they punish them by purposefully giving cars priority over the train. I say this as my own personal opinion and am not representing Valley Metro or A.C.I. with this statement.

[@simonsv9449]

I do not even know why they didn’t call it a streetcar. It is street-running at most sections.

[@victorious_vic]

@@simonsv9449there is an actual street car in the Tempe area

[@Neville60001]

@@simonsv9449, it's light rail, that should be good enough for anybody.

[@guinessbeer]

It’s wild that it has to wait at lights like that..

[@hobog]

Traffic signal priority could be improved but i see it's already helping this service a lot

[@gluse]

Awesome!!!! You should come to Dallas and do our light rail System. DART is the longest light rail in the USA and the trains are manufactured by Kinkisharyo in addition to these. What other light rail cab rides have you filmed in addition to this and a few in Salt Lake City?

[@Shuotography]

I do have a POV video shot on the Portland streetcar coming up. I actually haven't focused on shooting POV videos on light rails and metro/subways because the rolling stocks of many systems either lack a passenger accessible front window or the operators might find filming unwelcome if not outright not allowed in the system. I've actually had better luck filming on board Amtrak and commuter rail trains than in systems that are considered to be "urban public transit". I will actually be in Fort Worth for a few days for work in December, but I don't know if I will have enough free time to check out the light rail in Dallas.

[@gluse]

@@Shuotography the reason some operators are unwelcome to photography and recording is because they don’t know our rights when it comes to recording on public transit. Public transit in the United States of America is funded by taxpayers and our first amendment rights to record apply there whether they like it or not. Although they do have the right to ask what you’re doing and that’s it nothing else. Our tax money goes to pay for it. So we have every right to record and photograph on public transit. Some rail operators may even say “No videotaping or recording on my train” of course I would be polite in standing up for my rights. I would also tell he or she who’s driving “also this is not your train. It belongs to everybody. As long as we’ve paid our fares we can ride around the city as many times as we like.” I’d just thought I’d let you know in case you didn’t know all this.

[@Shuotography]

@@gluse In case you wonder, I do know the legal aspects of the situation well. When I'm dealing with the staff on board the trains, what tends to happen is that if they are friendly we will work together and make the video happen, but if they are confrontational I will usually back off and give up. Not that I don't know that I was in the right. I just don't want them to escalate the situation or instigate problems. Here's something that happened: Everytime I railfanned on the platforms of NJ transit stations along the northeast corridor, some resident from the area will always call the authorities and falsely claim that someone (implied to be me) was running across the tracks, or was trying to block the trains, or was suicidal. Obviously none of that was the case. But they clearly manipulated the situation in order to provoke a swift and harsh response by law enforcement. I was not in the wrong and didn't break any laws, but nonetheless I was confronted by a completely unwarranted and possibly risky response every time. Sure I know the laws and wasn't in the wrong, but then the situation just wasn't pleasant to deal with and not really worth the trouble anymore. When I shot the valley metro rail video, I actually spoke with a supervisor on the platform who then made me wait for a train driven by another supervisor who she thought would be comfortable having me film on board. Meanwhile she made me skip the trains driven by newly hired operators who she think will dislike my filming.

[@MedusalObligation]

@@Shuotography Filming on the platforms and trains is against company policy unless prior permission is given. It is a safety issue and it is easy to actually get the required track access training to then obtain permission to film.

[@jimstuart1104]

anybody outside of phoenix, what do you think?

[@PVC-tr5hd]

You need to place the name of the city in your video title! Those who live in other states have no idea where Valley Metro Rail operates!

[@mannycarrillo6595]

Google

[@Shayne-l1g]

Can you please do another pov on metro going the opposite direction please

[@hobog]

Huh, same announcements jingle as Marta's

[@Bus_em]

I hope you got permission from VM to do this video? I remember a while back a bus operator got terminated for using their cell phone video while operating the bus. A passenger seen them using their phone to video or whatever while driving, submitted it to news 15, & promptly got fired. It goes against the FMCSA guidelines, company guidelines, state guidelines etc. Just saying.

[@Shuotography]

I did ask for and received permission from both the operator and the supervisor on site to take the video. I'm also not an operator or employee with Valley Metro. I simply rode along as a passenger and set my camera up on the passenger side of the glass partition wall on the back side of the operator's cab.