Despite the frustrating delays and uncertainties about the daily commute on State Route 347, one reasonable option to driving your own vehicle to and from points in the Valley is no longer available.
The reason? Arizona Shuttle Service stopped its Maricopa operation, which began this summer (see related story).
“We’ve been operating since last June,” said Bill Poulos, Phoenix operations manager for Arizona Shuttle Service, “and we never had a single customer from Maricopa who worked in Chandler, Tempe or Phoenix.”
Its last shuttle trip in Maricopa took place on Friday, Nov. 30. It had offered trips every hour on the hour from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m. to points north. The company is based in Tucson and reaches virtually all major cities in Arizona.
The owner of another company, Maricopa Shuttle Service, operating since April, said it tried to serve Maricopa commuters earlier, but soon realized it wouldn’t succeed. “We have five units,” said Udoamaka Obiekea, who says his customers know him simply as “Mr. Peace.”
“We do mainly airport runs, students and special events,” he said. He also offers a local taxi service.
“Once someone gets used to driving his or her own car to and from work, it’s extremely hard to get them to change,” Obiekea said.
“We were averaging 40 or 50 passengers a month from Maricopa to Sky Harbor Airport,” Poulos said, “and we charged $20 one-way for that service.” Maricopa Shuttle charges $30 for airport service.
The only steady daily customers in the past six months, Poulos said, were seven or eight students, all of whom commuted between Maricopa and either Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee or Hamilton High in Chandler.
Arizona Shuttle operated from the Stage Stop Marketplace on Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. Poulos said 25 parking spaces had been approved by the city and reserved at the shopping center for commuter use.
Arizona Shuttle charged $8 for a one-way trip to destinations in Tempe, Phoenix and Chandler, but a coupon deal allowed Maricopans to make a round-trip for $9. Employees at Motorola or Intel were offered discounts that would have made the trips even more affordable, Poulos said.
He said his company had advertised in local news media, handed out flyers and used other marketing vehicles to reach new customers.
Puzzled by the lack of interest in the shuttle service, Poulos, a resident of Maricopa, said he hopes his company will offer the service again in the future, when gas prices get higher, making shuttle service more appealing, or when the population increases significantly.
File photo
