The light rail system, which operates under the Valley Metro brand name, has 41 stations and 29.8 miles (48.0 km) of tracks within the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa.
Valley Metro Rail opened its initial 20-mile (32 km) starter line[3] on December 27, 2008.
[4] The starter line, which was funded through a combination of federal, regional and local municipal funds,[5] operated from the Montebello/19th Avenue station in Phoenix, through Tempe, serving the Arizona State University Tempe campus, and ended at the Sycamore/Main Street station in Mesa.
[12] This station opened in April 2019, and was funded by Proposition 104, Phoenix's 2015 ballot initiative that extended and expanded the city's transportation sales tax.
Station amenities include seating, trash canisters, a drinking fountain, lighting, digital and vocal rider information, emergency call boxes and public art.
[16] 10 of the stations have associated park-and-ride facilities that provide approximately 4,500 public parking spaces combined along the entire light rail system.
As part of Phoenix's Proposition 104, various new extensions have been proposed, although none of these have been formally adopted by Valley Metro Rail's Board of Directors.