For two years, Samuel Tobler inched through bumper-to-bumper traffic in an hour-long commute from his home in Queen Creek to his classes at ASU.
Not any more.
Valley Metro opened a new express bus route Monday between the ASU Tempe campus and Queen Creek, located 30 miles southeast of downtown Tempe.
The bus route was put in place to service ASU students, faculty and staff as well as Tempe business employees who live in Queen Creek, said Mark Young, the intergovernmental liaison for Queen Creek.
The nonstop Route 534 makes its round-trip only once a day. The bus departs from Queen Creek at 6:15 a.m. and begins its return trip at 5:15 p.m.
Queen Creek officials pushed for the bus route as a solution to the city's traffic issues.
"The route was generated from Queen Creek being very concerned about congestion in their area," said Valley Metro spokeswoman Susan Tierney.
The rapid growth on the fringes of the Phoenix metropolitan area is outrunning the construction of new roads, Tierney said.
"The roads are very congested from the southeast Valley to points in the northern Valley because the infrastructure hasn't really kept up with population," Tierney said.
Some ASU students have taken advantage of the new construction. Houses are cheaper on the edges of the city, allowing students to move into homes normally out of their price range, said Tobler, a graduate physics student.
"I have a wife and two kids and we can afford a house while I go to graduate school if we live way out there in the boondocks," Tobler said.
Tobler was the first student to ride the new line — one of three people who utilized the bus on its first day. Tobler said he was the only rider on Wednesday.
"It is extremely convenient for me," Tobler said. "Less stress on me with traffic, I can do other things during the ride, and it doesn't cost gas."
After funding a study on potential riders, Queen Creek officials agreed to subsidize a direct route from Queen Creek to Tempe. There are 900 workers from Queen Creek who commute to the Tempe area every day, not counting students, Young said.
"No matter what we do with our transportation infrastructure, it will not be enough," Young said. "We are doing anything we can to lessen the congestion."
Queen Creek is offering free rides for the bus route's first week. ASU students can always ride for free by signing up for a bus pass at the Parking and Transit Services office on the first floor of the Towers apartment complex north of campus.
Young said Queen Creek officials are prepared to lose money on the route in exchange for the upside of having an express bus from Queen Creek to Tempe.
Funding the bus will cost $35,000 over the next six months, Young said.
"The fares that come out of the rides will not come close to covering [$35,000]," he said. "However, getting stuck in traffic out here is just mentally draining.
"The opportunity to jump on the bus and take a nap, read a magazine, study or do work is worth the price to the city."
The route departs from Desert Mountain Park and takes about an hour to reach its drop-off point at College Avenue and Veterans Way.
The return trip leaves from the same spot for Queen Creek.
Reach the reporter at: john.dougherty@asu.edu.
