…do I not bleed?
For the record, I love TriMet. I spend a sizable portion of my life commuting, sightseeing and just plain piddling around on the bus. At age fourteen I’d ride the bus from Sandy, Oregon into the big bad city. I’d travel out to Jantzen Beach on the #6 Union Avenue bus, spend the afternoon at the movies and then reverse direction. I lived in Forest Grove during the wonderful articulated bus years. (Should have foreseen the light rail at that time, given the system’s fascination with bendable transportation.) I lived downtown during construction of the light rail, and took an uncomfortable jam-packed ride from Old Town to Pioneer Square the first day open to the public. (It was kind of like post-Trailblazer games: “Hi there! Nice armpit.”) I haven’t owned a car since I moved indoors, happy to let someone else do the driving.
And now? They’re messing with me again. TriMet is cutting hours, lines and service. I understand the need to meet the budget, having lived my whole life close to the bottom line. BUT, and this is a loud screaming but, shouldn’t service be kept as is? The whole friggin’ point of building new train lines and such is to provide alternative, ecology-friendly mass transportation. And now that you’ve built the damned thing, let’s cut its hours!
F**king brilliant.
The latest proposed service cuts involve at least two lines I ride regularly. One is no big deal, things happen. But the other line is a Saturday service cut, and I take this bus every weekend. Sometimes twice. Sure, it’s not crowded, but there’s two-thirds of a bus-full by the time we reach downtown. It only runs once an hour. I think there would be more ridership if it ran every half-hour, like during weekdays. No one wants to spend forty minutes waiting for a return bus after a quick trip to Freddy’s.
This line is also being modified for the re-opening of the Transit Mall. Instead of traveling from outer southeast, crossing downtown and reemerging in northeast, the route is being cut in half. In May the bus will only run to PSU. I’ll have to get off and transfer to a MAX or walk to work. And when it comes to visiting my buddies in NE? What was once a quiet, hour-long exercise in meditation will now include two extra transfers, and riding the MAX. Ick.
This is what frosts me. I live close to the new Green Line, and have maneuvered around the construction, listened to the pile-drivers banging away in the night. I have dreaded the incoming criminal element that seems to follow the MAX wherever it goes. (Remember when Gresham was a pleasant suburb, and not a nickname for the ‘hood?) The upside? The train also takes the hoodlums away.
But not when the train only comes every half-hour. This is what TriMet is proposing for after 7 PM.
In the early days of MAX, I’d catch the train in Rockwood, and remember the endless waits. There are no bathrooms, no security. Anyone who has waited at the 82nd Avenue MAX stop knows how long five minutes can be when bangers are trying to out-thug each other. It’ll be a target-rich environment for jockey-boxers.
TriMet is taking comments regarding the upcoming changes, but I figure they’ve already made up their minds. I wouldn’t mind the half-hour service on the Green Line, because I don’t intend on riding it much. I just wish they’d leave my bus line alone. I write every time TriMet asks for comments, requesting Sunday service and maybe a few more buses later in the evening. (Current service stops at 8:30 PM, and I get off at midnight.) So far, they haven’t even acknowledged that I’ve written, let alone accommodate my wishes.
And now, since it’s Sunday and I’ve got stuff I want to do, I must make the twelve-block walk to the bus stop. It’s good exercise, but it’s a pain in the ass to haul groceries, and thins the herd when inviting company over. (“It’s not a bad walk. You’ll get used to it…”)
Get used to it. That should be TriMet’s motto…
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Now you know how they get their MAX ridership numbers to look so good. To hell with convenience. It’s all about creating the illusion of demand.
I have to agree with Bojack on this one. Given TriMet’s financing comes mainly from employment taxes, the decreased revenue is unavoidable at the moment (without alternative funding). One needs to question the priorities in axing a bunch of bus routes at the same time we’re spending so much money on fixed-rail adventures.
I’d love to know the operating costs of the 10 or the 33 compared to the costs of WES.
Some of the lines should be cut or re-routed, for instance routes that are within a block of the streetcar or run on the streetcar line itself.
It’s tough. Portland is a small town, with more and more a larger cities infrastructure… how do you support it without
the population?
“See where it doesn’t take you, anymore.”
I’ve sent my note to Trimet
Trimet really needs to stop using the argument of safety and security for trying to limit or eliminate fareless square. It’s a dishonest argument and it’s disgraceful that officials would stoop to a tactic that reeks of racism. The simple fact of the matter is that eliminating fareless square is going to have little to no effect on crime, that’s just common sense. Fareless square is a point of pride for many in Portland, and is very valuable to many that live and work in the downtown area. In regards to chaging the Max fareless boundary by Lloyd Center will only encourage scofflaws, and deprive many of a valuable link to the mall. It’s a shame that in a city that has gained a reputation for progressive values, we see Trimet limiting people’s access to their community by closing and restricting transportation instead of searching for inventive ways to expand service.
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