PDX Transit News

Ridership numbers

2010-01-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "TriMet bus ridership plummets in December under force of recession"

The dismal economy continued to eat away at TriMet ridership in December, despite a boost in MAX commuting from the three-month-old Green Line.

TriMet recorded 7.6 million trips on buses, MAX and WES during December, a 6.5 percent decline from December 2008. Bus ridership saw the most dramatic drops, with rush-hour trips plummeting more than 20 percent and total weekday trips down nearly 12 percent.

Any worries that riders wouldn't use the Green Line continues to be erased. Weekday trips averaged 15,900 and weekend trips averaged 19,900 on the new line, TriMet says. But those numbers were among only a few bright spots in the ridership report.

"The ongoing recession and double digit unemployment is still impacting" bus and WES commuter rail trips, said TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch. "Consider 55,000 jobs lost in the region and then look at the rush hour numbers."

Fetsch said it's still unclear how the current drop in ridership compares to past recessions, such the ones in 1982 and 1992. "The general rule is we always mirror the economy and then lag six months," she said.

MAX ridership, meanwhile, was up slightly with the expansion of the PSU-to-Clackamas Town Center Green Line, which opened in September, Fetsch said. Light rail ridership saw an average of 107,800 weekday trips and 32,600 rush hour trips, increases of 1.3 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

"If we didn't have the Green Line, everything would be down," Fetsch said, adding that many Green Line riders are likely choosing MAX over buses in high transit areas near 82nd Avenue.

Meanwhile, the $161.2 million Beaverton-to-Wilsonville Westside Express Service wrapped up its first year of commuter rail services with more bad news.

During its first week of operation in February 2009, ridership totaled about 1,700 trips. It has dropped steadily since. TriMet said last summer that it likely wouldn't meet its goal of 2,400 weekly trips by year's end. In December, the number had dipped to 1,075.

Go to the Hard Drive commuting blog to get a detailed breakdown of December TriMet ridership numbers and comparisons with other transit systems in other U.S. cities.

Teens

2009-11-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

From KPTV.com, "Attackers Hit, Bite Woman On MAX Platform"

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A woman was left with bruises and bite marks after being attacked by three people on a MAX platform in northeast Portland.

Kayla Clarks said she was with her roommate, Kailee Wheeless, at the Gateway Transit Center on Northeast 99th Avenue just before midnight Thursday when two women approached and grabbed the sunglasses off Wheeless' head.

"I, like, turned around and I was like, 'Hey, that's not cool. You need to give them back,'" Clarks said.

The two women, joined by a third attacker, started to hit Clarks and shoved her to the ground, the assault victim said.

"And they all started kicking me in the head and stomping on my head. And then I got up somehow and we were knocked to the ground again and then they dragged me towards a metal poll and my head was knocked into a metal pole," Clarks said.

During the struggle, Clarks said one of the girls bit her, leaving marks on her arm.

Her purse was stolen during the attack.

Police officers took at least two people into custody but Clarks believe two men who were with the attackers have her purse.

Wheeless said she screamed at the attackers to stop.

"And I watched them slam her to the ground and they started to kick her and one of them had one of them had her by the hair while another one kicked her," Wheeless said.

Clarks said she's thankful she wasn't hurt worse.

"But, it was pretty brutal. I don't think I deserved it in any way," Clarks said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Portland police.

2009-11-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

From theoutlookonline.com, "Gresham man killed at City Hall MAX station"

A man crossing the MAX tracks who was struck and killed by a train at the Gresham City Hall station Monday morning has been identified as a Gresham resident.

Jose Lopez Rodriguez, 55, was on the north side of the platform, which is located just south of Gresham City Hall and east of Northwest Eastman Parkway, when he was hit at about 8 a.m.

The man was on the platform’s east end closest to Northwest Eastman Parkway when he ran southbound across the MAX tracks to catch an eastbound train, said Mary Fetsch, TriMet spokeswoman.

A westbound train coming into the station at the same time hit the man. He died at the scene. It is the second time a pedestrian has been hit and killed at the station. In June 2003, 16-year-old Gresham boy, Aaron Wagner, was hit and killed by a train at the City Hall stop while crossing the tracks on his bike.

His mother, Darla Sturdy, lobbied the state Legislature for changes at MAX crossings. The Legislature passed a law requiring TriMet to commission an independent study, complete with findings and recommendations, regarding the safety of pedestrian crossings on the light-rail line. Many of the more dangerous stations were located on the eastside, as they are the oldest in the light-rail system.

Based on the study’s findings, TriMet plans to make crossing improvements at approximately 60 locations, Fetch said. Improvements vary from channeling pedestrians to creating Z-style crossings that orient pedestrians so they see trains coming from both directions.

The study found that the City Hall station could benefit from a Z-style crossing, which TriMet plans to create, Fetch said. The transit agency has already installed additional warning signs, lights, audible warnings and fencing/railings at the station, she added.

No texting

2009-11-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "Under pressure, TriMet gets tough with operators on cell phones"

The general manager of TriMet said Thursday that bus and train operators caught texting or talking on their cell phones while on the job face immediate termination as of Jan. 1.

Prompted by an Oregonian investigation into distracted driving by TriMet operators, Fred Hansen announced the stiff new disciplinary policy in a letter to employees. It goes into effect the same day as Oregon’s statewide ban on using handheld mobile devices while driving.

“Compromising safety and distracted driving is not worth the risk,” Hansen wrote.

In the past two years, TriMet has fielded more than 530 complaints from riders and other motorists about operators talking, texting and even playing games on their cell phones while driving, according to records obtained by the newspaper.

During that time, however, only two drivers — including one in recent weeks — have been disciplined for violating the agency’s ban on using cell phones while driving.

Until recently, TriMet gave operators a pass on such complaints until they had received more than three. And while most buses and trains are wired with multiple surveillance cameras, none record driver actions, making it hard to prove violations.

“Without video or pictures,” said Josh Collins, manager of communications at TriMet, “it can make it hard to get past ‘he said, she said.’¤”

As of Jan. 1, Oregon motorists caught talking or texting on handheld mobile device while driving risk a $90 ticket. Washington already has such a ban. The only exemption: Professional drivers in an emergency.

During an investigation scheduled to be published in this week’s Sunday Oregonian, it became clear TriMet hasn’t given the new Oregon law much consideration.

Initially, the agency insisted its drivers may even be exempt from being pulled over by police.

But after further questioning, Hansen shifted from a reluctance to change disciplinary policy to pledging that any TriMet operator found guilty of violating the new law would be fired.

TriMet already requires the devices to be stowed away in a bag or pocket. Drivers aren’t allowed to pull them out and use them until they’re stopped for a layover break. “The policy is very clear,” Hansen said.

Still, judging from the more than 530 complaints fielded by TriMet customer service dispatchers since September 2007, many drivers aren’t bothering with that precaution.

According to the complaints, drivers have been so distracted by their phones that they missed stops, ran red lights, weaved, waved people onboard without checking fares, hit street fixtures and nearly hit pedestrians.

TriMet also said one operator hit a vehicle while using his cell phone, although it was a minor crash.

The agency currently uses “progressive discipline” with operators, counseling them and giving them written reprimands in attempt to correct the problem. But as driving while texting and talking moves from a TriMet violation to an illegal activity, Hansen said the behavior will become one of the agency’s “deadly sins”

In a phone interview Thursday night, Hansen said there’s a strong possibility the Amalgamated Transit Union 757 might file a protest. But as director of the agency, Hansen said he has the authority to initiate policies that protect public safety.

“There is solid research as to why driving while distracted is a serious issue,” he said in his letter to employees, citing a recent Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study showing motorists using cell phones are as likely to cause an accident as someone with a .08 blood alcohol content.

He also noted that TriMet policy, unlike the new Oregon law, will continue to ban hands-free cell phone conversations.

“TriMet’s policy goes further than the law,” he wrote, “since we do not allow either handheld or hands free cell phone usage.”

Extending Bikes

2009-11-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

From Bikeportland.org, "New Fed policy would fund more bike projects around transit stops"

The Obama Administration has taken a solid step in matching their “livable communities” rhetoric with action. A new proposal from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) would increase the radius around transit stops and stations where bicycling and walking infrastructure could be funded. The proposal showed up last Friday in the Federal Register and bike advocates and planners in the Portland area are already getting excited.

Current FTA regulations regarding what type of biking and walking projects can receive federal funding are vague and are limited to a “catchment area” (a defined area around a transit stop or station where biking and walking trips come from) that has never been geographically defined.

As the law stands now, in order to be eligible for federal funds, a transit agency must prove that a bike/ped facility has a “functional relationship” to the transit stop or station and that it must not extend beyond “the distance most people can be expected to safely and conveniently walk to use the transit service.” That distance has typically been set at a mere 1,500 feet. Now the FTA says that distance is too short; and they’ve also clarified the language around bike projects as well.

Here’s the proposed policy:
“… all pedestrian improvements located within one-half mile and all bicycle improvements located within three miles of a public transportation stop or station shall have a de facto physical and functional relationship to public transportation.”

This proposed policy change is music to the ears of Michelle Poyourow with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA). She said she’s been meeting with TriMet project staff over the past nine months to try and figure out why it’s been so hard to invest in bike lockers and bikeways to encourage more people to bike to transit. “One of the big problems I identified was this issue with the catchment area, which is just so small.”

Poyourow said one local example of how this new policy might help a bikeway project get funded is with the new Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail line. That new line is being built an easy pedal away from the Springwater Corridor Trail. She said it also might help bring some bike parking to the Tacoma transit center, which already has plans for 800 car parking spaces.

Poyourow said the BTA will submit a formal comment to the FTA in support of this new proposal. “I’m delighted to see this happen. Someone else noticed the same thing we did… this is just fantastic.. this saved us a step.”

TriMet also plans to send in comments to support the new policy. Bike planner Colin Maher told us during a phone interview this morning that they’re “excited” to see the FTA acknowledge the value of bike access to transit.

Maher pointed out that a survey they completed in June 2008 showed that the average distance people bike to a transit stop is two miles, which would be well within the FTA’s new project funding radius. While Maher says TriMet is in support of the new policy, he said it’s still too early to tell what the implications might be.

Download a PDF of the FTA’s Policy on Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements. (pdf)

Wired needs to calm down.

2009-11-24T10:10:00.001-08:00

From Wired.com, "Why Portland’s Mass Transit Rocks"

Portland, Oregon is routinely ranked among the best transit cities in the country. The accolades certainly are deserved. Commuters are swept quickly and comfortably from almost anywhere to almost anywhere on a system that is reliable, convenient and bicycle friendly. It should be a model for other cities.

There’s no end to the things that make the system, called TriMet, awesome. Its customer interaction system is amazingly useful and includes a real live person to help plan trips if you call during business hours. Its iPhone app should be widely duplicated. The Fareless Square, which allows people to ride for free downtown or just across the Willamette River, lets people move quickly and easy around downtown. The Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) rail system seamlessly transitions from inter-city streetcar to intra-city commuter rail and remains best method of transport anywhere. And the system actively looks for ways to improve, regularly handing out surveys to get feedback from riders.

Your intrepid Autopia contributor sold his car and spent a full year in Portland, relying on TriMet to get around . Though TriMet offers a fantastic, comprehensive transit system, there are a few tweaks, minor and major, that could bring vast improvements.

Like most mass transit, TriMet shuts down for the night. Many people who work or revel at night live beyond the core of downtown, and TriMet’s relatively early closing time is a real limitation. Even those living in relatively accessible neighborhoods have to head home before the buses stop at 12:30 a.m. The MAX stops running an hour or so later, but those living beyond walking distance of a station face a long walk or a cab ride. There’s no shortage of taxis, but running even a single bus hourly on major routes could improve late-night and early-morning ridership greatly. Imagine the money and carbon emissions that could be saved.

Another problem is many riders simply do not pay to ride because the stations are open and fare inspectors rare. As structured today, Portland cannot actually force people to pay before entry because there is no barrier between station and sidewalk, so perhaps the best option is to extort a whole lot of money from somewhere and make MAX free. It probably wouldn’t cost much more than it does already. It also isn’t unusual to see people simply wave an expired ticket in the general direction of the driver as they get on. There are even fake ticket rings, but who needs them when the ticket you bought last week will probably do the job. It would be interesting to know what fare jumpers and expired tickets cost the system, but to my knowledge no one’s published such a study.

Another issue is that the three different transit systems don’t have standardized tickets. Bus use different tickets than MAX, which uses different tickets than the other regional systems like the Westside Express Service light rail. It’s all a little neurotic.

Portland’s extensive route system is in some ways lacking. East Portland, which is densely populated, could use a streetcar like the one downtown. If it could make an extensive loop, starting at the Rose Quarter Transit Center, swinging up through North Portland, down through the Hollywood Transit Center as far south as Division Street, nobody in Portland would ever use a car again. An East Portland streetcar is in the works, but it is not particularly extensive and thus not particularly useful.

The new MAX Green Line, which runs north to south, is too far east to be useful to people on their way to main commercial areas and too far west to pick up many commuters. It runs largely along an existing highway, which not only brings little incentive for commuters along the route to ride the MAX but virtually guarantees there will be little development of the type that MAX has brought in the suburbs.

MAX connections to the north and south, which do not currently exist, deserve a serious examination. The proposed Columbia River Crossing almost certainly will have a MAX line. Fantastic. Get it built, then build a MAX network over the river in Washington and link it to the local bus networks. Commuters on I-5 are stuck in continual gridlock, and during rush hour the highway barely moves. They will take mass transit given the chance, which they are currently not afforded.

High-speed rail is coming. Portland is on a designated high-speed rail corridor stretching from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Seattle, Portland and further south. There are currently trains running, but trips to Seattle and San Francisco take so long it’s tough to justify the journey. There is even an airline flying between Portland and Seattle every hour, a role perfectly suited to high-speed rail. If a reasonable downtown-to-downtown service can be built, air traffic between the two cities will evaporate.

Portland’s transit system is held up nationally as a model network, as it should be. All things considered, it’s a great system. It can stand to be improved. A truly comprehensive system would make it a standard for the world.

Climate Change and Bridge Height

2009-11-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "Rising water worries prompt cruise boat to seek higher bridge clearance"

The big season for Willamette River cruises on the popular Portland Spirit is December, when holiday lights make the city sparkle at night.

But the big season for heavy rain starts around that time, and the Portland Spirit now worries the rains will be so sudden and so great -- courtesy of global warming -- that the river will rise to levels that make it impossible for the boat to find clearance under bridges.

Why the concern now? TriMet wants to build a new light-rail bridge across the river between the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the emerging South Waterfront area, and the Portland Spirit says it won't be high enough to guarantee passage. The Spirit's owners demand a higher bridge now to protect their cruise interests later.

Welcome to Business Planning 101 in the new warmer day.

High winter waters already keep the Portland Spirit from passing below Sellwood Bridge several times a year, says Dan Yates, president of the cruise company. And plans call for a replacement Sellwood Bridge to be built at the same level as the cracked 1925 bridge it will replace.

The new TriMet light-rail bridge, however, may be built at about the same height as the Sellwood, potentially cutting off the Portland Spirit from the waterfront landing where it boards passengers. Or so says the Portland Spirit, which also eyes an industry trend to install wind turbines atop the ship -- a feature that would only make the ship taller and require more clearance.

"This is pretty much the life or death of the company," Yates says. "It's just going to be a long-term death."

TriMet, for its part, says the bridge should be 58 feet above the water in December's worst conditions -- optimal height for the Spirit and other river users. Anything higher could require that train approaches on either side of the bridge be raised as much as 10 feet above ground, forcing an awkward design for a station planned at the Oregon Health & Science University campus in South Waterfront. That alone could cost millions of dollars.

Concern by a small cruise line about the effects of global warming may sound far-fetched. But the issue of clearance for navigation has legal standing and has already played into decisions that will cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

TriMet confirms that Portland Spirit's concerns already have in part shaped TriMet's planning of the $110 million light-rail bridge. And Yates has shown a willingness to sue to defend his interests from the city and other local agencies.

TriMet planners this week said it's important to include potential effects of climate change in planning the agency's new bridge -- and their studies show the bridge can accommodate Portland Spirit even with a 3.5-foot rise in river level.

"This is all a very reasonable and a good check on all of our engineering decisions at a very critical point in the project," says Neil McFarlane, TriMet's executive director of capital projects.

There's no doubt that Portland Spirit has a legal right to clear passage through the Willamette, says Austin Pratt, bridge administrator for the 13th Coast Guard District, based in Seattle. The General Bridge Act of 1946 requires bridge builders to accommodate the "reasonable" needs of navigation – both present needs and future needs, Pratt says.

Requiring a bridge in Portland to be tall enough to allow passage for a 200-foot-tall oceangoing container ship would probably not be reasonable, Pratt says. But building an obstruction to frequent commercial users of the river -- even a marina that houses tall sailboats or a cruise line with a handful of boats -- would also be unreasonable.

Though the Coast Guard didn't require it, TriMet planners hired a local consulting firm to help study potential climate change-induced river level rise. The firm, Parametrix, found a potential river level rise of 1.9 to 3.5 feet.

TriMet initially expected its bridge would need to rise 43 to 53 feet above the water during average periods. The bridge needs to be as low to the river as possible, to provide a gentle slope for light-rail trains, streetcars and pedestrians to cross.

TriMet says its forecasts show the Portland Spirit should be able to fit below its bridge year round. Even the taller Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler, which is operated by the same company that owns the Portland Spirit, should make it through year-round, says Rob Barnard, TriMet's director for the light-rail project.

But if the Portland Spirit adds a 10-foot-tall mast and 10-foot-tall wind turbines, as Yates says it may soon, then the boat might be too high to pass a handful of times in the rainiest winter months, Barnard says.

That's not good enough, Yates contends. The cruise line's lifeblood is the booking of weddings and other private events years in advance. A last-minute rush of water from a warmer climate's erratic storms could lead to disastrous last-minute cancellations.

"I need certainty, this is why it's so important to me," Yates says.

Climate change means a world of uncertain, erratic events, and TriMet and other large institutions are right to try to plan for it, says Bob Doppelt, director of the Climate Leadership Initiative at the University of Oregon.

"This historic planning for infrastructure really is no longer relevant for climate change -- that's the biggest issue," he says. "You've got to say look forward rather than backward and say, 'What are the most likely scenarios?' and plan for them."

Some kids are more equal than others?

2009-11-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

From Sentinal.org, "Youth commission takes a stand on bus passes"

An assembly of youths who advise local governments in Multnomah County is throwing its clout behind a proposal to extend free bus passes to private school students.

A plan formed this fall by the city of Portland, Portland Public Schools and Tri-Met offers free bus rides to public high school students in the city, regardless of income. Private school students are left out.

At a Multnomah Youth Commission meeting earlier this month, members were clear in their support of expansion. It was the commission that first pushed for free bus passes, intending that everyone get them.

Uncertainty over the cost of the Business Energy Tax Credit — which provides the bulk of funding for the passes — has put the brakes on the hoped-for addition. City officials have advised holding off on a decision until after the Oregon Legislature meets early next year.
This fall, the exclusion of private institutions rankled students and parents from Catholic schools, many of whom struggle to pay tuition and send children on long bus rides each day. Similar programs in Eugene and Salem do include private schools.

Catholic school officials say that, like anyone else, private school parents pay the taxes that fund public schools.

At a Multnomah Youth Commission meeting last month, Pam Wood asked youth leaders to think of a way to include private school students, perhaps by transferring pass privileges from public school students who do not use them. Wood is a counselor at De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland.

The goal of the free pass program, called YouthPass, is to reduce carbon emissions from driving trips.

“The Youth Commission’s goal continues to be eventual expansion of YouthPass to all middle- and high-school students throughout Multnomah County,” says Reese Lord, who oversees education strategy for Portland Mayor Sam Adams.

Despite the funding uncertainty, Lord plans to convene private school representatives in the next several months to devise an expansion plan.

Another Adams aide has said the mayor is behind expanding the free rides to all students.

In Salem this year, it appeared that private schools may not be part of a free ride program offered by Salem-Keizer Transit.

But Chuck Lee, the president of Blanchet Catholic School who also sits on the Salem-Keizer school board, raised the issue. The policy changed.

Grand-open'en

2009-11-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "WorkSource Portland Metro Hillsboro moves to Willow Creek Center"

PORTLAND -- On Monday, Nov. 23, the Hillsboro office of WorkSource Portland Metro will officially open its doors at Portland Community College's newly complete Willow Creek Center in Washington County.

The new facility serves residents of Beaverton and Hillsboro.

Like other WorkSource Centers, it will offer computer literacy and workplace English classes, numerous workshops including resume writing, interviewing, and job search assistance. Additionally there is a resource room with 40 computer workstations to provide customers access to job listings. The center is on the MAX Blueline and is served by TriMet's 47, 48, 52 and 88 bus routes. Ample parking is also available.

"A year ago the Oregon Employment Department and Worksystems consolidated job training and employment services at each WorkSource Portland Metro Center location to enhance services to customers in our region, particularly during a time of high unemployment," Said Andrew McGough, Worksystems executive directo. "Locating at the Willow Creek Center allows us to use additional training facilities at the college to maximize the number of classes we can provide and exposes customers to other programs offered at PCC."

WorkSource Portland Metro Beaverton/Hillsboro manager, Ken Dodge underscored that.

"We have simply outgrown our current location," Dodge said. "This larger, state-of-the-art facility will greatly increase the number of customers we can serve."

Friday, Nov. 20, is the last day services will be offered at the WorkSource center on Oak Street.

Hot-button

2009-11-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

From Forestgrovenewstimes.com, Metro’s road plan: running on fumes?

The Portland area’s $20 billion transportation wish list and its pledge to reduce greenhouse gases are on a collision course.

A new Metro study shows that population growth, coupled with a soon-to-be-approved Regional Transportation Plan, will result in so much metro-area traffic that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles will jump 49 percent.

The finding comes just as Portland and Multnomah County embark on a massive, lifestyle-changing Climate Action Plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Environmentalists say the new Metro analysis confirms the folly of spending $4 billion on a new, wider Columbia River bridge — the largest project in the Regional Transportation Plan — as well as projects to widen some suburban roads to seven lanes.

“We need solutions that don’t lead to more driving,” says Mara Gross, policy director of Coalition for a Livable Future, which represents about 90 organizations.

Metro planners say the 49 percent figure is overstated, because their analysis uses planned projects, plus an expected 58 percent population growth, to estimate future vehicle trips in 2035. The study didn’t try to predict future behavior, policy and land-use changes — or consider inevitabilities such as the coming wave of fuel-efficient and electric cars.

But there’s no dispute about the trend the study shows.

“Does it matter whether it’s 20 percent or 49 percent when we’re trying to get to minus 80 percent?” wonders Rex Burkholder, Metro councilor. “What it shows us is we’re going in the wrong direction.”
Reduced driving sought

An estimated 38 percent of Multnomah County’s greenhouse gas emissions come from all forms of transportation, more than any other sector, according to the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. So the city/county Climate Action Plan calls for dramatically reducing daily miles driven from 18.5 miles per person to 13.4 miles by the year 2030. That will require more bicycling, more walking, more carpooling and telecommuting, better transit, and more nearby groceries and jobs so people don’t have to travel as far.

Since 1990, carbon emissions from transportation have risen a modest 2.5 percent within Multnomah County, despite rapid population growth. TriMet ridership and bicycle commuting have mushroomed during that period.

As Portland city commissioners prepared to vote on the Climate Action Plan on Oct. 28, word of Metro’s new greenhouse gas study shocked many in attendance.

“Our transportation wish list takes us in the opposite direction,” testified Chris Smith, a transportation activist, blogger and member of the Multnomah County Planning Commission. Smith asked Portland Mayor Sam Adams to reject the Regional Transportation Plan when it comes before regional leaders for approval next month.

Adams responded that each project in the regional plan needs to be evaluated carefully for its climate impact.

Burkholder says criticisms from the Coalition for a Livable Future are unfair, based on singling out a handful of projects among 1,000 in line for funding in the $20 billion plan. That list also includes money for Portland’s eastside trolley line prized by Adams, Burkholder notes, as well as numerous transit, pedestrian and bicycle projects that offer people a range of transportation choices.

Roads, bridges and highways stand to get 57 percent of the nearly $20 billion in the Regional Transportation Plan, but transit, pedestrian and bicycle projects are in line to receive 37 percent of the money.

Burkholder agrees that some seven-lane roads in Washington County may be too wide, but the wish list needs to get a buy-in from across the tri-county region. “We’re dealing with a planning process that’s pretty traditional, and we’re trying to change it,” Burkholder says.

Metro, he adds, appears to be the first in the nation doing this kind of greenhouse gas analysis of transportation projects.
Old style of business?

The Regional Transportation Plan, and some of the “earmarked” highway projects inserted by individual lawmakers into the 2009 state transportation bill, are signs that we’re still pursuing a lot of “old-time” concrete projects, laments Angus Duncan, chairman of the Oregon Global Warming Commission. However, he says it’s a time of transition when it comes to combating global warming, and it’s hard to move fast in the public policy arena.

“First we have to turn this ship around before we can accelerate it in the other direction,” Duncan says. “Collectively, our minds aren’t there yet.”

Another sign of the challenges ahead is an estimate in the same Metro report that projects how many trips will remain by a single person driving alone in a car. Metro calculates that 46 percent of all trips in the downtown Beaverton area are now made by a single person driving alone, and that will drop to 43 percent by 2035.

There are similar estimates of driving patterns in the Clackamas Town Center area.

Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle says the greenhouse gas report shows the need for more transit spending in Beaverton and Hillsboro, and for more money to facilitate midrise housing in downtown Beaverton.

Doyle acknowledged the new analysis suggests a closer look at whether seven lanes are needed on Tualatin Valley Highway, which links Beaverton to Hillsboro. However, he hopes that new technology, such as electric cars, can be “the salvation” to help the region meet its greenhouse gas goals.
Traffic problems

Washington County Chairman Tom Brian says the region needs to address traffic problems and greenhouse gas reductions with a variety of strategies. He cites a public education campaign, first suggested by Washington County, designed to get people to bundle errands in one trip, to cut down on traffic.

But the region is clearly growing, Brian says, and road capacity is essential, especially to carry freight.

“We can’t put freight on a bicycle or light rail,” he noted.

What now?

2009-11-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

From OregonCatalyst.com, "Another Metro Fantasy: Portland region will triple non-auto travel by 2035"

At its November 12 meeting, Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) adopted “performance targets” calling for a tripling of walking, biking, and transit use by 2035. This came despite the release of the Annual Portland Resident Survey conducted by the City Auditor, showing that levels of solo driving for commuters actually increased by 4.6% this year and that transit use dropped by 9%.

During a 20-minute discussion of performance targets covering such topics as climate change, clean air, and affordability, none of the committee members questioned the feasibility of tripling the mode share for walking, cycling, or transit. The committee appears to believe that if they collectively wave a magic wand, they can persuade people to change driving habits. Recent trends, however, suggest that this will be an expensive exercise in futility.

For instance, according to Metro, the daily levels of vehicle-miles-travelled (VMT) per person in the region have gone from 18.8 in 1990 to 20.0 in 2007. As the region continues to expand and more employers leave the central city for suburban locations, there is no reason to think daily VMT will decline.

Other data sources show similar trends. The Portland Auditor has been collecting citizen survey data regarding commute travel habits for the past 12 years, and the surveys show that in 1997 the private automobile was the primary means of travel for 82% of commuters in the city (71% driving solo, 9% carpooling, and 2% driving to a transit station). In 2009, 78% of commuters relied on driving (68% solo, 7% carpooling, and 3% driving to transit). This is a tiny drop in auto use, given that we opened four new light rail lines and a streetcar during those years, at a cost of over $2 billion.

Moreover, those are citywide averages. When the numbers are broken down by region, the survey shows that 92% of commuters in East Portland rely on driving, as do 86% of commuters in SW Portland.

Pure transit use in Portland (with no auto driving involved) has remained completely flat; it was 10% in 1997 and 10% in 2009. In TriMet’s strongest market (workers in the downtown core) transit use is actually declining. According to the annual business census reports published by the Portland Business Alliance, MAX/bus use dropped from 45% of commuters to 43% from 2001-2008, while the streetcar share was 1% or less in all years.

Metro, TriMet, and other local jurisdictions have bought the notion that expensive rail transit investments, coupled with severe zoning restrictions around transit stations to ensure high-density development, will dramatically increase transit use; but actual evidence shows that the strategy is not working.

For example, auto commuting at the commercial office building at the Beaverton Round is 90% of all commuting for that building. For the Orenco Gardens development south of light rail in Hillsboro, auto use is 80% of all commuting. At the Elmonica Court Apartments across the street from the light rail stop in Beaverton, 96% of commuters drive. All along the MAX system, from Gresham to Hillsboro and up to North Portland, one can find similar results by simply observing how people travel near MAX lines.

While bicycle commuting has gone up from 3% to 7% of all city commuters, it’s unlikely that this number will grow significantly. It actually hit 8% last year, and that may have been the high-water mark. Most people will find bicycle commuting impractical no matter how much money the city spends on bike lanes.

For instance, after the city took away two auto lanes of Holgate Boulevard in outer SE Portland last summer in order to create monster bike lanes, I went out there on three separate occasions to do counts. The weather was beautiful on all days, and I varied the times/days so that I chose a weekday mid-morning, a Sunday afternoon, and a Thursday morning at the peak hour. Of all vehicles observed, more than 98% were automobiles, and none of the cyclists turned into the new light rail station (the ostensible reason for creating this 30-block bike lane was to encouraging bike commuting to the new Green Max line).

Despite the fact that the regional strategies to reduce driving have failed, the earnest folks at JPACT are convinced that this time, the central planners will finally get it right! If the $2 billion we spent on rail transit caused no change in travel habits during the past decade, we’ll double down and build rail lines to Sherwood, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, and Vancouver, while letting highway congestion get worse so as to force a few commuters onto the slow trains. Of course it will fail again, but a lot of planners will stay employed. Perhaps that’s the real goal.

Comparison

2009-11-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

From DJCoregon.com, "A tale of two cities’ crossings: different takes on congestion"

Portland’s Columbia River bridges have close parallels with the Burrard Inlet crossings in Vancouver, B.C. But different views on handling congestion have set the two areas on separate paths: a new bridge in the works for Portland, and no new construction planned for Vancouver, B.C.

Each waterway has two highway bridges: an old, narrow one to the west and a newer, wider one eight road miles to the east. Each area includes a third bridge that carries trains.

The similarities between the two metro areas don’t end with the two-bridge setup and the name Vancouver. Each one has nearly the same number of people: 2.16 million in Portland and 2.12 million in Vancouver, B.C.

The city populations are 558,000 for Portland and 578,000 for Vancouver.

Vancouver, B.C.’s central city is among the densest spots in North America. The downtown averages 31,360 people per square mile. Yet, the only bridge from downtown across the inlet is the three-lane Lions Gate Bridge, built more than 70 years ago.

That’s three lanes total: two in one direction and one in the other.

A second bridge, called the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, opened in 1960. The six-lane bridge carries the Trans-Canada Highway across the inlet.

Both bridges are at least as congested as Portland’s Columbia River bridges, according to traffic counts from the British Columbia and Washington state transportation authorities. The Second Narrows Crossing carries about 20,100 weekday trips per lane, compared to 17,700 trips per lane on the eight-lane Interstate-205 bridge.

The Lions Gate and the Interstate-5 bridges each get 21,100 trips per lane.

Dealing with bridge clogs

But the two areas differ in their response to the congestion. Columbia River Crossing officials are working to maintain momentum for a replacement I-5 bridge and improvements to the five-mile corridor around it. In Vancouver, B.C., there’s no effort in the works to replace or widen one of the Burrard Inlet’s two crossings.

It’s not even a topic of discussion, said Jeff Knight, spokesman with the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. “There are other major bridge projects, but not over that inlet,” he said.

The time for discussion was the 1990s, before the Lions Gate Bridge’s last major rehabilitation project, Knight said. “There were all sorts of different options.”

But the historic, iconic suspension bridge has sentimental appeal, Knight said. And Vancouver residents didn’t want a bigger bridge bringing extra traffic and wider streets through town.

“That process ran its course,” Knight said.

In the last few years, traffic on the inlet’s two bridges has actually decreased. The Lions Gate Bridge carried more than 2,000 fewer weekday trips in 2008 than it did in 2004; the Second Narrows Bridge dropped 7,000 weekday trips from 2005 to 2008.

Small bridge, livable downtown

The comparison between the Portland and Vancouver, B.C., metro areas goes only so far, officials from both areas are quick to point out. A transportation decision that’s good for one region won’t necessarily be good for the other.

That said, Gordon Price, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University and a former longtime Vancouver, B.C., city councilor, is glad to have a narrow, three-lane Lions Gate Bridge. “The conclusion I’ve drawn from looking at the history is that it’s one of the reasons we are one of the most livable cities in the world,” Price said, “on both sides of the inlet.”

Vancouver and its northern suburbs had a chance to see whether maintaining the size of the crossing would lead to increased congestion and a worse economy. “The answer, apparently, is no,” Price said. “If it were true that congestion would lead to an economic decline, you wouldn’t have the affluent area on one side and a vibrant urban area on the other.”

In any community, Price said, residents need clarity on transportation-planning decisions that determine where people live, where they work and how they commute. In Vancouver, people know there won’t be a new Burrard Inlet crossing.

“We said, ‘That’s OK; we will live with the existing capacity,’ ” Price said. “Once it became clear that wouldn’t change (and) we wouldn’t be overruled by the provincial and federal governments, then we took the other (transportation) options seriously and started to design cities to be walkable, to have more transit, and to be more bicycle friendly.”

When people have the opposite understanding that freeways and bridges will keep expanding as metro areas sprawl, they’ll count on that as well, Price said. “When it comes time to decide where they’re going to live and work, they’ll live farther away.

“And then the government comes along and builds them a wider road,” he said. “Because the government has done such a great job of delivering that for three generations, people expect that will continue forever.”

A West Coast economic engine

Freeway choke points might cause commuters to live closer to work, or closer to transit lines, Price said. That could lead to increased development on both sides of choke points, development that isn’t geared toward drivers.

That’s not the view of congestion in the other Vancouver. Allowing traffic clogs to continue hurts the entire local economy, said Eric Holmes, economic development director for Vancouver, Wash.

People who work in Portland might hesitate to move to Ridgefield, Wash., or Battle Ground, Wash., if the bridge crossings increasingly clog, Holmes agreed. If they want to live in Clark County, they may even pick a closer place to live: Vancouver, Wash.

But Vancouver doesn’t gain from other Clark County communities’ loss, Holmes said. “We are a regional economy with a shared workforce.”

And there’s a bigger potential loss, he said. “The I-5 bridge is actually a West Coast economic engine, not a Portland-Vancouver engine. It’s the only place you’re forced to stop based on the function - or the dysfunction - of the interstate.

“It does serve commuters,” Holmes continued, “but it’s primarily a freight mobility issue. It goes beyond the question of commuting and not commuting.”

Pricing the toll right

Keeping goods flowing is a typical argument for building bigger roads and bridges, Price said, and for doing so without adding tolls. But the new capacity fills up quickly, he said, unless tolls are high enough to discourage people from driving.

“If congestion’s a problem, let’s price the road at peak hours,” Price said. “And that additional road space we make will be available for people who need to pay for it.”

When tolls are too small to reduce traffic, they can actually encourage more people to drive, Price said, by allowing agencies to build much bigger roads and bridges than they have money for up front. The more people drive, the more tolls can be used to pay back the debt.

Tolling is a key piece of the current Columbia River Crossing discussions, said Ethan Seltzer, director of Portland State University’s School of Urban Studies and Planning. Congestion pricing, for example, makes people think about whether they really need to drive instead of taking their car trip for granted.

“As long as we keep providing roads as if there’s no cost to the next additional user, we’re going to continue to come into these problems,” Seltzer said. “We can’t build our way out of congestion.”

More than just a bridge

It’s interesting to look at how choices made in Vancouver, B.C. affect that area’s transportation, Seltzer said. But Portland doesn’t have to follow Vancouver’s lead.

Plans for the Columbia River Crossing include a light-rail line to Clark College, for example. TriMet estimates 17,000 daily boardings for that line by 2030. The Burrard Inlet crossings, by contrast, have no passenger rail lines.

The Columbia River Crossing isn’t just a bridge, or a five-mile stretch of freeway and interchanges, Seltzer said. It’s a piece of the regional transportation network that includes cars, transit, bicycles and pedestrians.

“It’s like if you’re building a house,” he said. “You could conceive of it as eight separate systems, but the systems complement each other.

“It’s always interesting to ask the question, ‘Are we being as smart at putting the pieces together as we should be?’ ” Seltzer said. “But as we’ve always shown in this region, there (are) benefits to thinking about things differently.”

“The question is, what else is there that hasn’t been attempted that we really should think about.”

Getting where?

2009-11-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "How To Get There"

Metro and its three counties are speeding closer to a decision on designation of urban reserves, land that will be targeted for urban growth boundary expansions through the year 2040.

Most of the focus has been on what, as in what farmland should be preserved from development, and how much, as in how much land is really needed for outward growth in the next half century or so.

But painfully absent from the discussions has been how to get there - not to the designation process, but to the land that ultimately is set aside as reserves. The decision will be made - supposedly, unanimously - by the Metro Council and the commissions of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.

Councilor Kathryn Harrington, Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Chairman Tom Brian and Commissioner Charlotte Lehan represent those boards, respectively, on the so-called Core 4, the group negotiating the ultimate reserves plan.

The Core 4 has the tools to take this into account. Metro's soon-to-be-adopted regional transportation plan clearly states where future high capacity transit investment will be.

But the Core 4's preliminary areas of agreement on reserve land don't necessarily mesh with the corridors likely to be developed for mass transit in the next 20 years.

In fact, of the 20,800 acres the Core 4 has preliminarily agreed to, more than 11,000 acres are nowhere near any sort of high-capacity transit: no freeways, no planned busways, no MAX lines.

Add in areas relatively close to freeways but nowhere near transit, and about three-quarters of the reserves are essentially designed for sprawl, not for "20-minute neighborhoods" and "low vehicle miles traveled."

The problem is that poor planning will only further the jobs-housing imbalance in the region, where westside workers are forced to live in houses they can afford east of the Willamette.

TriMet's system is not designed to get people across town quickly: A 25-mile trip from Hillsboro to Portland's Gateway District takes 80 minutes, at about 19 mph.

By comparison, San Francisco's BART can move people 50 miles from suburb to suburb in an hour.

But there is no money to create some sort of fast cross-town connection, such as an underground downtown bypass, to solve the problem. Plans for cross-town light rail from Clackamas to Beaverton are low on the priority list, equal to suggestions for some sort of mass transit system on the Tualatin Valley Highway and below a planned transit line along Powell Boulevard in Portland and Gresham.

We're not saying the preliminary choices for urban reserves are wrong. So far, the costs and benefits of growth have been spread fairly equally.

But the more urban reserves are trimmed from the Tualatin Valley, the less real estate Hillsboro and Cornelius will have for new homes - those cities will focus their growth on industrial sites. That means the homes will continue to go in Oregon City, Wilsonville and Damascus.

Metro and the Core 4 must realistically assess how new residents of Clackamas and Multnomah counties can get to their jobs in the Tualatin Valley.

And the Core 4 and cities must honestly ask themselves if they have the means, and political will, to ensure new residents and workers in massive urban reserves near Roy Rogers Road, south of Cornelius and south and east of Damascus can get to and from those areas.

If a freeway to Damascus, a freight bypass of Cornelius and a MAX line west of King City are unrealistic, then growth in those areas should get a harder look. Urban growth expansions to difficult-to-service areas are exactly the problems the Core 4 is trying to solve.

Bikes!

2009-11-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

From BikePortland.org, "Planning Commission hears (mostly) support for Bike Master Plan"

Trail advocates feel that the City’s strong focus on bicycle boulevards as a means to get more people on bikes, will not be as effective as a similar emphasis on large-scale, off-street path projects. Commissioner Smith said “This is a big issue for us” and he remarked how TriMet is taking just the opposite tact — by focusing on major MAX lines (off-street paths) over local service bus routes (bike boulevards). “What is the better gateway drug to cycling” he wondered, “Bike boulevards or off-street paths?”

Orange Line Stop

2009-11-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

From DJCoregon.com, "For new locomotive facility, site is a real squeeze"

...After ORHF agreed to swap sites with TriMet for a new site beneath the Martin Luther King Jr. viaduct, Kim Knox of Shiels Obletz Johnsen had to make sure everything would fit. The three-acre site is sandwiched between a planned east-side streetcar line and the future Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail line. The site also will need to accommodate the turntable, a 19,000-to-20,000-square-foot maintenance building and an interpretive facility.

“Our investigation so far has been to see if we can fit a maintenance structure on the site and if there’s room left over for the turntable and a public interpretive facility,” Knox said.

Hennebery Eddy Architects has completed pre-development design for the site, and in January will begin design of the maintenance facility. Principal Tim Eddy says that while certain elements at the site – such as light-rail and streetcar tracks – will benefit the facility in the future, planning around them involves a lot of moving parts.

“The site is a triangle, and getting all the pieces to fit is a challenge,” Eddy said. “It sits in the middle of lots of infrastructure. There are active rail lines on all sides. We’re trying to provide the ability to move the locomotives on the turntable with their turning radius constraints.”

Because financing for the $3.5 million facility has not been secured yet, McCormack says the plan is for a phased development. The new maintenance building is considered the most pressing need. The ORHF needs to have its engines and related equipment relocated by January 2012 so that Union Pacific can redevelop that site.

“This is not a good climate to ask for money, and I think that raising the money will be the biggest challenge,” McCormack said. “The most immediate need is a building to move the engines to. We don’t want them open to vandals and the elements.”

After the maintenance facility is constructed, the plan is to build an interpretive facility on the site. First, Eddy plans to design a visibility element for the maintenance building so that the public can check out the locomotives.

“We want the opportunity for people to know what’s going on,” Eddy said. “We’re working with ORHF on how the public can do that before the interpretive facility is constructed. This facility will be far more visible and accessible than the original.”

Construction on the project will begin in mid-2011.

--------------------

From Oregonlive.com, "Portland's locomotives will get new $3.5 million home"

....The Portland City Council last week lent a helping hand. The council agreed to allow the Parks and Recreation Bureau to lend the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation up to $1 million to secure a piece of property with the understanding that the loan will be paid back with interest. Money for the new roundhouse, estimated at $3.5 million, will be raised by private donations....

The foundation has been negotiating with the railroad for about four years on land near OMSI and was close to closing on the property when TriMet decided it needed the land for the planned eastside streetcar line. The transit agency and the foundation worked out a straight trade.

Public participation

2009-11-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

"Design and traffic worries aired at Tacoma Street MAX Station meeting"

Another round of talks about the Tacoma Street MAX Light Rail Station got underway on Tuesday evening, October 13th, at the new Ardenwald Elementary School cafeteria. Some fifty people and a dozen representatives from governmental agencies were present.

In the meeting, a procession of presenters pitched the proposed design for the station, and tried to soothe the worries of neighbors about the increase in traffic congestion caused by the size of the planned light rail facility, to be sited just south of S.E. Tacoma Street on the east side of McLoughlin Boulevard.

Claudia Steinberg, TriMet Community Affairs, introduced the staff members present at the meeting, and dutifully kept the meeting on task.

Harriet Cherry, Pivot Architecture’s design team manager, didn’t immediately address the fact that the parking garage is slated for 1,000 parking spots, or that the design she was showing was five stories in height, providing six levels of parking.

Instead, Cherry led a discussion regarding how the box-like structure might be oriented on the property. The suggested alternative was to build it on an angle, to improve sight lines between the light rail platform and S.E. McLoughlin Boulevard.

When questioned about the size and capacity of the structure, Cherry confirmed the specifications.

“At the SMILE meeting a few weeks ago, we saw designs, including shorter options,” a neighbor commented. “Now, you’re only showing the square, taller option; your group has chosen the tallest one, without regard to our input.”

“This is correct,” Cherry responded. “There was a mix of reactions to the designs we showed then. We had to move the platform a little closer to accommodate Johnson Creek. At this time, we’re showing the five-story design in this location. There are a lot of wishes and hopes, not all can be accommodated.”

Neighbors also questioned other aspects of the proposed design, including vehicle traffic patterns around the station, as well as bicycle access to the station from the Springwater Corridor Trail.

The second half of the meeting was led by Alan Snook, a vehicle traffic analysis with DKS Associates.

“Who’s here to beat up the traffic guy?” Snook asked jovially — and about a third of the hands in the room went up.

Making use of a 22-page PowerPoint, Snook detailed the “two-lane connector street”, Johnson Creek Boulevard, from west of S.E. McLoughlin to S.E. Harney Street.

Neighbors questioned Snook about both the premise of his study and the suggestions his group had developed.

After the meeting, we asked Snook to summarize his study and findings.

“We were asked to look at the potential impacts of locating a park-and-ride facility for the MAX light rail line at Tacoma Street,” Snook said. “We’re trying to determine what the impacts are, along the corridor and at the intersection. We’re also looking at how we can make those impacts, address those impacts, and address solutions to those impacts, to make the community more livable.”

We asked if the station would create more traffic on Johnson Creek Boulevard, and on Tacoma Street at the west side of the McLoughlin interchange.

“In the future, there’ll always be more traffic, whether there is a light rail project or not,” Snook responded. “Whether or not there’s more traffic depends on the solutions we’re looking at.

“We need to talk with the community more, because there are definite concerns about potential solutions that can be implemented. There’s not a clean answer for the question.”

A follow-up meeting was scheduled for October 26 at the same location, about the time that this print issue of THE BEE was going to press.

2009-11-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

From OregonLive.com"Tualatin Hills Park & Rec begins spending money from last year's $100 million bond"
...
After months of studies, a citizens' oversight committee and district administrators have settled on budgets and timelines for 60 projects, ranging from $77,300 for replanting Bauman Park to $3.7 million to connect portions of the Waterhouse Trail with neighborhoods along TriMet and MAX routes. Most will be completed over the next three to five years....

Riders

2009-11-12T13:23:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "TriMet ridership slumps, but new Green Line provides a boost"

Ridership on TriMet trains and buses continued to slide in October, as the agency blamed the recession and high unemployment for several months of lower demand for mass transit.

Riders took 8.8 million trips on TriMet buses, MAX light rail and WES commuter rail in October, down 4.8 percent from the same month in 2008.

Rush hour ridership had the sharpest decline in October, compared with a year ago. TriMet had an average 328,300 trips on weekdays, a decline of 3.7 percent. But rush hour trips averaged 104,800 a day, down 7.1 percent. Weekend ridership dropped less than 1 percent.

The one bright spot in the October ridership figures: MAX ridership grew 9.2 percent. But that growth was due entirely to the new MAX Green Line, which started service between Portland State University and Clackamas Town Center Sept. 12.

The MAX system had 121,000 average weekday trips, an increase of 8.7 percent from a year ago. The Green Line accounted for 17,800 of those trips, or about 15 percent of the total.

Weekend MAX ridership grew by 11 percent overall. The Green Line accounted for about 15 percent of weekend rides as well.

WES commuter rail, which runs only between Beaverton and Wilsonville during weekday rush hour, had an average 1,190 trips a day in October. It has had about 1,130 to 1,200 a day since in opened in February.

--------------------------

From blog.oregonlive.com, "Blame it on the bus -- TriMet ridership decreasing for many reasons"

The Oregonian reported today that TriMet's ridership numbers are sliding ("TriMet ridership level continues to drop," Nov. 12).

The only interpretation the paper supplied for why ridership has been dropping off were suppositions of TriMet's -- namely the state of the economy and the unemployment rate in the Portland Metro region. The paper failed to mention one key factor which I believe contributes to this decline: TriMet has slashed bus service in recent months and is continuing to do so. And on Nov. 10, TriMet announced that it is increasing headway on some 20 bus lines, further degrading service.

As an anecdote, my bus was eliminated altogether a couple of months back, and the only option left to me takes twice as long and requires a transfer. So I've stopped riding the bus altogether. Obviously there are larger forces at play, such as TriMet's unfortunate subsidy of Colorado Railcar Manufacturing and its ill-advised purchasing of fuel futures at the height of the market last year. But to simply report the numbers and allow TriMet to blame it all on the economy and joblessness denies that the agency is at all culpable for the dilemma in which it finds itself.

HENEFER MORGAN

Avoid being outside at night.

2009-11-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "Early sunsets bring safety tips for transit riders"

With the change out of daylight saving time, transit riders should be even more conscientious of safety on their way home, officials are saying.

That's part of the reason why TriMet is offering its Night Stop program. Since 1992, TriMet bus drivers will stop anywhere along a regular route after 8 p.m. or before 5 a.m., allowing riders to arrive closer to their destinations and keep out of the cold, wet night.

Riders should notify their bus driver a few blocks ahead of their stop specifically where they would like to be dropped off. Drivers will then pull over at a safe point near the requested stop.

Passengers who pick up the bus at night must still use regularly scheduled stops - and should take extra steps to be visible, said TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch.

"It's important to wave at the operator. Wave a cell phone with a light, or a small flashlight, anything to make sure you're visible and they can see you," she said. "The worst thing we have is pass-ups."

Light rail riders using TriMet's park-and-ride lots should also use caution. Hillsboro Police Department Lt. Mike Rouches said crime against transit users is rare, but there are some steps to take to stay safe near transit centers.

"People could get into trouble if they happen to show up at the wrong time, and somebody's out burglarizing a car," he said. "Because it's dark out, there's more opportunity to break into cars. So I'm getting off the train, I'm not paying attention and I walk into a guy breaking into a car. That could create a problem."

Rouches encouraged people in that situation to "back off, be a good witness and call 911."

Both Rouches and Fetsch said people should be careful about what they leave in their cars at park-and-ride lots.

"They left their laptop on the front seat, golf clubs in the back seat - it's amazing what people just leave in plain sight," Fetsch said. "Don't make yourself a victim."

Other types of crime victims on MAX statistically are likely to know their attacker, Rouches said.

"It's rare to have somebody just assault somebody coming home from work. It doesn't work like that. It's almost always a bigger deal," he said.

Still, he encouraged transit riders to get to know people familiar to them on their transit routes. "That way when you're walking from the train, at least you have a connection, and now you're infinitely safer because you've now got a group walking to a car," he said.

Fetsch said bus riders who feel uncomfortable should tell the driver.

"A supervisor can come out. Let the operator know you're uncomfortable, and if you can, stay on the vehicle until we can get some assistance there," she said.

Death by a thousand paper-cuts.

2009-11-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

From The Gresham Outlook, "TriMet cuts minutes from routes to save millions"

TriMet is shaving a few minutes off nearly two dozen bus routes to save about $3.5 million in its 2009-10 budget.

The changes, which go into effect Nov. 29, will cut two to four minutes from the frequency from the bus lines during off-peak hours. The changes should help TriMet close a gap in its $31 million in budget cuts.

The reductions will affect these bus routes:

• 4-Division/Fessenden

• 6-Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

• 8-Jackson Park/NE 15th

• 9-Powell/Broadway

• 12-Barbur/Sandy Blvd

• 14-Hawthorne

• 15-Belmont/NW 23rd

• 17-Holgate/NW 21st

• 19-Woodstock/Glisan

• 20-Burnside/Stark

• 33-McLoughlin

• 44-Capitol Hwy/Mocks Crest

• 54-Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy/56-Scholls Ferry Road

• 57-TV Hwy/Forest Grove

• 70-12th Ave

• 71-60th/122nd Ave

• 75-Lombard/39th

• 77-Broadway/Halsey

In addition, the 35-Macadam/Greeley route will be adjusted by up to five minutes. Weekday and Saturday buses will leave Oregon City Transit Center up to five minutes earlier.

Schedules for buses traveling to Oregon City will be adjusted up to five minutes earlier in the South Waterfront area. Sunday service will not change.

TriMet has already implemented hiring and salary freezes and executive furloughs, cut 9 percent across the board and implemented service cuts to offset the gap.

Some stuff on WES

2009-11-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

From DJCoregon.com, "TriMet adds backup train to boost commuter-rail reliability"

Delays caused by out-of-service trains aren’t necessarily the biggest reason more people don’t ride TriMet’s Westside Express Service, spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said. They’re just one the transit agency has the power to change.

TriMet is in the process of buying two railcars – $75,000 apiece – from the Alaska Railroad. The cars, which will run as a single train, would let TriMet take another train out of service without disrupting its schedule.

That will add reliability, but won’t change the economy, which Fetsch said is the biggest drag on ridership. WES, which runs only during weekday rush hours, targets a shrinking population: people with stable jobs.

“It’s a commuter rail system, and so it’s targeted to commuters and workers,” Fetsch said. “And with double-digit unemployment, the jobs piece is affecting it more than anything else.”

WES probably won’t reach its end-of-first-year goal of 2,400 average daily boardings by February 2010, Fetsch said. Fewer than half that number of people used WES, according to TriMet’s most recent data.

“That projection was made when we were not in such a deep recession,” Fetsch said. “It will take longer to get to that (2,400) number.”

The metro area’s employment situation is as bad as the numbers suggest, said Jill Cuyler, state workforce analyst for Washington County, which contains most of the WES route. Seasonally adjusted unemployment nearly doubled in the year that ended September 2009, from 5.4 percent to 10.1 percent. Clackamas County, which includes Wilsonville, fared no better.

“The trend, especially in Washington County, has been rapid employment declines,” Cuyler said.

TriMet will use the new railcars starting next summer to back up its existing fleet, not as part of the regular three-train rotation, Fetsch said. The two cars were built in 1953 by the Budd Co. and ran on a remote stretch between Talkeetna and Hurricane, Alaska, until March.

Despite their age, TriMet expects the railcars to have a long service life, Fetsch said. “For now, they’re a permanent spare,” she said. “It’s a long-term solution.”

The railcars – older versions of the type of rail diesel car, or RDC, currently used on WES – could feasibly last for decades, said Jim Howell, a planner with the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates. Howell and a partner once owned two similar RDCs.

The Budd Co. railcars are “very well built,” Howell said. “They can last forever as long as they keep upgrading them.”

They’ll also bring reliability to a line disrupted 15 times by mechanical problems since opening in February, he said. “It’s definitely an improvement, because then they don’t have to rely on bus service.”

When TriMet takes an existing WES train out of service, shuttle buses serve the stations, causing delays. Having a backup ready will increase reliability, Fetsch said, but that won’t guarantee ridership will as well. As a suburb-to-suburb commuter line, WES will see its use grow as the local economies grow, she said.

“People would like more service, longer service other than limited to commute hours. Others say to run it on weekends.

“But at this point, it’s targeted to commuters.”

Bus attack

2009-11-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

From KPTV.com, "Teen Suspected Of Attacking Man On TriMet Bus"

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A teenager is suspected of punching a 35-year-old man in the nose on a TriMet bus Sunday night, police said.

The attack occurred near Northeast 42nd Avenue and Sandy Boulevard at about 8:15 p.m.

Officers said as many as five juveniles, ages 13 to 17, were riding the bus with the victim during the assault and at least one of the juveniles was heavily intoxicated.

The intoxicated teenager asked the victim to use his cell phone and, after the man agreed, police said he punched the man in the face and broke his nose.

Police said the victim suffered from heavy facial bleeding.

Some Tri-Met riders said the area where the attack occurred is becoming unsafe.

"I think is has gotten a little bit worse. It wasn't that bad when we first got here, which was about four years ago, but it has gotten progressively worse," said Stephanie West, a Tri-Met rider.

Officers said they questioned the teens and believe only one of them was involved in the attack.

So far, police said no one has been charged in the case.

Uncomfortable.

2009-11-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

From Blog.Oregonlive.com, "Has TriMet declared war on legs? Some riders fear so"

One reason I like mail from readers – well, the ones not poking fun at my bicycle attire from last week – is that it challenges my idea of “important” commuting issues.

For every e-mail or phone call that I’ve received about bridge tolls or possible Oregon 217 exit closures, there have been at least five complaining about TriMet’s comfort standards.

Take this one from Martha Jones of Southeast Portland, asking me to investigate the seating in TriMet’s new $150,000-a-pop glass shelters in downtown Portland:

“Have you noticed all the people sitting with their legs dangling in the air while sitting on the new metal seats attached to the shelters?
For some mysterious reason, they’re about 3 to 4 inches higher than average. Very uncomfortable, especially for elderly people who need the seats the most. (The elderly generally are shorter than average and have poor circulation). Not being able to rest your feet on the ground while sitting is bad for circulation.”

If by “investigate,” she meant hitting the streets with my trusty, slightly rusty Dr. Commuter measuring tape, that’s what I did.

Yep. The distance between the bottom of the stainless steel seats in TriMet’s fancy new shelters is 17 inches, or 4 ½ inches higher than the old bronze ones.

TriMet spokeswoman Bekki Witt could sympathize.

“I had a leg-dangle situation myself,” she said.

Apparently, the contractor was directed to provide a maximum height of 21 inches. TriMet concedes that may have been a bit much.

“We’re in the process of going through the actual, installed heights of all the shelters’ seating,” Witt said, “and we’ll likely adjust some seats.”

From David Rivera of Beaverton:

“Is it me, or are the seats on the new MAX trains more cramped than the other trains? Even during rush hour, people are reluctant to scoot over to the window seats because the leg room is awful. It creates more crowding.“

Again, suffering puzzled looks from commuters, I wielded the measuring tape.

He’s not imagining things.

The leg room on the sleek $3.75 million Type 4 trains, in most cases, leaves little knee-cap room. In fact, some seats partially butt up against door frames, giving one leg 8 inches to move and the other a tortuous 4 inches.

Four inches?

Apparently, TriMet is hoping for a boost in hobbit ridership.

By comparison, on the older Type 2 and 3 MAX trains, 10 ½ inches is as cramped as things get between seats – luxury by comparison.

On the new trains, the space between seats facing each other is 17 ½ inches – or, all things being equal, 8 ¾ inches for each rider. On the older ones it’s 40 inches.

TriMet doesn’t deny there’s less leg room, but say the “spacious” Type 4 interior is designed to allow more overall seating and standing room. Each two-car train is supposed to hold 12 more passengers. “It’s especially valuable during peak hours,” Witt said.

Actually, I rode one of the 22 Type 4 trains during an evening rush hour last week. It was packed. Still, two of the seats wedged into the tiny spaces near the doors remained empty.

But Jessica Erickson of Gresham, twisted and leaning heavily on her right hip as she read the new Dan Brown novel, sat in one.

“No,” she said, “it’s not the best spot to get. But I just needed to try to sit.”

Yes, she was trying.

“Actually,” she said, pointing to a 4-inch gap between the bottom of the nearby door and the floor plate, “that bugs me more. I thought these were supposed to brand new trains that save energy.”

All of the doors had the same drafty gap, through which the rain and cool evening air bled into the train.

TriMet says it’s in the process of installing bendable neoprene seals to cover them on all Type 4 trains before the full force of winter hits.

Well, at least the patches on the leaks in those new glass shelter ceilings seem to be holding.

Derailed

2009-11-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

From Oregonlive.com, "MAX train moved off downtown tracks, service slowly comes back"

A broken down MAX train was moved off the tracks this evening in downtown Portland and service is being restored.

TriMet reports that riders face delays as the Yellow and Green lines return to service. A mechanical problem on a MAX train at Southwest Fifth Avenue and Clay Street disrupted service on those lines.

Still available until the delays end: regular bus service and Red or Blue line trains between downtown and the Rose Quarter.

From KGW.com, "MAX commute gummed up by malfunctioning train"

PORTLAND, Ore. -- MAX commuters should expect delays Monday afternoon after a mechanical problem disrupted downtown service.

A train that went off-line near the Clay Street and SW 5th Ave. platform was disrupting service, according to a TriMet spokesperson. Buses were called upon to shuttle Yellow and Green line commuters from Pioneer Square and the Rose Quarter.

Alternate TriMet bus routes and MAX lines also were available. Check the TriMet website for more information.

Graffiti?

2009-11-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

From KGW.com, "Vandals may have caused damage to Max line"

Trimet Transit Police were asked to investigate after crews making repairs to a damaged MAX line at the Skidmore Fountain Station reported that the problem may have been human caused.

MAX service was disrupted for several hours Saturday morning after the pantograph arm that reaches from a train to the overhead power wire became tangled with a sagging feeder wire.

According to Trimet officials, the feeder wire is usually housed in conduit, attached to the ground and extends several feet above the overhead catenary system beneath the Burnside Bridge.

Riders were shuttled by bus between the Rose Quarter and Pioneer Square during the service outage.

Crews were able to repair the line and full service was restored by 11 a.m.

Horns in SW

2009-11-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

From Tigardtimes.com, "P&W Railroad protests commuter rail horn-noise reduction plan"

Portland and Western Railroad, the owner of the freight railroad tracks that WES commuter trains operate on, this week asked the Federal Railroad Administration to block a request by TriMet to reduce the volume of horn warning blasts that WES trains are required to use as a safety measure at rail line crossings.

TriMet requested the waiver from the railway administration in June after WES safety horn noise at crossings along the 14.7-mile commuter rail route prompted a rash of complaints from local residents. WES operates during weekday morning and afternoon rush hours with service linking Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville. The line features 38 crossing, some of which are alongside residential areas where complaints have been frequent.

In addition to seeking a five-year waiver to reduce the volume of the horns from 80 to 60 decibels, TriMet also wants a permanent waiver from having to use WES warning horns at all in the Lombard Avenue area of downtown Beaverton.

Ron Russ, general manager of Portland and Western in Oregon, Monday said that if approved, TriMet’s plan to reduce horn noise would result in reduced safety at commuter rail crossings.

“We are very sensitive to public safety,” Russ said. “This will create very serious public safety concerns.”

Russ said the train horn decibel levels should remain in place to assure that motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians are aware of approaching trains. He said motorists are often distracted by noise within their cars from radios or stereo music. This noise can exceed 110 decibels, he said.

Meanwhile, Russ said the federal railroad administration already requires that freight train locomotives use horns that blast at 96 decibels. Russ said TriMet’s waiver request for WES trains, which are driven by Portland Western engineers, would place railroad engineers in an “untenable position” having different noise standards for different trains that they may operate.

Instead of seeking a waiver to reduce the horn noise from WES commuter train cars, Russ said TriMet should work with local cities to employ measures to establish “quiet zones” at crossings that maintain high levels of safety. He said these measures are being explored in Tualatin by TriMet and the city and include the use of directional horns that are mounted on the ground, not on railcars. As such, he said the horns may not be as disruptive to the public. Russ said he felt TriMet was trying to save money by seeking the waiver and not institute “quiet zones.”

“It’s all about how much you value public safety,” Russ said.

TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen disagreed and on Wednesday said he was disappointed by Portland and Western’s appeal.

“TriMet would not have advocated a reduction in train horn noise unless we were satisfied the WES trains’ operations would be safe,” Hansen said. “The thrust of the P&W argument is that safety issues trump all other considerations. In TriMet’s experience, safety and customer/community concerns are not mutually exclusive and are reconciled daily as our trains navigate 38 gated crossings in a wide mix of traffic conditions.”

Hansen said TriMet would continue to pursue the horn waivers despite Portland and Western’s objections

Bike Ride

2009-11-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

From blog.oregonlive.com, "Twilight bike ride will celebrate reopening of new I-205 trail"

Twilight (the natural phenomenon, not the movie) is a beautiful thing. Day and night blend. The first stars and the last rays of sun meet. A great time for a bike ride.

Another beautiful thing: The Oregon Department of Transportation and TriMet are finally ready to reopen the Interstate 205 multi-use path between the Springwater Corridor and Clackamas Town Center. The reopened path features new overhead lighting funded through federal stimulus funds.

To celebrate, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, ODOT and TriMet host a twilight bike Saturday at 4 p.m.

The event will begin with brief comments from elected officials and community leaders at the Lents Town Center/SE Foster Rd MAX Station.

Mechanics from the nearby Bike Gallery on Division Street will offer basic maintenance and tire pumping, and a roving mechanic will accompany the riders to Clackamas Town Center.

Bicyclists are encouraged to dress warmly.

The official schedule of events:

4 p.m. Gather at Lents Town Center/SE Foster Rd MAX Station
(9451 SE Foster Road)
4:15 Comments from elected officials and community leaders:
• Clackamas County Board of Commissioners Chair Lynn Peterson
• Metro Councilor Robert Liberty
• ODOT Region 1 Manager Jason Tell
• TriMet representative Bekki Witt
• BTA Executive Director Scott Bricker
• East Portland resident Jim Chasse
4:45 Ride begins
4:50 Lights go on - ring bike bells!
5:30 Arrive at Clackamas Town Center

The reopened segment of the path will again provide opportunities for biking, and walking, as well as new options for transit connections, ODOT says. The new lighting, which represents the only ODOT bicycle project to receive federal stimulus funding in the Portland area, will increase visibility, access and safety through several neighborhoods.

ODOT and TriMet together contributed $2.19 million in stimulus funds to install the lighting between Southeast Foster Road and Sunnyside Road. An extension of lighting south to Gladstone is still awaiting federal approval.

Biking or riding MAX to the event is encouraged. The MAX Green Line runs from Clackamas Town Center Transit Center to Portland City Center every 30 minutes on Saturday evenings. Space for bikes may be limited. Check trimet.org for bus and train schedules.

Fair fare inspection?

2009-10-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

From Portland Tribune, "Keepin’ it fare"

TriMet fare inspector Dick Sirianni was finishing a recent run through a MAX car when he confronted a passenger who didn’t have a ticket or a pass. The passenger did, however, have an excuse.

“He said, ‘My snake ate it,’ ” Sirianni recalls.

The passenger pointed to a box on the seat beside him. Then he removed the lid and showed Sirianni a living, breathing snake.

“I said, ‘That’s fine, close the lid. You can ride,’ ” Sirianni says.

And yet, Sirianni really had no proof that the snake had, in fact, eaten the man’s ticket.

“I don’t care,” Sirianni says. “If he tells me the snake ate it and he can show me the snake, he can ride.”

A measure of discretion and a whole lot of uncertainty confront the 30 or so TriMet employees who are fare inspecting on any given day. The inspectors occasionally ride buses, but most of their business is done on MAX, for the simple reason that buses aren’t run on the honor system – bus drivers are there to take fares from passengers.

But the honor system became a little less honorable this spring, when TriMet doubled the number of inspectors and supervisors checking for fares. In addition, during the past year and a half, police officers have increased their MAX rides, too, often accompanying the inspectors.

Surprisingly, adding more fare inspectors hasn’t resulted in significantly more citations and exclusions. Comparing April (the month before the inspections increased) to July, the number of citations has gone up only slightly, and the number of exclusions has actually decreased. Warnings have increased.

The trend during the past four years is equally surprising – until you consider historical events. From 2005 to 2008, warnings dropped from 18,461 to 14,572. Citations also decreased, from 8,945 to 5,278. Exclusions, however, dramatically rose, from 458 to 3,266.

The big increase in citations and exclusions began occurring at the end of 2007 and through 2008, precisely when police presence was stepped up after the November 2007 baseball-bat beating of a passenger at a MAX stop in Gresham.

Shelly Lomax, TriMet’s director of operations support, says riders may be adjusting to the new reality, which likely explains why they haven’t been issued more citations and exclusions since the inspection force was increased in May.

“The more we’re out there, the more people expect us to be out there,” Lomax says. “We’ve done a pretty good job getting the word out that people have to be expected to pay.”

Southeast Portland resident Ted Fritzler offers a slight variation on this explanation. Fritzler, a frequent MAX rider, estimates about half the passengers who ride trains actually have paid for fares, based on what he knows about his friends and what he sees when he rides.

Fritzler says regular riders know which lines are likely to include inspectors on board, and when. He frequently sees riders jump off trains when they see inspectors start to board.

Verbal judo

During the past 18 months, 58 police officers from a variety of Portland-area departments have been assigned to TriMet’s transit police division. They spend the majority of their time on the trains.

“Fare inspection is the gateway to everything else,” says inspector Gary Radford. When passengers can’t produce proof they paid for their ride, inspectors run a quick background check to see if they have previous citations, or have even been excluded from riding TriMet due to previous run-ins. Inevitably, a handful of those checks show exclusions. If the police are riding along, they take the passengers into custody.

But usually, inspectors hear a variety of excuses from riders without fares, and it’s up to them to decide who gets a $115 citation, who walks away with only a written warning and who gets an exclusion. Passenger attitude has a lot to do with who gets which penalty, inspectors say.

“The reality is to try and change people’s behavior,” Radford says. “I say, ‘Why didn’t you pay?’ If they say, ‘I didn’t have the time,’ that’s not a good excuse. I’ll write them up in a heartbeat.”

A too-obvious excuse may not work, but sometimes, passengers can get too clever. Radford recalls a man in his 20s getting off the train at the Northeast 82nd Avenue stop. When asked for his ticket, the passenger said, “Oh, I just gave it to that elderly woman on the train,” according to Radford.

Radford says the man then went over to the woman he had pointed out and started haranguing her, asking what she had done with the ticket he had given her. But the woman was having none of it.

“She said, ‘Who are you?’ ” Radford relates, and produced her own monthly pass. That was just before Radford took the man off the train and gave him a citation.

“If you give me an excuse that’s plausible, I’ll let you go,” Radford says.

Inspector Sandy Raney says every time she hears, “I just threw my ticket into the garbage,” she makes the passenger take her to the garbage can and retrieve it – if they’re on the platform. If the conversation takes place on the train, Raney points out that MAX trains don’t have trash bins. Then she asks the passenger if they would rather have a citation for theft of services, the technical classification for riding without a fare, or a citation for littering.

Not infrequently, Raney says, mothers with young children on board will say they gave their tickets to the children to hold. What usually follows, Raney says, is the mother turning around and blaming the children for losing the tickets.

Another common excuse, according to Raney, is: “They said at the jail I could get on for free.” And, “I’m new in town” is even more frequent.

Radford recalls a rider who, when asked for his fare, replied with a question of his own.

“The guy said, ‘Have you ever started chewing on something and all of a sudden it was gone?’ He pulls out this wad of chewed up paper and says, ‘This is it.’ I said, “You can pull it apart, I’m not touching it.’ I let him go,” Radford says.

Sometimes, letting passengers go is not an option. Radford once attacked by a woman passenger who slashed his jaw with a straight razor she had hidden up her arm.

“She was probably going to get a ticket,” Radford says. “Instead she’s got two years in prison.”

Radford would like TriMet to provide more self-defense training and maybe even Kevlar vests for inspectors, many of whom have been attacked, he says, in one form or another.

Lomax says that only a handful of attacks occur against inspectors each year, and that TriMet encourages its inspectors to use “verbal judo” to deflect the problem passengers.

Sirianni recalls confronting a woman bus passenger without proper fare who refused to disembark and began physically resisting attempts to remove her. Per policy, he ordered everyone off the bus and took it out of service.

But that can make the other passengers angry, according to inspector Tim Moore. Sometimes, angry enough to take action against the fare evaders themselves.

“We’ve actually had other passengers pick people up and throw them off the bus,” Moore says.

Traditional turnstiles?

On a recent Thursday morning, the four-person inspection crew is riding back and forth, with the Gateway Transit Center as their base. On board, they find Dave Lemke, who says he just arrived in Portland a week ago from Arizona. Lemke doesn’t have a ticket.

“I figured I was just going a couple of stops and it didn’t matter,” Lemke says.

The inspectors let Lemke off with a written warning, which gets recorded in case Lemke is caught again. But the passenger still doesn’t think the TriMet honor system with occasional fare inspectors is fair. He says he prefers a traditional train system with locked station turnstiles that require riders to pay before they can board.

“The reason they want it like this is they make money,” Lemke says.

But the money isn’t that good. In the 2008-09 fiscal year, which ended June 30, TriMet took in $179,000 in fines and court fees from rider citations, after splitting the money with state and county agencies.

Moore says he’s heard just about every excuse imaginable, but what really puzzles him is that some riders who have been issued exclusions continue to ride MAX – and they still don’t even pay their fares.

Moore says he recently asked for fares from a man in his 20s and a woman who turned out to be the man’s mother. Neither of them had a fare. When Moore called in the IDs, he discovered that the mother had a restraining order against her son.

Apparently, Moore says, they had resolved their conflict, but had forgotten to lift the restraining order. Both were taken to jail, which wouldn’t have happened if they’d just bought tickets.

Winterizing TriMet and Portland

2009-10-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

From KGW.com, "Portland gets plows & de-icers ready for winter"

.... The City is responsible for about 3,500 miles of streets and Mayor Sam Adams said 50 trucks were earmarked for clearing snow, if necessary. He added that city crews will be ready to go at a moment’s notice and de-icers will also be used on local streets.

The City and TriMet have worked together to take lessons from last year’s arctic blast and make sure this year goes even smoother.

“We went over all the TriMet routes, we double-checked, prioritized and we were coordinated in the same way,” Mayor Adams said. “We also made sure that we on an operational level, we increased our communications.”

The mayor also wanted to send out a message to the public – that the best thing residents can do to prepare for the winter is to make sure they have a snow shovel. He added that anyone who lives on a hill should make sure they have tire chains.

2009-10-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

From KXL.com, "Tri-Met unhappy with ads on buses"

Tri-Met is running ads from a controversial group and it doesn't even want to.

The ads are from YourGroceryWorkers.com; the group advocates for workers who have been fired from Fred Meyer. This type of advertising goes against Tri-Met's policy.

"Our intent is to allow advertising that is commercial in nature and we'd describe that as promotion of goods or services."

Drew Blevin said that policy is under legal review, so until it's resolved, Tri-Met has to allow the advertisements.

Melinda Merrill with Fred Meyer is upset the website bought these ads, but she doesn't know if they'll take any recourse. "I'm not sure what our response will be."

2009-10-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

From Oregonlive.com, "TriMet: Welcome aboard, cover your cough"

A note from the office of Dr. TriMet: "It’s flu season: Cover your coughs and sneezes. Let’s fight the flu, together."

To fight the flu in all of its various strains, TriMet said today that it is pushing flu prevention information with signs inside buses and trains this winter. (See a picture of the "channel card" above). It has also launched a special web site.

"Channel card installation on TriMet’s 654 buses and 127 MAX vehicles will be completed in the coming week," spokeswoman Bekki Witt said.

Witt said bus and MAX operators have also been given flu prevention information and are encouraged to get a seasonal flu shot.

Witt said the transit agency decided to place the placards in vehicles because of the emergence of the H1N1 virus and expectations of a harsher-than-usual flu season. "We have them going at least through March," Witt said. "We consider it a public space, much like a grocery store or library."

TriMet's list of "preventative measures" looks a lot like the one in most offices:

• Get a flu shot.
• Don't spread the flu! Stay home if you're sick.
• When coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth and nose with either a tissue or your upper sleeve—not your hands. Dispose of tissues in the trash.
• Wash your hands frequently and/or use hand sanitizing gels or wipes.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.

If only TriMet would provide a hand-sanitizer station at the front of each bus. Those bus seats and hand rails have got to be a one-way ticket to germville.

WES parts to harvest from trains made in 1953.

2009-10-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

From Portland Tribune, "TriMet adds ‘new’ rail cars to backup WES"

When mechanical problems knocked out TriMet’s WES commuter rail service Wednesday morning, the transit agency had no place to turn for a replacement train. That all changes at the end of this year.

TriMet has purchased two rail diesel cars from the Alaska Railroad that will be in service by summer 2010 on the westside commuter line as replacement cars when something goes wrong with the new Colorado Railcar trains.

TriMet spent $150,000 for the two cars that were built in 1953 by the Budd Co. of Troy, Mich. Budd Co. built stainless steel streamlined passenger railroad cars for nearly 40 years beginning in the 1930s.

Transit agency spokeswoman Bekki Witt said the rail cars will be delivered by the end of this year and should be ready for WES service next summer. The Alaska Railroad cars were used for passenger service until March, she said.

The new Colorado Railcar trains purchased last year by TriMet were modeled after the 1953 Budd Co. cars, Witt said.

For the third time in about a month, morning WES commuters had to take shuttle buses Wednesday between Wilsonville and Beaverton because of an electrical component failure on one of the rail cars. The component was replaced but the programming wasn’t complete in time for Wednesday morning’s commute.

Four of the 16 morning WES trips were on shuttle buses. The problems were corrected in time for Wednesday afternoon’s commute.

Mechanical troubles seem more glaring on WES because right now TriMet doesn’t have backup rail cars, Witt said. The WES system has bugs just like buses and light-rail trains, she said, but equipment problems have a larger impact on the commuter rail line.

“It is just more noticeable with WES because we do not have spare vehicles and must supplement train service with shuttle buses when a WES vehicle is out for repair,” Witt said.

The 14.7-mile $166 million westside commuter system opened in February as one of the nation’s first suburb-to-suburb rail lines.

Community Input on Bridge to TriMet

2009-10-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

From DJC Oregon, "Portland cycling community weighs in on new bridge

The level of involvement of Portland bikers in the design of the new Willamette River Bridge impressed the architect....
....
But besides providing a route for the future MAX orange line, the newest bridge to span the Willamette in 35 years will give Southeast cyclists and pedestrians a more direct route to destinations such as Portland State University and Oregon Health and Science University.
....
“There are different widths needed for people biking side by side, and people walking side by side,” said Poyourow. “We asked TriMet to make those paths as wide as possible. Fourteen feet was the minimum we requested, and that’s what they are doing on each side of the bridge.”
....
On the east-side bridge connection, TriMet hopes to connect the bridge into the Springwater Corridor, a multi-use trail that winds from Powell Boulevard up into Gresham and Boring.
....
MacDonald will be in Portland on Wednesday to present different configurations for how the bike paths will link into trails on either side of the river. Another meeting of the Willamette River Bridge’s Advisory Committee will be held on Nov. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. at David Evans and Associates, 2100 S.W. River Parkway, in Portland.

Can afford a pistol, not a car.

2009-10-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

From KPTV.com "Shooting Injures Teen In Happy Valley"

A shooting near Clackamas Town Center injured one teenager and triggered a manhunt around the popular mall Sunday night.

....

A K-9 was used in the search for the shooter, who is believed to have run north from the intersection before cutting behind several business complexes toward 82nd Avenue.

Deputies said there were unconfirmed reports that he may have boarded a bus in the area of 82nd Avenue and Causey Street, which led police to stop a TriMet bus. The stop did not result in any arrests.

Racism?

2009-10-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

From KGW.com, "Woman alleges racial profiling on MAX train"

A Gresham woman said she watched as federal officers engaged in racial profiling on a MAX train and now the Department of Homeland Security is investigating.

Maria Lopez, a 21-year-old Puerto Rican woman, said on Tuesday night, the agents boarded a train she was riding on, and focused on Hispanics. She said one agent walked up to an elderly Latina woman and asked for her ID. When she didn’t produce it, the agent escorted her off the train.

“I think it’s crap. We are hard working people, we come from a good place, we aren't doing anything wrong," Lopez told KGW.

TriMet officials said they have a strong relationship with the Transportation Safety Administration and the federal agency denied any role in the alleged incident.

A spokesperson said the officer asked the woman for her MAX fare and it is also their job is to look for anything suspicious.

"Free Rail Zone"

2009-10-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

From Blog.Oregonlive.com, "Prepare to ride 'Free Rail Zone'"

Come January, Fareless Square will become the "Free Rail Zone."

That was quick.

TriMet announced the name change this morning, just a couple weeks after it asked riders to help them come up with a new moniker.

Of course, it appears TriMet already had three finalists in mind before it went to the public for ideas.

The TriMet survey asked: “If it were up to you to name it, what would you call the area where you can ride MAX and streetcars for free? (Four words or less, please).”

Of course, after you entered your suggestion and hit the “Next” button, TriMet asked what you thought of three possible names: Fareless Zone, Free Rail Zone and Fareless Rail Zone.

Spokeswoman Bekki Witt said TriMet received 300 or so suggestions. So, did they mean nothing in the final analysis?

"We thought we might get something we hadn't thought of," Witt said.

In the end, Free Rail Zone came out the winner.

On Jan. 3, 2010, Fareless Square will become a free zone for MAX and Portland Streetcar only. Bus riders will have to pay fare from downtown to the Lloyd Center.

About 56 percent of respondents liked Free Rail Zone, while 33 percent liked Fareless Rail Zone and 11 percent preferred Fareless Zone, Witt said.

"The goal with the new name is to clearly describe what service is free in downtown Portland and the Lloyd District," Witt said.

TriMet will add new Free Rail Zone emblems on customer information displays at rail stations within the zone boundary.

Still, there was some good suggestions from readers. A couple of our favorites: "Rose City Line" and "Stephen Colbert Square."

----------------------

From KPTV.com, "Fareless Square Gets New Name"

PORTLAND, Ore. -- TriMet decided Monday on a new name for Fareless Square.

Starting Jan. 3, 2010, the zone where passengers can ride the MAX and Portland Streetcar for free will be known as Free Rail Zone.

Currently, bus, MAX and Portland Streetcar rides are free in Fareless Square, which encompasses the downtown area and some MAX stops on the east side of the Willamette River.

After the change, bus rides will no longer be free; however, passengers can still use the MAX and streetcar in the 1.35 square-mile zone.

TriMet conducted an online survey in early October to seek feedback on the new name. About 56 percent of people voted for Free Rail Zone, 33 percent voted for Fareless Rail Zone and 11 percent preferred Fareless Zone.

TriMet spokeswoman Becki Witt said the goal of the new name is to clearly describe what service is free in downtown and the Lloyd District.

This winter, TriMet will add new free rail zone emblems on customer information displays at rail stations.

----------------------

From Beaverton Valley Times, "TriMet turns Fareless Square into ‘Free Rail Zone’"

TriMet’s Fareless Square, a three-decade program providing free bus and train rides in downtown Portland that comes to an end in January, is now the Free Rail Zone.

Beginning Jan. 3, only MAX light-rail rides in downtown will be free. Bus riders will have to pay fare even downtown.

TriMet selected the new name through a public poll. About 56 percent of those who answered the poll favored “Free Rail Zone” over “Fareless Rail Zone” (favored by 33 percent) and “Fareless Zone” (11 percent liked that one).

TriMet will add new Free Rail Zone emblems on customer information displays at rail stations within the zone that covers most of downtown and parts of the Lloyd District. (Click here to see a Fareless Square map.)

Fareless Square was created 34 years ago to help address air quality issues downtown as well as reducing car trips in the area. At that time, the transit system consisted only of buses, but has since expanded to four MAX lines and the Portland Streetcar.

With the opening of the new Green Line to Clackamas Town Center, most of the MAX trains run north and south, along the same route as the former bus mall. TriMet estimates that about 95 percent of the trips taken in Fareless Square could be on MAX trains instead of buses.

As part of the change, TriMet created a new annual pass for senior citizens and people with disabilities for travel on buses in the new Free Rail Zone.

--------------------------

From Portland Business Journal, "Fareless Square renamed"

TriMet’s Fareless Square will be renamed the Free Rail Zone in January.

In August, Tri-Met’s board voted 6-1 to stop free bus rides within Fareless Square, which stretches essentially from Pioneer Courthouse Square east to the Willamette River. The change takes effect Jan. 3.

Fareless Square has existed for 34 years. The move was designed to address air quality issues, reduce car trips downtown and increase transit use.

TriMet says its new Green Line train service running along downtown’s Fifth and Sixth avenues, which is free for downtown riders, makes up for the lost bus service.

The agency that oversees Portland’s transportation system estimates that 95 percent of all fareless bus trips can be instead taken on the new MAX trains or on the city’s streetcar system.

Starting Jan. 3, Free Rail Zone will become a free zone only for MAX and Portland Streetcar.

TriMet conducted an online survey in early October, seeking feedback on new names. About 56 percent of respondents liked Free Rail Zone, while 33 percent liked Fareless Rail Zone and 11 percent preferred Fareless Zone.

This winter, TriMet will add new Free Rail Zone emblems on customer information displays at rail stations within the zone boundary.

Streetcar Expansion

2009-10-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

From Portland Bizjournal, "Feds sign off on east-side streetcar funds"

The Federal Transit Administration has delivered on a promised $75 million that helps extend Portland’s streetcar system to the city’s east side.

The construction grant agreement, announced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, and FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, will finalize the Portland Streetcar expansion. The route will run across the Broadway Bridge and along Martin Luther King Boulevard and Grand Avenue, stopping at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

It will eventually loop back to the west side across a new light-rail and transit bridge that connects the museum with the South Waterfront area.

The funds come through the Small Starts program, a Blumenauer 2003 initiative that provides $800 million in federal funds for smaller-scale and less-expensive transit projects.

The project will create some 1,300 high-wage construction and manufacturing jobs in Oregon. Blumenauer believes it will also attract 2.4 million square feet of new development to the project area and reduce regional vehicle miles traveled by 28 million miles.

The new loop will serve 28 new streetcar stops. The full project will cost $128.27 million. The balance of the funds come from the Portland Development Commission, state and regional money and Portland system development charges.

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From OregonLive.com, by Dylan Rivera "U.S. inks deal for millions for Portland Streetcar, pledges more nationwide"

Peter Rogoff, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, today signed a contract dedicating $75 million in federal money for the Portland Streetcar eastside loop extension and promised similar federal efforts across the nation.

The contract guarantees the money Portland-area agencies have been anticipating for the project, which started construction during the summer. As The Oregonian has reported, the money was delayed for years by the Bush administration, which funded bus rapid transit projects but blocked streetcars.

On a conference call with reporters this morning, Rogoff said the project is a model for "livable communities" programs that President Barack Obama believes will curb congestion, reduce dependence on foreign oil and pair mixed-use development with mass-transit projects.

"This is just another case where the state of Oregon is leading the way for the country," Rogoff said. "The Oregon delegation is leading the way for the Congress in stepping forward both with the vision but also with public investments from the taxpayers of Oregon as a partner with the federal government in investing in these kinds of projects."

More than 80 cities have plans to build streetcar lines – and some have already started their own projects without federal help. Rogoff would not say which city would be next to receive federal money. But Rogoff did say he has met with more than a dozen mayors who are eager to fund streetcar projects, "including in Boise, in Idaho – not a state that has heretofore been a leader in transit investment."

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Portland wrote a bill that created the Small Starts program, intended to provide federal money for streetcar lines.

Blumenauer praised the eastside loop project, which will extend from the Pearl District, across the Broadway Bridge to the Lloyd Center Mall, and south along Grand Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

"It's an important down payment on our future in Portland, creating over 1,300 high wage jobs, spurring development and helping jump start the economy for the entire state," Blumenauer said.

United Streetcar, a unit of Clackamas-based Oregon Iron Works, Inc., has a contract to build the streetcars needed for the new line.

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Springfield Democrat, wrote legislation that made it nearly impossible for anyone but United Streetcar to bid on the work.

DeFazio and the Obama administration see domestic production of streetcars as a way to shore up the nation's heavy manufacturing employment while creating more walkable, mixed use neighborhoods.

Both DeFazio and the administration want a new six-year transportation bill to encourage streetcar funding, to eliminate the roadblocks Bush officials put in the way.

"We're going to make absolutely clear that we are determined to extend options for streetcars and other transit alternatives for a more energy-efficient and less-congested America without roadblocks by bureaucrats or ideologues at the FTA or elsewhere," DeFazio said.

Though they mostly agree on policy, DeFazio and the Obama administration disagree on tactics. The administration has called for an 18-month delay to consider new ways to fund transportation and refine pro-mass transit policies. But DeFazio and some Democratic leaders are urging a new six-year bill to be enacted in the next few months, even if it requires using debt or other short-term funding fixes.

U.S. Rep. David Wu also supported funding for the eastside project and praised the spread of streetcars nationwide.

"Streetcars used to be at the heart of our great American cities," Wu said in a statement after the call. "We are now providing even more transportation options, helping realize the dream of more streets with fewer cars.

Federal money will pay for half the project. The other half comes from a variety of sources, including property owners along the route, the Oregon Lottery and urban renewal money from the Pearl District and the inner eastside.

Portland Streetcar Concept Plan

2009-10-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

More information, NorthWestHub.org

TriMet, A model for other cities?

2009-10-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

From Time Out Chicago, Transit ideas from other cities

Portland Don’t bank on the fare box
The CTA is an exceptionally fare-dependant system. Like every transit operator under the Regional Transportation Authority’s umbrella (including Metra and Pace), it’s mandated by state law to collect a whopping 50 percent of its revenue through fares. If the CTA doesn’t meet that quota, its only options are hiking fares and slashing service. Such dire straits are foreign to Portland’s TriMet. Just 20 percent of its revenue has to come from fares, while 55 percent is derived from a payroll tax paid by business owners and self-employers within the TriMet area that benefit from rapid transit.

Re-Branding!

2009-10-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

From Oregonlive.com, "TriMet wants public's help with renaming Fareless Square"

TriMet is asking for it. Seriously, the transit agency wants your help renaming Fareless Square, since it will cease to be fareless for buses in January. (And let’s be frank, it was never really a square.)

Still, light railers will continue to get a free ride from downtown to the Lloyd Center.

The TriMet survey asks: “If it were up to you to name it, what would you call the area where you can ride MAX and streetcars for free? (Four words or less, please.)”

Of course, after you enter your suggestion and hit the “Next” button, TriMet asks what you think of three possible names: Fareless Zone, Free Rail Zone and Fareless Rail Zone.

To read Hard Drive's name nominees and to enter your own, go to the Hard Drive commuting blog.

[UPDATE]"Free Rail Zone"

C-TRAN cuts

2009-10-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

From the Oregonian, on Oregonlive.com, C-TRAN bus service cuts to start in January

Clark County's bus system is cutting back on low-ridership routes starting in January to help close a $6 million budget gap caused by the recession.

The C-TRAN reductions include changes in routes, trip frequency and weekend service.

Sales taxes make up 60 percent of the system's operating budget, but have fallen because of the prolonged downturn. The service changes are expected to close $518,000 of the gap, with the rest made up by nonservice spending cuts, operating efficiencies and use of reserve money.

The reductions take effect on Sunday, Jan. 10.

Affected routes include: 2 Lincoln, 3 City Center, 4 Fourth Plain, 7 Battle Ground, 9 Felida, 19 Salmon Creek, 25 Fruit Valley/St. Johns, 30 Burton, 32 Evergreen/Andresen-Hazel Dell, 35 NEW route, 37 Hwy 99/Mill Plain, 39 Clark College/Medical Center, 44 Fourth Plain Limited, 80 Van Mall/Fisher's, 92 Camas/Washougal, and Camas Connector.

No reductions are planned for C-TRAN Express service to downtown Portland.

New processes?

2009-10-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

From Portland Business Journal, "Metro audit brings 54 recommendations"

Officials from Metro, the Portland area’s regional government that oversees land use and planning issues, said the agency’s audits last year yielded 54 recommendations that will improve the agency’s operations.

In a report on its operations, the Auditor’s office revealed:

• The transit-oriented development program made several changes that tweaked the agency’s project section processes.

• Metro’s waste reduction and outreach program better aligned its waste prevention activities.

• Businesses want the agency to further explore the region’s sustainability issues.

• Fraud abuse related to the use of the agency’s procurement cards, used to purchase business supplies, did not occur over the last two years.

The agency reported that it has three audits under way. One, which will analyze operations in the Oregon Zoo, is expected to be completed next month. A regional transportation study will be released in January while Metro’s financial conditions audit comes out in May.

Metro is also planning audits on the region’s natural areas, the agency’s budget and the way it oversees large contracts.

TriMet Crime

2009-10-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

From Fox12, KPTV.com, "Woman Attacked Near TriMet Stop, Police Say"

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A woman was attacked after getting off a TriMet bus in southwest Portland, police said.

The woman was attacked Wednesday at about 12:30 a.m. at the intersection of Southwest Capitol Highway and Southwest Sunset Boulevard, said Detective Mary Wheat of the Portland Police Bureau in a news release Friday.

A man followed the woman off the bus and across the street where he attacked her and sexually assaulted her, Wheat said.

The man ran away after another person confronted him, Wheat said.

The man is in his early to mid-20s, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He was seen wearing a white T-shirt and light blue jeans.

TriMet riders said they were shocked by the attack.

"It's really shocking. I wouldn't have expected it over here. I thought it was really safe," said Anna, a TriMet bus rider. "I hope the lady will be fine and police will be able to track down that person."

Anyone with information is asked to call Portland police.

[UPDATE:]Turned himself in.
[UPDATE II:]Defender of women honored by police.

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By Michael Russell, The Oregonian, Oregonlive.com, "Man robs Aloha store with knife, escapes on TriMet"

ALOHA -- A search for a knife-wielding robber put two area schools into lockdown this afternoon.

Shortly after 11 a.m., an unidentified man walked into the Albertsons store at 6055 S.W. 185th Ave. and showed a small, black-handled kitchen knife to two customer service clerks.

The suspect, a 6-foot man with mustache and beard, was dressed at the time of the robbery in a gray hooded sweatshirt and baggy sweat pants, with white and black tennis shoes, according to Sgt. David Thompson, spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The suspect removed his outer clothing to disguise his appearance and fled on a northbound TriMet bus, Thompson said.

The TriMet driver told authorities the suspect got off the bus at Southwest 185th Avenue and Kinnaman Street, near Aloha High School and Kinnaman Elementary School. The schools were put into lockdown while deputies and K9 units made an unsuccessful track for the suspect.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to contact sheriff's detective Gary Jensen at 503-846-2742.

Finances

2009-10-13T08:01:00.001-07:00

From Portland Business Journal "TriMet: Revenue, expenses rise"

TriMet said Monday that the mid-September opening of the eastside Green Line has pushed weekly MAX light-rail ridership up nearly 12 percent from a year ago.

The Green Line that connects downtown Portland with Clackamas Town Center averaged 17,000 weekday trips in its first three weeks of operation.

TriMet reported that there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and WES between Sept. 13 and 30, a 4 percent decline from a year earlier. Ridership is down mostly because of the sour economy, unemployment and lower gasoline prices this fall, according to TriMet.

Ridership numbers

2009-10-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

From Portland Tribune, Green Line helps push up TriMet’s MAX ridership

TriMet said Monday that the mid-September opening of the eastside Green Line has pushed weekly MAX light-rail ridership up nearly 12 percent from a year ago.

The Green Line that connects downtown Portland with Clackamas Town Center averaged 17,000 weekday trips in its first three weeks of operation.

TriMet reported that there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and WES between Sept. 13 and 30, a 4 percent decline from a year earlier. Ridership is down mostly because of the sour economy, unemployment and lower gasoline prices this fall, according to TriMet.

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By By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian, Oregonlive.com, "Green Line boosts MAX, but WES, bus ridership continue declines"

The opening of the Green Line boosted MAX ridership in September, but the lagging economy and service cuts continued declines on bus lines and Westside Express commuter rail, TriMet said today.

With the opening of the Green Line, light rail ridership jumped nearly 12 percent compared to September 2008. The Green Line, stretching from Portland State University to the Clackamas Town Center, averaged 17,000 weekday trips.

Go to the Hard Drive commuting blog to get the complete ridership numbers for September.

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Portland Business Journal, With new Green Line, MAX ridership up

While fewer bus trips were taken in September, MAX ridership increased.

TriMet attributed the MAX increase to the opening of the MAX Green Line.

With the opening of the Green Line, weekly ridership on MAX increased nearly 12 percent, compared with September 2008. The Green Line also averaged 17,000 weekday trips.

Overall, weekly MAX trips increased 11.8 percent to 785,000 trips; weekday MAX trips were up 9.8 percent to 121,200 trips; weekend trips were up 19.1 percent to 179,000 trips; and rush hour trips increased 6.7 percent to 36,400 trips.

On the MAX Green Line weekday trips totaled 17,000 and weekend trips totaled 31,900.

Overall, there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and Westside Express Service trains in September 2009, a 4 percent decline over September 2008. TriMet said ridership is impacted by service cuts that took effect this month, the continued recession, double-digit unemployment and lower gas prices that were at record levels last year.

Weekly bus trips declined 9.5 percent to 1,202,700 trips; weekday bus trips declined 9.4 percent to 200,700 trips; weekend bus trips declined 10 percent to 199,200 trips; and rush hour bus trips were down 14.8 percent to 64,700 trips.

Weekly Westside Express Service trips totaled 5,625 and weekday rush hour trips averaged 1,125 boardings.

Busses can do the work of trains!

2009-10-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

From Portland Tribune, "Train work again sidetracks commuter rail service"

Additional maintenance work on a commuter train will disrupt WES service again Tuesday.

It’s the second day that train maintenance forced TriMet to use buses on some of the commuter rail trips.

TriMet said that four of 16 WES trips will be handled by shuttle buses. Trips leaving Wilsonville Station at 6:21 and 7:51 a.m., and the trips leaving Beaverton Transit Center at 6:58 and 8:28 a.m., will be provided by shuttle buses.

Riders can take the shuttle, ride the local bus or take the next WES train, and should add up to 30 minutes to their commute.

Tuesday afternoon WES service is expected to be back to normal.

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From OregonLive.com, Train repairs still disrupting WES commute

TriMet said Monday that the mid-September opening of the eastside Green Line has pushed weekly MAX light-rail ridership up nearly 12 percent from a year ago.

The Green Line that connects downtown Portland with Clackamas Town Center averaged 17,000 weekday trips in its first three weeks of operation.

TriMet reported that there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and WES between Sept. 13 and 30, a 4 percent decline from a year earlier. Ridership is down mostly because of the sour economy, unemployment and lower gasoline prices this fall, according to TriMet.