http://www.railwayage.com//content/view/847/121

Seems WES isn't the only problem child.  Austin can't seem to get their line finished for anything.  It's late, and getting later.  I doubt however, that they have anywhere near the issues with the vehicles once they get them running.  The tracks & systems however, raise suspicion since they're delayed so much…  hmmm.

It’s very interesting to see the cost per rider for some of TriMet’s routes.  It brings up the point, that maybe, we SHOULD cut more lines or find some way to make them more efficient.  Such as finding a way to get volunteer drivers or part time drivers that would drive commuter vans or something.  There HAS to be a way to reduce the absurdity of some of these costs.  For instance, and these numbers come from TriMet, a few of these routes are insane.

Bus lines proposed to be discontinued

Why in the world, for economic and environmental reasons, do we put up with these routes?  Sure TriMet is trying to expand ridership or whatever, but these routes are and have been absolutely stupid.  I don’t care who they’re carrying around, if the cost is $11.20 or $15.61 I absolutely dread figuring out what the actual environmental impact is compared to anything else on the routes, such as say a nasty ole 10 year old SUV.

One looks at the system average, those are the numbers we need to run transit close to and around.  I’m sure several routes do much better even than the $2.72.  A simple rule should be followed, if one can’t keep the cost per rider below that of a single occupancy Ford Explorer, they should be running that route.  I’m pretty sure, last I checked, a brand new Ford Explorer based on averages would run ya about $8-10 bucks per ride (of course, nobody buying a car EVER thinks of it that way, but it boils down to  about that).

Anyone else out there got opinions on this matter?  Should we be running routes like the #86 and #153?  What do people think about the fact we provide handicap service at over $50 per ride?  Not regular bus service, but custom taxi style service at $50 bucks a ride.  We could pay for actual handicap taxies to provide this service for over half the price!  Why are we giving handicap people crappier rides, shorting taxi drivers dollars and business, and charging ourselves (ya know, we the taxpayers) to provide this service in a rather messed up illogical, environmentally unfriendly (I promise you those Toyota vans the taxis use are WAY more efficient and cleaner than those diesel – even biodiesel – spewing buses TriMet uses), economically unsustainable way?  It’s nice that the city & TriMet decides we should pay for these rides out of public funds but sometimes they need to bring a little more harsh reality into the decision making for these routes.

Free Public Transit?

Meanwhile I read this guys blog every once in a while and honestly find it interesting enough that I have it on my blogroll.  It’s a blog about “free transit”.  This guy proposes all transit to be “Free” in cost to users.  I haven’t seen a single note, thought, or write up regarding how he would propose we actually pay for the transit so it could be free, but he rants and raves about places making transit free (or parts of it, as it usually happens).

Ugh, please, somebody in charge start thinking these things through!  😦

…ok, next entry, I promise, will have a more positive non-political rant mode to it.

As with all things, people will complain and a few will love it.  There is always something to complain about.  I admit, even I have complained about the Bus Mall design that is getting its final touches put on in downtown Portland.  I have to however, withdraw my original skepticism.  I think it is actually going to work much better than I originally anticipated.  I also admit, yeah, I’m often a bit more skeptical than I ought to be.

Problems

There are problems that will occur and I know the number one complaint already.  By my estimation and what I’ve heard so far is, “the bus doesn’t stop enough downtown”.  I’ve looked, and yeah, the stops are farther and fewer, for MAX and bus, but there is a reason.  TriMet is trying to fix the other huge and common complaint, “It takes 22 friggin’ minutes to get across downtown!”, and turn it into a more reasonable 15 minutes or so.  With the stops as they are, the future Milwaukee line and all the mall buses will finally be able to get through town in a much more reasonable time than the common complaint of 20+ minutes.

The Good Stuff

I’ve noticed, with the buses back in the more centrally located mall most people will see a few minutes knocked off of their walk to the office.  In addition to that many will see another few minutes knocked off of their actual bus commute, depending on how deep into downtown they have to come.

The MAX will also add a highly visible, more “out of town” friendly way to haul business cohorts and such around town.  The question is, will it stay that way.  The Yellow Line is commonly known as one of the less friendly MAX Trains.  Hopefully TriMet & Portland PD can keep it cleaned up and attractive along the new mall.  If so, the potential ridership of Green and Yellow is massive.

Problems & Good Green

I’ve recently rode out along the Green Line to Clackamas Town Center.  It raised a few questions.

1. Why is the transit center located so far from the Mall?  Is it for the easy Interstate access?  I thought the point was to connect “town centers” with high throughput lines like the MAX.  This does the entirely opposite thing and encourages sprawl, so why?
2. What is the intended TOD along the Green Line?  So far it appears there is an extreme minimum space to use for TOD, especially with 82nd already lined with business and life, of course, auto based business and such.
3. If the ridership is 20-30k per day, where is this expected to come from?

From TriMet, “Due to mechanical problems with one WES train, several trips this morning are being served by shuttle bus. The 7:49 a.m. trip north from Wilsonville and the 6:56 a.m. and 8:26 a.m. trips south from BTC will be served by bus. Buses will stop at all WES stations. Riders should plan to add 10 to 20 minutes to their commute.”

We have crap trains (it seems to be turning out) and Boston has crap drivers txting away.  It appears there needs to be some serious enforcement over phone usage while driving.  I still see it done by TriMet bus drivers here in Portland.  I haven't however seen a MAX operator doing it fortunately.  We already have the dozens dead on the commuter rail incident last year in California and we still have idiots running around as if it wouldn't happen to them.  I hope these occurrences don't increase.

Seriously though, I hate that transit agencies are made to have their own police to fight crime, it isn’t their job.  But hiring the appropriate personnel that will do their job and not be complete idiots as this driver was IS the agencies and authorities jobs!

This report from the Federal Transit Administration shows some interesting information which I’ll use in a coming blog entry.  With that in mind I’ve posted it here.  Portland is at #7 in this list, which amounts to TriMet basically.  The really shocking thing though, is the massive drop off after the top 5.  I also find it somewhat shocking how much lower San Francisco is than New York in trips per capita.  The last bit I’ll mention is how amazed I am that Honolulu, Hawaii is in the top 5!  I wasn’t aware they even had a notable transit system, but this could be because of other underlying facts, such as that it is an island.  The original Excel Spreadsheet can be downloaded by right clicking and selecting save as.