I have been curious for some time about the sprawling layout of Lake Oswego, with the Interstate encouraging a push further and further south out of Portland.  This is an area of town more akin to other parts of the country than what Portland is known for.  The density is low, the transit ridership is almost zero, the cultural importance is zero, and the list of other uncharacteristic Portland traits continues.  Lake Oswego, by any definition, except for the very small central core, is a dirge of bad design, poor zoning, and only is maintained by sprawling subsidies and other fun stuff.  Of course, the area is also very Republican and denies any association to subsidies or socialist funding policies.  The irony does not escape me.

But I digress, my rant could continue but instead I’ll get to the tale of the trip.  I started at Kruse Way & Kruse Oaks.  About 4 or 5 stops from the Tualitan Park & Ride, so thus an almost empty bus.

I boarded and the first thing I get is a partial grunt mixed with a hello from the driver.  He’s a portly guy, as many of the drivers are.  He’s somewhat disheveled, with a TriMet hat of some sort on his frizzled long hair.  As I go to sit down he pulls the bus away from the stop.  Two other people boarded with me, which I found statistically odd considering the outlying area and low transit ridership.

As we moved along the road I stood to throw my empty coffee cup in the trash.  I saw his glance in the rear view mirror, and I knew I wasn’t part of the regular bus riders he has.  He hit the brakes just slightly enough with a grin on his face as I approached the trash can.  He of course doesn’t realize I know the bus surfing routine.  I think to myself, “driver, I’m your ally, don’t be an ass”.  But I know he’s just having fun with me.

You may wonder, on a bus, how would a driver know his regulars?  Well, when a driver drives the same bus, same frequency, every day they tend to learn the faces and sometimes the names.  Especially on a commuter bus like this.  The #38 doesn’t provide any real service beyond the early morning and evening rush hours.  With a mere dozen frequencies, split between the two, the riders are very specific.  Each morning the same riders join the trip at the same stops, at the same times, and often greet each other in the same way.  For many of the riders this is a comfort of their daily lives.  Many of these people enjoy this part of the day as they sit and read newspapers, talk about the latest Sunday Football Scores, or carry on about some of the latest gossip.  The one thing about a rush hour bus though, is that everyone is polite, and somewhat discreet about their interactions.  One can overhear the conversations, but they aren’t loud or boisterous.

Simply, these are the bus routes to ride for commutes, unlike the #4, #9, #14, etc, which get crammed full with commuters and crazies alike.  I think the later are more fun, but for most all they want is a comfortable, silent, somewhat safe conversational ride into downtown.  On the #38 that is exactly what they get.

As the bus rolls through the hills of southern Portland, we pass strip malls and other suburban sundry.  The bus finally reaches the average suburbanites comfort zone of one person per 2 seats.  I think to myself, it will only get interesting at this point.  Will further riders just stand awkwardly with all the available seats around or will they sit with others?

The first person that needs to either sit or stand gets on board.  He is a nice looking older gentleman with a hat, overcoat, and professional cloths.  All somewhat plain colors, nothing to sharp, nothing to jump out at a person.  I’ve scanned the bus.  My assumption is he’ll sit with pretty young professional looking lady behind me.  He steps forward from the entrance of the bus.  Eyes to his left, then over to me.  I’m sitting here against the window, with nothing in the seat next to me.  The young lady behind me has her purse in the seat.  He scans from me quickly looking over to his left again.  There sits a portly gentleman with some contraption in his seat.  He then looks to his right and see her, with the purse in the seat.  He immediately gains a smile upon his face and makes eye contact with her.  She moves her purse and he sits down, politely leaving a bit of space between them even though he’s a bit out of his seat now.  My assumption was correct, go figure.

This continues, with people making assumed paths.  I myself finally gain a seat partner and the ride continues.

The #38 Bus route at this time of the morning, 7:04 am to be exact, is amazing.  The sun is creeping through the crevices of the sky, a blue tonality cast upon everything.  The route takes us through a winding, twisting roadway.  Each bus stop is generally just a simple street corner with nothing more than a sign.  The driver, I can tell, knows which ones will have passengers and which will not.  He slows though, professionally, at ones that don’t just in case a rider surprises him.  As we twist through all of this the bus slowly fills up and the passengers’ faces start lighting up as they look upon the beauty outside of the bus.

Some riders keep reading their newspapers.  I thought nobody read dead tree medium anymore, but this bus load has surprised me with 3 newspapers out being read.  There are very few electronic devices being used for news or otherwise.  I then realize that the age average is probably 45+, so I guess the electronic medium isn’t the favorite for this group of riders.

The cultural makeup on this bus, as we move closer into Portland, seems to almost be a representative mix.  I always enjoy rides like this that are polite and everyone is cordial.  Watching the sky, seeing things awaken.  The eyes of the riders, regardless of culture, start to brighten and I can see others starting to conjure up in their minds what they’re heading for at work, or wherever they’re headed.

We’re 5 minutes out now, the sun has thoroughly broken the darkness, and I bid this entry adieu.  Enjoy your ride, whoever and wherever you are, may it be a good start to your day.

So it has been a while, and I imagine that I will be posting a lot less frequent this year.  One of the things I have decided to do is to live more and blog just slightly less.  Out of the three plus blogs I have the biggest cut (just like bus service) will be my transit blog.  Not that I am any less interested in blogging about transit, but just simply because not that many things change that really validate regular blogging.  We have the same tired Government run transit authorities being manhandled by special interest groups, unions, and Government vote takers.  These same transit authorities run transit, but it is apparent that the priority of transit is often the 4th, 5th, or even lower priority versus just staying afloat via begging for funding and other things.

So I just do not have the motivation to blog about that.  It is, simply, depressing and embarrassing for this nation.

But I will still be blogging about line openings, new bus funding (when/if they happen), line cuts, and other local bits and intercity rail bits.  Also, anytime I am travelling with the ole’ Canon 40D I will be sure to snag any good angles and shoot some material for the blog.  So I will be here, just a little less frequently, so I hope everyone keeps reading.  🙂

Often these days in the transit community we see article after article about how X number of jobs are going to be created.  One of the quotes I’ve seen recently, on LA Metro’s Website for High Speed Rail, states 90,000 jobs created for building the high speed rail (HSR), somehow statewide they theorize 600,000 construction, and 450,000 permanent jobs.  I call bull.

Yes the work will create some jobs.  Some of those will be sustainable ongoing jobs, some will be for a few months.  It might be 90,000 jobs or it most likely would be much less.

However, one thing that is not mentioned is what will happen to all the jobs at the airlines and airport.

Do we really, as a pro-HSR & transit community think that HSR won’t be very disruptive?  When the high speed line between San Francisco to LA, and LA to Orange County and down to San Diego opens, almost every short distance flight within 500 miles will probably disappear.  Why do I say this?  Because it happens over and over and over again when high speed rail, even merely 110mph speed rail service it put into action.  The simple fact is, when a comparable trip can be made by rail people will not get on a airplane.

With that said, and something I just assume will happen, what about the workers in the airline industry?  This goes on the perpetuate the broken window scenario laid out many years ago.  Disruptive and especially destructive changes to the economy are only short term boosts during the repair.  Then the loss actually has to be compensated for and somebody ends up with the short stick.  In this scenario, the high speed rail will be very disruptive, but in the end there will not be a net increase in new jobs.  The airlines will lay off and probably sell or junk most of those short jumper planes.  Meanwhile the high speed passenger rail industry will take in some of those workers, the others will have to go find work elsewhere.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing.  Disruptive technologies, especially like high speed rail, are needed and a great deal in today’s world.  They are cleaner, cheaper over the long term, and provide people a much better traveling experience.  However, this continued bragging and politicking over jobs created is a myth.  Which, in politics simply equates to more lying.

In the end, we end up with no net new jobs from this Government intervention into the market.  It didn’t happen when they where dumping money into the airlines, it won’t happen when they disrupt things to dump money into the high speed rail.  Technically, if they wouldn’t have dumped the money in the first place, the market would have disrupted itself to run higher speed rail in California if the Government had not been dumping billions in to ever competing mode of transport at the time.

The railroads got shafted by the states & Federal Government, and now they’re the Golden Child again.  If the Government wants to have net positive new jobs, that are sustainable and economically feasible, they’re going to have to figure a way to get out of the industry and not be further disruptive in it.  But alas, I know we’re well past those days, but no reason we should accept the lies that the Government through infrastructure spending will somehow save our economy and create new jobs.

It has happened elsewhere, and even here in the US before, don’t fall for it.

It appears that the push for light rail continues throughout many communities.  Even in LA were the Metro was sued in order to increase bus service, is now stuck with trying to move to light rail after laying down BRT in various places.  When capacity is needed, going to BRT is not a smart move.  The Orange Line being a prime example, as a line that prevents ridership because it is at capacity, and was theoretically built because of the lawsuit.  (Wad, maybe you can add some specifics to that for me)  But anyway, look like South LA is bound for the flanged wheel.

But Detroit, is a completely different situation.  They actually have $125 Million in private money that has been put up for their $430 million dollar line.  Currently they’re working on a Federal Match.