This will be the last weekend we use the #9 as our primary transit mode into downtown, because by next weekend we will be downtown.  We’re heading out at the moment to get some lunch at Isabel’s in the Pearl.  This place has superb food, excellent quality, and downright great prices by Pearl standards!

Here’s our trip path at 23 minutes.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=3137+SE+21st+Ave,+Portland,+OR+97202&daddr=330+NW+10th+Ave,+Portland,+OR&hl=en&geocode=Fb1GtgIdJ5aw-CkdmrPYfgqVVDFxjDaN8wIlTw%3B&mra=ls&dirflg=r&date=11%2F15%2F09&time=12:56pm&ttype=dep&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&tline=&sll=45.513054,-122.663727&sspn=0.027577,0.049138&ie=UTF8&t=k&start=1&ll=45.512968,-122.664374&spn=0.027291,0.039757&output=embed
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By next weekend our trip will be as follows at 15 minutes.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=222+SW+Harrison+St,+Portland,+OR+97201&daddr=330+NW+10th+Ave,+Portland,+OR&hl=en&geocode=%3BFX6qtgIdogiw-Ck9QO7wAQqVVDHCuJy1aOHaYw&mra=ls&dirflg=r&date=11%2F15%2F09&time=12:56pm&ttype=dep&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&tline=&sll=45.512968,-122.664374&sspn=0.027577,0.049138&ie=UTF8&t=k&start=1&ll=45.517715,-122.681236&spn=0.021049,0.036478&z=14&output=embed
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Off to some grub now.  Coming soon will be some of those controversial questions getting thrown around again, so be prepared!

Jo & I met after work about 5:00pm at Floyd’s Coffee in downtown Portland, specifically at 1st & Couch.  Map location included below (thx Google maps).

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=118+NW+Couch+St,+Portland&sll=45.500158,-122.644726&sspn=0.01492,0.033023&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=118+NW+Couch+St,+Portland,+Multnomah,+Oregon+97209&ll=45.523853,-122.671745&spn=0.003728,0.008256&t=k&z=18&output=embed
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While sitting there we decided tonight ought to be a good night to go catch the new 2012 movie.  Being that Jo and I, thanks in large part to Portland, have become theater snobs we wanted to go see it at a local theater we could get beer and grub at.  We had checked earlier in the week to see what was playing, and St Johns Theater was going to be opening the movie tonight.  This theater ROCKS!  It serves beer, pizza, and the normal items expected at a movie theater.  The difference is it is local, serves local pizza and beer, and isn’t one of those corporate theaters that is…  I won’t go on about how or why we don’t like those big theaters.

So we did a quick scoping of the bus trip, and realized we where a block away form a single seat bus trip right to the theater!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=118+NW+Couch+St,+Portland,+OR+97209&daddr=8704+N+Lombard+St,+Portland,+OR+97203&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&dirflg=r&date=11%2F13%2F09&time=7:50pm&ttype=arr&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&tline=&sll=45.556732,-122.717285&sspn=0.119236,0.264187&ie=UTF8&ll=45.556973,-122.716084&spn=0.06736,0.090157&t=k&start=0&output=embed
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It was definitely going to be a trip worthy of a movie adventure!  So at 7:09pm we’d board the #44 Bus to St Johns.  That would get us to the theater at 7:44pm, in perfect time to get tickets, get some seats, sip on a few pitchers of beer, and nibble at some pizza.  The movie stands at a whopping 2 hours and 38 minutes, which will put us out the doors, happy with beer & pizza in our bellies at about 10:50pm.  I did a check of what our options were for departure at that time.  The ideal one for Jo and I is another single seat ride from St Johns all the way home.  This trip will be a long 76 minutes on the #4.

For some of those auto bound individuals out there in the world, they may read this and think, “why the hell would anyone want to travel about an hour each way to see a movie?”  First off, many people travel an hour by car to see a movie.  Depending on their own stupidity and the conditions in which they live, it isn’t entirely uncommon.  But in a car that is an hour of time that there are simply two options; talk and carry on or listen to the radio.  At least those are basically the two legal options.  I suppose one person could read, or do something of that sort.  But the even more likely scenario is that people end up in their SOV (single occupancy vehicle) alone, limited to the radio and talking to one self, driving to meet others.

On transit Jo and I get many more options.  We can listen to our headphones, talk to others (there ARE interesting people on transit, which people would realize if they got out of their cars and met their neighbors), I can spec out a Space Marines Army, Jo can knit the gauntlets she is making for Alex, we can talk among ourselves, read a book, watch a movie on the bus (yup, there are these things called iPhone & iPods, that play video! gasp!).  [Image to the right is one set of gauntlets Jo made, if you’re interested just click on the image.  It links to ravelry which you can join for many patterns and such]

All things that are basically illegal or impossible to do in a car.  So really, when it comes down to it, the bus ride is just hanging out, while the car ride is wasted time.  More of one’s life drained away in fed radio media, limited activity, and often spent fuel, more waste, and all those other negatives to boot.

Jo & I don’t have that issue.  Just FYI, we’re free of those limitations.  So maybe the real issue isn’t why we limit or work so hard to use transit, but why do people try so hard and limit themselves to just auto transport?  Really, it boils down to the eye of the beholder.  If we want to even further distance ourselves from the noose of the automobile we can use our bikes, which again, some would be astonished, but they shouldn’t be.

Anyway, a drink awaits me, and some chilling on the bus, and a movie.  Kick ass. 🙂

Complete Itinerary:

Walk 0.15 mile northwest from 118 NW Couch St to NW Everett & 2nd (Stop ID 1612)
7:09 p.m. Board 44 Mocks Crest to St Johns
7:44 p.m. Get off at N Lombard & Baltimore
Walk southeast to 8704 N Lombard St
Travel time: 41 minutes (including 6 minutes walking)

Movie:  2012   -   2hrs 38 Minutes

Walk northwest from 8704 N Lombard St to N Lombard & Baltimore (Stop ID 8480)
11:07 p.m. Board 4 Division/Fessenden to Gresham TC via Portland city ctr 
which continues as 4 Division to Gresham TC
12:16 a.m. Get off at SE Division & 20th
Walk 0.4 mile south to 3137 SE 21st Ave
Travel time: 83 minutes (including 14 minutes walking)

Jo and I, while checking out the new apartment in downtown on Sunday, decided to swing by Powell’s to find some books.  We arrived with no fuss via the streetcar and went about our business.  As we walked through though I noticed a table where TriMet was taking a survey of drivers, riders, or whoever.  I decided I was a perfect candidate to take the survey so went back after walking by to put in my two cents.

First off, I have to complain.  Whoever setup the survey setup a broken survey, but I get the gist of what TriMet was trying to get to.  The key points were as follows:

1. What type of stop do people prefer.
2. What type of vehicle/mode do people prefer.
3. What is the wait time people allow before driving.
4. What type of seating to people prefer.
5. What type of security do people prefer.
6. Walking vs wait time.
7. How important is vehicle/mode cleanliness.
8. How important is driver friendliness.
9. What of the above is more important to you.

I might have forgot one or two.  Here’s my take on how and what I prefer.

1. I don’t care about the stop, and personally am bothered by the wasteful amounts of money TriMet spends on some of the stops.  Especially for the streetcar.  There are lots of streetcar systems, some with better frequency and ridership, that basically have no real curb or stop of any sort.  The extra time it takes for these fancy stops in mixed traffic modes is just annoying.  Forget it, non-functional.  Give me a marker and a schedule and I’m a happy rider (maybe a shelter in places where the traffic may splash waiting riders, etc)

2. This is easy.  In order based on Portland’s available modes:  Light Rail (Type 2 & 3, Type 4, and Type 1), streetcar (2nd gen, 1st gen), and bus (high floor bus, others…)

3. As long as I have transit tracker, I’ll schedule around the bus.  Without transit tracker the bus better have a 10 minutes or less frequency, otherwise I won’t use transit.  The simple rule I go by, is I’m not standing at a stop for an extended amount of time if at all possible.

4. I’d prefer plush, but I really don’t care.  The seating TriMet has is just fine.

5. Security is not TriMet’s responsibility.  Saying it is, the fact that TriMet is somehow forced to be responsible, is a direct violation of logic.  It is stupid to have TriMet setup this way, the plain fact is society allowed police departments to be setup for the purpose of personal security.  It is THEIR JOB to enforce security within society.  The police, not TriMet.

On another point that I have contention with.  Anyone that relies on others for their personal security endangers themselves and those around them.  Always, ALWAYS be prepared to flee, defend, or otherwise take charge of your personal security.  If you expect others to do this for you, you might as well give up.

6. I’ll walk up to 10 minutes if it is an infrequent trip, and up to 8 minutes for a daily commute.  For multiple trips during the day I won’t walk more than 2-6 minutes to a stop.  Once at a stop I prefer not to wait more than 5-6 minutes at most.  This is of course resolved by simply timing my walk & wait times with Transit Tracker.

7. Cleanliness only gets to be important to me when things are really dirty.  If a mode is dirty, I will turn around and call a taxi if it is too bad.  Otherwise newspapers, mud on the floor, water, etc is not a big deal.  Human or animal feces, other rancid items, or overpowering stenches will have me in a taxi without a second thought.

8. I get along with the fact that many drivers are not much more than blank faces and spent as human beings.  But I commend and LOVE when a bus drivers enjoys, loves, and thrives as a driver.  I like it when I hear a driver make announcements and chats with riders.  Al M, Dan Christensen, streetcar driver Fred, and others come to mind.  These drivers are GREAT!  This is VERY important to me.  It is (and Al may hate this statement) to me the last semblance transit has to the private existence it started as in this country.  The streetcar operator stories, the human elements, these are the things that draw transit into the very human existence that it is.  Put simply, this is the one thing that buses have over light rail and the “modern streetcar” of Portland.  The human-less, face-less experience on light rail and streetcar is frustrating.  Here Portland is building a human city versus a car city and we have these faceless transit modes.  But I will choose the financially reasonable option that provides more for society than the human face of the bus, only because the community is still involved in the ride, but I’d rather have both features.

9. The most important aspect of transit to me is complex.  It however boils down to something that isn’t the actual transit itself.  Instead it is the lifestyle that it allows.  The car-free, worry free, relaxed lifestyle and relaxing trip enabled by transit service.  The ability to get home and not be strung out or mentally warped and skewed from commuting via the automobile.  The zoning changes and more compact and connected communities that transit also enables (more so than automobile based zoning).  So overall, it is the lifestyle, not particularly the transit.  But one really doesn’t go without the other.

So what are your priorities?  What are the most important things for you in the transit service you use (or don’t use)?

[11/14/09 – Correction:  I stated “and personally am bothered by the wasteful amounts of money TriMet spends on some of the stops.”, which is a faulty statement.  TriMet does not and did not fund any of the stops for the streetcar, the City of Portland, or more specifically the non-profit subsidized Portland Streetcar spent the money on those stops.  I still am bothered by their spending taxpayer money
(and lots of it) on stops that are ridiculously overbuilt.]

So here’s the lowdown.  We’ll all meet at 5:00pm, and discuss transit topics from then until whenever.  I figure we’ll probably go until at least 8:00pm, so if you want to swing by a little after 5:00pm please do.

Here’s some of the topics that have been brought up for discussion so far.  Of course, anyone can talk about anything they want to, these are just kick starts.

• The New Light Rail Efforts – i.e. The Orange Line (Milwaukee)
• The West Side Express, or WES – i.e. The money bleeder (or maybe someone can convince us it isn’t?)
• The future of TriMet in general – Should it be altered?  Broken apart?
• Advocacy – Groups, plans, ideas, organizing, etc.
• Random topics – generally, we can always just bring up things.

The last topic of debate – where shall the location of the meetup be?  Please weigh in with your thoughts and ideas on location.  Preferably someplace that has some food, and is all ages.

Chad mentioned an area that is available near south waterfront and we could BBQ, BYO Beverages, or do a potluck style.  Chad’s space is available via streetcar & Bus #35.  So that’s one option.

Just FYI:

• BNSF stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe
• BNSF is made up of many consolidations & acquisitions of 390 railroads over the last 150+ years.  It serves a vast rail network from Seattle to Chicago to LA and has trackage rights on other networks that allows access to hundreds of other locations.  For more history on the companies that make up the modern BNSF railroad check out their history page.

On to Warren & his Purchase

Wow, the suspicion I have behind the Warren Buffet purchase of BNSF has my mind racing through ideas on why.  The simple act of a single individual owning a major railroad in the United States again is awe inspiring, suspicious, and in some ways fills me with hope for the nation.  Let me explain why.

The last private owner of a railroad that was anywhere near the scale of BNSF was a long long time ago.  Now, modern America will have a railroad that can literally act in seconds, move with the speed and innovation pushed by an individual.  Boards can’t act that fast, Governments have no hope to even remotely act fast, let alone act, and other forms of organization just can’t compare.  This of course can be a good thing and a bad thing.

Does Warren know railroads?  I don’t know if he does or not, he does seem to be able to pick investments pretty well, and he just bet the farm on the purchase of an entire railroad.  That is saying a lot.  Is he literally telling America that he believes in the underpinnings of free-market (REAL free-market, not that psuedo psycho Republican free-market ideal) capitalism?  Or is there some hidden agendas being played out?  Do these agendas possible come from somewhere else besides Mr. Buffett himself?  I have some suspicions about this, but I’m not betting anything on it yet because there are a lot of factors that haven’t shown their respective cards.

Re-regulation?

Over the last 5 years or so a lot of energy, money, and other political willpower has been put into re-regulating the freight railroads again.  This, by any turn of events, would be horrible for the freight carriers and bad for America in general.  I’m not even going to bat around the nonsense that it would be an increase in competition or anything of that sort.  This re-regulation would starve the industry, quite rapidly, by requiring the railroads to sink more money into political pandering and less into the functional investment of the railroads themselves.  Already pricing and other things are regulated by the Federal Government, we don’t need additional nonsense for them to deal with. 

Does Warren know about a death of this effort?  Because there would be zero reason for him to invest if he thought there was a remote chance that re-regulation would go through.  Indeed, this is something to ponder.

Political Positioning

The key players in the administration, which would be Obama and Biden, both are in support of high speed rail and rail transport in general.  Biden especially, loves passenger rail.  BNSF of course is not involved in passenger rail, but having a huge supporter owning the railroad puts the administration in a very powerful position to make change.  This can happen on two major idealistic fronts;  the free-market advocates viewpoint and the more socialistically minded & environmentally friendly supporting Democrat.  With Warren owning the railroad the administration could easily encourage without any legislation at all some very positive actions, winning accolades for the railroad, for the administration, and getting the administration more in tune to what is really going on at the rail.

Does Mr. Buffett have some inside knowledge on some political action by the administration?  Does he know about some major event or is guessing at some major event that would position the railroad to drastically expand operations into new realms of service?  Once again, another legitimate thought to keep in mind when pondering this purchase.

Summary

So do I know what Warren is up to?  No.  Do I think I even have a remotely logical idea about his action?  Nope.  Overall I have absolutely zero idea why he would step out this far in order to purchase an entire freight railroad.  In some ways the political environment seems to make this an absolutely bad idea, and in another it seems like a great idea.  From an economic stand point it appears to be a really odd play, without a significant ROI in comparison to some other parts of the market.  Especially with the economy in the position it is currently in.

What do you think?  Any ideas, conspiracies, inside knowledge?  I’d love to read some comments on this so light em’ up.