@Rossy: you mean the poor people in the north side of Beaverton Hillsdale who have to suffer by walking an extra three blocks from their house to the 54 or 56 instead of catching the 55? Maybe they should take advantage on 4% mortgages on their half million dollar homes to buy some cab fair. If you mean people in NW, then seriously, they can probably catch one of the other 8 buses that go there, and if you mean NoPo, then it'll be a cold day in Center Garage before the 4 gets cut (as much as there would be jubilation from the drivers who aren't keen on picking up from a shelter with broken glass from a gang war and taking "innocent bystanders" to another broken shelter in Gresham: if you don't believe me look at a bus map and a gang violence map and pick the power ball numbers "4, 6, 72, Yellow")

Since people obviously don't know, here's how TriMet funding pretty much works. Feds pay for new lightrail lines and sometimes new buses (if they are teched out hybrids or running on biofuel or something that sounds good). Fares pay for gas, and that's about all. Payroll tax counts for the rest, which is mostly drivers and the support they need to keep bat#$%# passengers from assaulting or killing them when the inevitable happens. The support really is pretty efficient. I suppose there are probably one or two management positions that could be eliminated, but basically it's streamlined.

You might argue that bus drivers deserve to be paid less (they do make better money than a lot of teachers) but considering they have to deal with traffic and babysit all day, I am not in favor of reducing their wages or benefits... plus that would be a darn good way to have no bus service at all for a few weeks while people got things figured out. The federal money CAN'T go to operations (it's in the contract) and there is NO WAY anyone is going to raise payroll tax in the middle of a recession with a local unemployment of something like 14%. Oh, and paying drivers overtime costs WAY more than hiring new people on, so asking existing employees to work extra hours isn't a great idea. That leaves 1) Cutting service (and possibly some lines that are basically served by other faster busses) or adding some other kind of tax. Everyone who wants to pay for the gap between payroll tax and TriMet operations costs raise your hand... what, no takers? C'mon!

Some of the poor may have to move closer to their jobs, get a bike, or wake up a bit earlier. On the other hand the large group of Portland citizens that already look at an hour or more commute plus some walking may not feel so sorry for these few. Some of the rich or well to do enough may opt not to take the bus (that would be me, even though I was a former driver I know I can walk or ride my bike faster and for less money in most cases, and when I have to drive it's well worth the extra expense in time saved already). Persons who have some sort of disability and have not already moved next to the main section of a major bus line still have access to a door to door shuttle service for about the same price as a two-zone pass. Oh, they have to make plans a day or more in advance... well okay, if you can't do that, maybe you need to pay for a cab or call an ambulance.

Here's the thing: I don't like cuts either (and I wish there was even a single bus that went from SE to SW beyond downtown), but we've basically cut everything else here, so we either need to find a way to actually pay for services, or suck it up. That goes for schools, environmental programs, transportation, building projects, new stadiums (eh-hem), tram lines, condos.... you get the idea. A lot of projects in this town may be ill conceived (the bike lane that blocks the private Lewis and Clark student bus) but they all need to be funded or reduced, and sometimes well thought out reduction really IS the best answer.

A final note: Light rail really IS pretty good coverage. If you can go a few miles by bike or by driving that old beater and parking it, you can get to light rail from pretty much everywhere except inner SE or outer SW. SE is coming in 2015 (thanks to federal funding) and SW has the commuter train and too many self righteous nitpickers (5 guesses as to where I grew up) to ever get something as productive as a lightrail line (it might increase TRAFFIC! Just like continuous sidewalks, swim centers, parks, or schools, @#$ forbid) through, and the major lines there are pretty solid, even if people in Sherwood now have to walk out to 99W.

In other news, Bank of the West near BHH and Scholes Ferry is hosting an planning session on one of the 5 deadliest intersections in Oregon on the 30th. If you care, you could save some lives instead of complaining about bus service.