Despite the slow fare increases and service cuts, TriMet ridership somehow reached a record level of trips (9.2 million) in May. According to TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch, this is the third time in TriMet history that monthly ridership has passed 9 million. AND the highest its been since Summer 2008.
But don’t think it’s just TriMet that’s seen a substantial boost in ridership. Transit rides as a whole have increased 5 percent nationally since last year. Whether it be the recession or overall bettering of national transit systems, something’s in the air.
But not so fast, transit-happy riders. September’s substantial TriMet changes, thanks to a $12 million budget shortfall, could make a dent in this skyrocketing trend. As for now, keep on riding.
Or it could possibly be the super high gas prices? Monthly TriMet passes are now cheaper than using my car for work commutes (without even factoring in insurance and maintenance).
As an aside, it’s pretty sad when my wife’s 1973 VW’s MPG is as good as my 2009 Ford Focus.
The budget shortfall is due 100% to WES.
It’s not sad, it is due to ever-increasing mandatory safety requirements setup by the Department of Transportation. This increases vehicle weights, which lowers MPG across most cars.
But the VW exhaust is a much larger polluter than the Focus. That’s what counts in the long run.
THIS JUST MEANS GANG ACTIVITY IS UP, AMIRITE?
I drive a bio-diesel, which gives me the smug self-assurance of a middle-class white liberal. Every time I drive, God puts oil back into the Earth.
none of these comments are interesting.
Sounds like TriMet and my ex have something in common. Is this thing on?
crime train!
Check out this great essay on riding Trimet:
http://www.ilikegrapes.net/?p=384
WW emo writer Aaron Mesh had a piece on this. Amazing how you can get paid to write about riding the train. And no, TA fans did not beat him up, but he did wet himself a bit 🙁
Ridership is up because most of the people on it can’t afford a car anymore, thanks to Barry and Shrub’s excellent economic adventure. Compared to when I first started using Trimet, the % of educated or even middle class riders has nosedived.
You won’t ever find a more vocal proponent of mass transit than myself. And yet Trimet has found a way to ensure that I’ll never support any of their projects in the future.
How did they do it?
1) Blaming fare increases on everything but what actually caused them, such as the huge bet they made that fuel prices would keep going up just before they crashed as the depression on 2008 set in. This was their first foray into futures, and they went all in on their first bet.
2) Gutting bus service for badly designed light rail.
3) Speaking of light rail, have you tried riding those god awful Type III cars? There is no way that the people who purchased them could have possibly tried them out beforehand, much less used them daily.
4) Being bike hostile. As in every single administrator, rent a cop, and operator.
5) Gutting supervision of transit operators on my side of town. After 5PM, bus drivers pretty much show up whenever the hell they want.
6) Hiring a good ol’ boy to replace Hansen. They didn’t even consider a single outside candidate for the position.
If they’ve lost me, imagine how your average middle class suburbanite outside of Multnomah County feels. In ten years, they won’t have a single middle class rider left and they’ll have completely turned the electorate against them.