The Campaign for Fair TriMet Transfers kicked off yesterday, with transit riders advocacy group OPAL asking TriMet to soften the blow of service cuts by extending the length of transfers to three hours and making transfers after 7pm last all night.

So will TriMet go for the idea?

Spokeswoman Mary Fetsch says the public transit agency will study the budget impact of reworking transfers, but that they are currently working how they're supposed to. "The focus of a transfer is to be able to get a one-direction trip completed," says Fetsch. "Their request is: Can you make a round trip, like can you make the second half of the trip free after 7 o'clock?"

I still think it's a simple idea that could make long waits between buses more tolerable. I'm interested to see what TriMet says the budget impact would be.

In a few years, TriMet might do away with the old-school ripped paper transfers altogether. Fetsch says that in a couple years, the system will look at giving riders electronic cards that, unlike scraps of paper, could tell where you got on the bus, where you got off, and could deduct the right amount.