WELL, THAT DIDN’T WORK.
Despite TriMet’s months-long campaign about the necessity of putting extra money into new buses, disability LIFT service, and bus stop repairs, 54 percent of Portland-area voters rejected TriMet’s $125 million bond measure last week. Without that money—and in the middle of a protracted fight with its union—what’s TriMet’s plan B?
“We don’t have a plan B at this point,” says TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch, succinctly. Some of the projects TriMet would have funded with the levy money are going by the wayside, while on other fronts it looks like TriMet will just have to tighten its belt.
First: Say goodbye to fixes at 300 bus stops all around the region. Many stops on TriMet lines are just poles stuck in the mud or gravel—no shelters, benches, or even sidewalks. Without sidewalks, some disabled riders can’t get in and out of buses, but those improvements were never part of TriMet’s non-levy budget, so they’re getting cut.
The other major project the levy would have funded—replacing old buses—has been pushed off. Without money to replace 150 aging buses right now, Fetsch says, TriMet is planning to save up and buy 80 in 2012 and 80 more in 2014. Same for the LIFT buses that pick up disabled people at their homes. “We’ll just keep them a little longer, and will be replacing them a little later,” says Fetsch.
Those replacements will now be paid for, in part, by taking on more debt—paying about $1.2 million more a year. TriMet, which has a $417 million operating budget, spends $16 million every year to pay back money it has borrowed.
Critics point out a few areas where TriMet could potentially cut, including salaries. Oregon Capitol News, a journalism project of conservative local think-tank the Cascade Policy Institute, released an online database of TriMet salaries this week, with numbers showing that the agency’s general manager makes $247,071 plus $14,562 in benefits, while full-time bus drivers make $46,000 to $100,000. Fetsch noted that TriMet froze salaries for three years: “We’ve cut everything we can at this point.”
The failure of the levy might give TriMet some leverage in negotiating with its operators’ union, which has been working without a contract since November 2009 and filed an unfair labor complaint when discussions reached an impasse this July. With talks stalled, TriMet has frozen cost-of-living wage increases and refused to cover increasing health care costs until talks resume, sparking union picketing.
Another option for cutting costs could be to put a planned light rail extension to Milwaukie on hold. After federal funds for the project fell short, TriMet is scrambling to fill a $35 million budget gap in the project.
“I’m not ready to say they shouldn’t build the light rail line,” says Michael Andersen, who runs local alternative transit news service Portland Afoot and regularly attends TriMet board meetings. “They should at least discuss delaying it until their budget is back on track.”
Hi Sarah,
No doubt you know this, so this is a follow-up for your readers. TriMet currently is not contributing to the Portland-Milwaukie Line and won’t be contributing to it until FY13. The agency’s share, less than 5 percent of the total project cost, is projected to be around $3 million. On the other side, there are many benefits to keeping the project moving forward, like getting a $745 million federal grant that would not come to the region but for this project. (Remember how NJ Gov. Christie is passing up on a similar $3 billion grant). Among the many benefits, this project will create an efficient high capacity transit option, build a fantastic new bridge and start construction next year and creating up 14,000 jobs, including many much-need construction jobs. Visit trimet.org/pm
As for PMLR funding, this is a regional project, so regional partners are working together to fill the gap. We have 98 percent of the funding committed and the project is progressing well. We are confident the final piece of funding will be completed by next summer, as required by the Federal Transit Administration.
Diane Goodwin
TriMet
Fred Hanson is no longer GM. His salary was $247,071. The new GM makes less than that.
As a former full-time bus driver, I had to take a pay cut and pay for a year’s education to go into teaching. Oh, I also have to buy my own clothes now. (To me it was worth it to get away from the constant feeling I would eventually kill someone riding a bike straight toward me in the rain with no lights or reflectors.) While bus driving certainly deserves better than minimum wage, I’m not sure it demands almost four times that base-rate plus several hours of overtime for most drivers, plus a (when I switched jobs) $700 a month medical plan and other perks. Certainly, in a time where we are closing schools, pushing people out of homes, cutting social services, and finally paying attention to the fact that ends have not really been meeting for almost 10 years now, bus drivers should tale a look around and consider the fact that their boss could probably replace the entire work force for about 2/3 the cost with truck drivers out of work from the commercial slump. Nobody wants this (it’s nice to have friendly, experienced and safe drivers providing our transit) but we are in a time of need, not want, and the union would be well served to get off their abuse of public funds kick before their refusal to come to the table results in a wave of lay-offs.
Unfortunately, the capital improvements projects probably cannot go on hold. Those who have failed to target the cities of the metro region for long overdue basic improvements (sidewalks, curb cuts and wider lanes) will realize that there is another target with seemingly deeper pockets and waining public support (in other words, the ADA requires equal access, and that pretty well means that projects like curb cuts and sidewalks can only get shuffled around for so long before someone gets mad and sues everyone who might possibly have a say). On the other hand, as much as it’s painful to drive the older buses with no AC and a lift that can put a bus several minutes behind schedule in a few blocks, and as much as it was nice to work for a company where most of the employees are happy and well paid, TriMet would do well to find a way to encourage the old guard to move on or change their views, and cut the current costs of high salaries, overtime, and benefits by outsourcing their route planning, being reasonable about health care, and simply letting go of both buses and drivers that no longer work the way they are expected to. If that takes a few days of no bus service due to strikes, then so be it. As for the union, they need to realize that before they worry about wages and benefits too much, they should worry about keeping drivers employed. If that means switching to health care that more closely resembles what everyone else has, or asking employees to shell out for their own uniforms (or at least negotiating for cheaper uniforms) then so be it. If it means putting drivers on a salary and capping overtime, then maybe it needs to happen. Clearly, though, part of the defeat of this bond comes from public displeasure with both sides of an organization that has lived a little too large for a little too long, and bragged about it a little too much.
It occurs to me that TriMet might make a point by looking at the five highest cost/passenger lines (regardless of their popularity) and giving the public an ultimatum: come up with a plan to lower the cost of this route, or see it cut. While some might think that this would just mean more low-ridership line cuts (and as much as it’s nice to pay for the rich to ride the bus I am okay with asking them to walk a few blocks) it might very well turn out that the accumulated hours of waiting for police to come, fighting oncoming traffic and clipping mirrors in too-narrow roads and pulling to the side of the road while passengers solve their own internal struggle over actively consuming alcohol or continuing to ride the bus, or having buses that run full all day but come back with nearly empty fare boxes will put a few of the more popular lines on the top of the expense list. Perhaps a little pressure to “shape up or loose it” will convince neighborhoods to take an active role in reducing the cost of bus service by taking steps to police their own actions a bit. Either way, it will help reach the bottom line.
That’s the problem with TriMet: they never seem to have a Plan B.
An interesting breakdown from punkrawker4783: “Multnomah County Voters approved the Bond 59% to 41%. But Washington County Voters Said No to the tune of 56%, and Clackamas follows suit with a whopping 60% saying NO!. Would you blame them? TriMet is going to buy new buses, and improve stops….for buses that don’t run in my county?”
http://punkrawker4783.blogspot.com/2010/11…
How much is the State of Oregon contributing to Milwaukie Light Rail? Why not redirect those funds to the Sellwood Bridge, which is FALLING DOWN!!! The busiest two lane bridge in the State of Oregon should be a much higher priority than a shiny new BILLION DOLLAR bike/train bridge for the Portland City Council and their construction mafia friends.
How can Mayor Dipshit support Milwaukie Light Rail and be against the CRC?