Better start savoring your $1.75 bus tickets – ten minutes ago, the TriMet Board voted 4-1 to increase bus and Max fare by 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for kids and old folks starting September 1st. One nickel of that price bump is to cover inflation, but the other twenty cents is to help cover the skyrocketing cost of gas. TriMet buys 6.6 million gallons of diesel every year and in the past few months, they’ve had to spend $4 million more than planned on the gas.
The discussion among the board revolved around whether the increase would actually effectively cover the rapidly fluctuating cost of diesel. Member Robert Williams thinks the fare increase should be higher, saying, “Although I was voted down at the last meeting… I worry that we will be coming back to the public and our riders real soon if prices spike in the future.”
At the other end of the table, Lynn Lehrbach spoke against the increase, calling the gas price jump “a political issue”. Mostly, though, Lehrbach was upset that the increase would hit the elderly hard (“old people” are called “honored citizens” in the Portland City halls). “They cut their pills in half and some of them don’t even take their medication because they can’t afford it. The nickle, the dime, whatever we push on the honored citizens, that’s immoral!” Lehrbach said, “We shouldn’t be about harming our ridership if we can help it.” He made a motion to remove senior citizens from the ordinance, but nothing came of it. Lehrbach was the only vote against the new fare.
Are any bus riders hot and bothered by this increase? When the TriMet president opened the discussion for public comment, the room fell completely silent – no one showed up to speak against the new fare.
posted by Sarah Mirk
wow 2 dollars, maybe 4 dollars a day to get around. i’d better sell my stocks in intel.
I think the lack of public comment is due to recognition that this was inevitable, given rising costs. Students and the elderly need a little shelter from these increases, though.
It’s either this or a tax, and we all know how the public hates taxes.
The more ridership increases, the more buses and MAX cars will be needed. Another expense.
I’m waiting for a Prius type bus. That might help.
No one showed up? Maybe the busses were running late again..
I understand the necessity for the price increase, but it seems to me that there’s more of an issue with the fact that TriMet hasn’t taken any steps towards using renewable energy for their busses. Even using natural gas would be a marked improvement for the bus system; I was riding my bike down in the L.A. area of all places, and some of the busses down there boasted they were running on natural gas and it was awesome- I could actually BREATHE being behind one of those things.
Seeing as how this is Portland- what’s happened to converting to biodiesel?
“Are any bus riders hot and bothered by this increase? When the TriMet president opened the discussion for public comment, the room fell completely silent – no one showed up to speak against the new fare.”
I think you just answered your own question.
I’m not upset. We deserve it. Time to get off the gas economy folks. It ain’t going to get any better.
To the poster about biodiesel. It’s not cheaper, just better for the environment. Natural gas buses are even better, but Trimet hasn’t even attempted (to my knowledge) to implement them.
“Seeing as how this is Portland- what’s happened to converting to biodiesel? ”
Most “Biodiesel” is an energy inefficient product. It uses standard petrochemicals to produce enough of it to be mass consumed. It is of course more expensive than Diesel, for the moment.
Biodiesel is much more expensive (and Trimet currently uses 10% bio fuel in most of its buses anyway). And when it’s ethanol based, it’s horrendous for the environment (a term that encompasses more than just global warming).
Hybrid buses have been trialed (you must have seen the buses with big boxes on top? especially on the hawthorne route?), but don’t save any money either: “In recent years, TriMet has been testing hybrid-electric bus technology, similar to hybrid cars. Hybrid buses cost 50% more than non-hybrid buses. During testing, the average fuel savings were only 8% over regular diesel buses.”
All that info came from the Trimet website, btw.
The big question isn’t whether the fare increase is needed. The question is, if / when fuel prices go back down again, will the fares come back down? I think I can guess the answer to that one…
Trimet is still a good deal.
And no, gas prices will NEVER be going down again, that should be obvious by now.
I ride the bus by choice instead of driving my car but it actually costs me less in gas to drive the two miles every day instead of taking the bus and I don’t have to be harassed by teenagers who refuse to hold thier bags instead of taking up extra seats. I’m done with the bus.
I say fire up the nuclear reactor (non-polluting and most of the reactors, with two major exceptions, have been operating safely) and go to electric buses. You want to kick the oil companies in the balls? That’s how to do it.
I find it appalling that Trimet hasn’t invested in pedal powered buses. I was watching the Flintstones the other day and they had this technology way back then. Why isn’t Portland of all places on the cutting edge of that technology!?
“I find it appalling that Trimet hasn’t invested in pedal powered buses.”
LOL!!LOL!!!
very good!