The city seems to be mostly quietly adjusting to the most recent round of public transit budget cuts. Rider grumbling hasn’t stopped the price of a TriMet ticket from jumping to $2.50 or brought free rail back to downtown.
Except in one neighborhood, where outcry over September’s transit cuts is loud and clear and gathering steam. In NE Portland’s Woodlawn neighborhood, the complaints will actually lead to change, with TriMet promising to repair the situation.
TriMet cut service on nine bus lines and reconfigured 15 others to save $1.1 million this year—$500,000 of that came from whacking the last 2.5 miles off the #8 bus line, which used to end at North Portland’s Jubitz Truck Stop. Businesses and residents along NE Dekum in the Woodlawn neighborhood were mostly surprised to learn that the end of the line changed overnight, now dropping buses, drivers, and riders middle of Woodlawn’s fledgling business district four blocks east of Martin Luther King Avenue.
Now, up to three buses at a time line up in front of Woodlawn Park and at peak times, six buses an hour circle the outdoor cafe at the Firehouse Restaurant.
For the past two months, neighbors have been meeting with TriMet to voice their complaints about the change. They’re joined by TriMet drivers, whose union penned a forceful letter (pdf) in September saying the change has stressed out drivers.
The complaints get to the dirty work of driving a bus. The buses lingering next to Woodlawn Park make a choke point for traffic on Dekum. Unlike at the truck stop, the noise and diesel fumes created as the buses arrive at the end of the line, idle, then turn around again, irritate neighbors and business owners who are trying to create a cute, walkable neighborhood.
“It’s loud. It’s smelly,” says Mark Hoskins, who owns the business Upcycles near the new end of the line. “Locals felt blindsided.”
Ending the line at the small park instead of a truck stop has created a rather pressing problem for drivers: There’s nowhere to pee. The two businesses that agreed to let drivers use their bathrooms say they’ve seen twice as many come in as TriMet said there would be.
“TriMet management has deemed not to include enough time in their schedules” to continue to the route to Jubitz, where there is a bathroom bus drivers can use 24 hours a day, reads the union’s letter, signed by President Bruce Hansen. “For the local businesses that have the outside cafes, we totally understand the annoyance of diesel fumes your customers are subjected to.”
Though it bungled the roll-out of the #8 reroute, TriMet has made some changes in response to neighbor complaints. The agency posted signs saying that all idling buses must be turned off and TriMet spokesperson Mary Fetsch says that as a temporary fix, 40 percent of the buses will use a different layover location in the spring.
But Hoskins and the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association want 100 percent of the buses back to the truck stop and pronto. Frustrated by meeting with TriMet reps at in their neighborhood, they’re planning to show up in force to TriMet board meeting next Wednesday, November 28th.
“We’re suffering, so we’re asking them to make some sort of change as soon as possible,” says Hoskins.
I didn’t realize the union had changed its name to Marathon Productions. What exactly are they advertising?
Good to know Marathon Production’s current advertising budget.
What are you talking about? I looked at every link and still don’t see anything about “Marathon Productions.” The only error I see is “Martin Luther King Avenue” (it’s Blvd.).
By “quietly adjusting” I’m sure you meant “going back to driving our fucking cars and riding our fucking bikes because trimet fucking sucks.”
There will be no Board meeting on the 28th. The next Board meeting will be on December 5, 2012. The next Woodlawn General meeting will be tomorrow night and the main topic of business will be electing officers and filling positions for the next year. Anjala, a Board Member
If no one is riding to Jubitz (and I have to assume they aren’t, otherwise the bus would continue to go there), why should they go miles out of the way to service a stop that isn’t being used? Many other bus lines turn around in neighborhoods and not at truck stops and everything is fine. Heck, the #8 used to turn around at The Very Same Spot less than 10 years ago without any drama whatsoever. The drivers usually stop at Rose Quarter and use the toilets there and they have moved the stop back a ways from the businesses at Durham. It is also not on the same side of the street as any residences, though again, many bus routes do end up in residential areas, turn off their engines, and all is well. While there are some voices in Woodlawn who may feel strongly about this issue, many of us don’t agree at all with the protest. I’ve watched bus service get less and less over the past 10 years and have to believe the complainers truly don’t ‘get it’ that some of us Want the buses and don’t consider them an annoyance, but a link to the city.
I am one bus rider who lives somewhere along that abandoned 2.5 miles of the old #8 route.
I am also a bike rider who can no longer safely bike through the Woodlawn Triangle on Dekum.
And I am a Woodlawn resident who uses the park and frequents the businesses in the Triangle.
My opinion: this sucks. It is not as heinous as the practice of putting light rail and trolley tracks on bike routes. It is not as dangerous as the (few) violent and aggressive bus drivers out there. But it sure does make me realize that once again the ‘hood gets the shaft (smelly idling buses blocking traffic and a long walk to catch the bus) while the Rose Quarter gets a street car. How many times could the #8 have made that trip to Jubitz with the money spent on the Eastside streetcar?
Once again ego and ignorance on high cost those of us at the bottom in terms of our money, time, and quality of life. Like I said, I live in Woodlawn. My neighbors may be bus drivers, but they are certainly not the ones who cut service and raised ticket prices.
Grrr….
“If no one is riding to Jubitz (and I have to assume they aren’t, otherwise the bus would continue to go there)”
You must not be very familiar with public transportation funding in Portland.