It’s official: After eight months of deliberations and negotiations, the TriMet board has formally adopted the 2012-2013 budget it released in the spring. No more fareless square, an across-the-board $2.50 fare, routes cuts, and more (PDF).
Despite OPAL’s strong presence at today’s board meeting, as well as all other spring meetings, the board failed to adopt any of OPAL’s suggested budget measures or put its decision on hold until the next meeting at the end of the month.
Board President Bruce Warner:
“[The budget] reflects the public and the Board’s proposal to preserve service and navigate the financial uncertainties ahead.”
That’s that. Most changes go into effect on September 1.
UPDATE:
Just talked with Jon Ostar, OPAL director, about his experience at today’s board meeting. His spirits remain high, despite the verdict. “It was successful on many fronts,” Ostar says, highlighting the fact that TriMet DID follow OPAL’s suggestion to cut back on the mysterious “contingency funds,” give $1 million of the pot to a service that discounts tickets to low-income riders. “It’s something that’s still a huge victory. That’s OPAL fighting and winning.”
Osta says that over 100 OPAL supporters attended today’s TriMet board meeting, leading to over three hours of public testimony. But, in the end, TriMet had the final say. “The board’s decision forced us to be more aggressive,” says Ostar. As the votes came to a close, clearly not in OPAL’s favor, Ostar said OPAL supporters crowded the board floor, shouting in disagreement. “It was just short of physical confrontation.”
Victory or not, this shows how passionate Portland bus riders are about their public transportation system. Here are a few more Twitter reactions from peeved riders:
Why bother having public meetings when they don’t listen to the public?
Charging more for worse public services. Welcome to Portland, Oregon!
When do my water and garbage rates go up again?
I’m supposed to feel bad for a guy who can walk to work, but rides the Max for free instead? He’s feeling bad for me because I still have to pay a fare? What…. what?
I have no problem with eliminating the fareless square, as – for the most part – the people in outer PDX have to pay up for the the free rides of close-in and downtowners.
But I still wish we could effectively go after their bloated benefits as much as we are forced to deal with less service and higher costs.
I think the changes they’ve ended up making are pretty good compared to their original plan. Getting rid of zones was a great idea. They always seemed arbitrary to me. However, I hope they listen to complaints individuals and OPAL have had about transfer times being very inconsistent. I use a monthly pass so I don’t have to worry about it, but I remember getting short changed on transfers before.
Twitter is so great. It’s so easy to say “TriMet could have fixed the budget shortfall they got hit with, without cutting services” and feel like you said something smart, but how many of these people could go to the online “Cut the Budget” tool and then explain how they’d do just that?
Oh, I forgot, whenever a business or person has budget problems, it’s automatically time to blame it/them for it.
@2:
“Charging more for worse public services. Welcome to the global recession, where tax revenues are not going to be the same as before!”
There, I fixed it for you. Do you think Portland is somehow unique in the challenges it’s facing?
Can we buy a bunch of lower cost tickets and continue using them when the price rises in September? Trimet has allowed us to do this with prior increases.
(But if they’re doing away with zones, maybe not?)
The Trimet board is nothing more than a show.
They are all sock puppets and HAVE NEVER SAID NO to a general manager.
Look at it this way: since there’s basically no fare enforcement outside of catching people red-handed at Timbers games, every route on MAX outside of downtonw is basically fareless square.
So does this mean that drug dealers won’t get to use the MAX to get around their jobs downtown now? Damn…
I don’t need a fareless zone but others (students etc) benefit so I disagree with this. @10, not true, but there is far more enforcement heading away from Portland (beaverton and sunset TC are usually swarming with cops), but essentially you are not entirely wrong. Holly, excellent point. I also hope they retain the transfer system and make it more equitable