Two weeks ago, TriMet announced its decision to axe 12 bus lines, scale back weekend service and rethink Fareless Square. Last night was the first open house getting public comment on the transit downsizing and apparently the public has a lot to say — TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch says she her mailbox has filled with 850 comments in 13 days regarding the changes.
The TriMet website has a complete list of doomed bus lines, but the most controversial ones are the 18-Hillside, 33-Fremont and 7274-Lloyd District. Fetsch says the lines TriMet decided to cut are those with the least number of riders or ones that have alternative public transit choices nearby. Oregon Environmental Council workers stood outside the meeting flyering for their policy idea — using federal stimulus dollars to patch some of TriMet’s budget holes instead of cutting service. It’s not clear whether that would actually work, though. Federal stimulus dollars can only be used for infrastructure projects, not things like paying bus drivers and dispatchers. “If we were going to invest general fund money on anything that the federal stimulus could cover, we would use the stimulus instead to offset the cost,” said Fetsch when she heard the plan. But still, she said, “We know we have to make cuts.”
Also up for debate is what to do with Fareless Square. TriMet planner Carolyn Young says her agency is examining the 33-year-old Portland institution because it met its original goals long ago: Fareless Square was originally put in place to improve air quality in downtown Portland. Back in the 70s, Pioneer Square air violated the Clean Air Act 150 days of the year, in part because downtown suit-and-ties were driving to Lloyd Center for lunch. Now that those sickening smog days are down to zero and Fareless Square loses TriMet an estimated $800,000 to $1 million in fare evasion a year, the question is whether Fareless Square is worth keeping around for other reasons.
I wrote about some of those reasons last week, when a $35,000 report pitched four options for the future of Fareless Square. Right now Young says the idea with the “most traction” is making Fareless Square apply to light rail only. That’s the option endorsed by the Portland Business Alliance, at least. According to Young, two-thirds of trips within Fareless Square take place only on light rail.
You can send in your opinion on the cuts through early March.
I think you meant the 74, not the 72…
When I was a kid I lived in West Slope and used to take the 58 Canyon Rd (then called the 57 Forest Grove, before the Westside Max) into downtown, on a 15 minute bus ride. If that Sunday bus is canceled, the only way into town on the bus would be to walk at least a mile to the next nearest route. This makes absolutely no sense to me for a close-in route. TriMet should be building a Park and Ride in West Slope and helping to reduce the close-in bottleneck on US 26, not reducing the bus service from there.
I also lived on the west side growing up, and I took the 55-Hamilton to Lincoln High School every day for four years. I’m not sure how all the Lincoln school district kids from my neighborhood will be getting to school now.
I guess they could all drive…
72 is Killingsworth/82nd
“Right now Young says the idea with the “most traction” is making Fareless Square apply to light rail only.”
Hey, that was my idea… (back in this thread http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…).
TriMet’s Spin on FS History
For two years now, Carolyn Young has been misrepresenting the original aims of Fareless Square, saying it long ago met its original goal of air quality improvement in downtown Portland while omitting any mention of other objectives stated in the 1974 report that gave birth to the free-fare zone and in thirty years of subsequent TriMet policy statements. As Young has been reminded a number of times in public hearings but has chosen to ignore, the original aims of Fareless Square were _not_ limited to air quality improvement:
“1. Promote transit riding by providing people who do not currently use transit an opportunity to try it;
2. Reduce auto generated air pollution by eliminating short auto trips within the free fare zone;
3. Help provide higher mobility and coordination for travel between governmental centers and offices in the downtown;
4. Provide more opportunities for travel within downtown to retail, financial, hotel and entertainment areas.”
A later Trimet report elaborated on these broader objectives [Fareless Square Context and History, 1991]:
• “Fareless Square encourages commuters to use transit: Fareless Square encourages commuters to leave their cars at home by providing alternative transportation during the day. About 23,000 people take Tri-Met to work in downtown Portland each day. Once downtown, Fareless Square service offers these transit riders free access to business and retail locations and opportunities. About 50% of transit riders downtown use Fareless Square service, according to a 1988 survey. About 3,000-4,000 trips are made in Fareless Square each weekday. Without this benefit, downtown workers may be more inclined to drive to work rather than use transit.”
• “Fareless Square provides an attractive downtown environment for businesses to locate:
Because of the lack of free parking, Tri-Met service has been important to making downtown Portland an attractive place for retail businesses and other employers to locate. Merchants and business groups in downtown Portland feel that the elimination of Fareless Square could have a negative effect on their businesses since transit service would not be as attractive and there are parking restrictions in the downtown area.”
Despite TriMet’s attempt to rewrite history, it’s clear that, from the beginning, Fareless Square has had broad ambitions: to encourage transit commuting, to reduce short-hop auto trips downtown, to promote downtown vitality, and to connect distinct zones within the central city.
you’re right – 74 not 72. Changed!
Problems with Rail-Only
Supporters of the Rail-Only option argue that no one downtown is ever more than a few blocks away from light-rail, with TriMet having published a series of maps showing that most of downtown falls within five blocks of either a MAX or streetcar stop.
This argument ignores then fact that people often need to travel East-West to reach destinations downtown and not just North-South. The Rail-Only option would substantially reduce the proportion of Fareless Square’s 330 blocks that is readily accessible by transit.
There is no East-West rail or streetcar route North of Morrison and many Fareless Square riders make use of the ’20-Burnside’ and other bus routes to traverse downtown East-West. (As TriMet points out, a third of Fareless Square trips take place on buses.)
At the South end of downtown, the streetcar travels East-West on Market from 11th to 4th, but there is no guarantee that the streetcar–which is a separate entity from TriMet–will remain fareless.
Due to illness, disability, or aging, a substantial (and growing) proportion of transit users experience mobility problems. In addition, decades of research shows that walking distance to transit stops is one of the chief determinants of whether people actually use public transportation. The Rail-Only option would harm mobility-impaired Portlanders and would reduce transit ridership at a moment in history when all efforts should be geared to creating new transit users and to making public transportation more attractive and convenient.