...for one, there needs to be members on the board who actually use the system. I moved here 34 years ago from Washington State and have ridden TriMet throughout that entire time.
To be on the board pretty much requires connections and usually some sort of degree in civic/transit planning, administration, or whatever. This pretty much locks out people who actually deal with the system on a daily basis and in some cases know the needs of riders and drivers better than the current board members who drive everyday and rarely if ever set foot on a bus or Max. They don't know what it;'s like to stand on cold windy rainy day on the transit mall with no protection (those new "shelters" on the Transit Mall and along the FX2 route are a total joke), They don't know the frustration of missjsut missing a connection at a transit centre and having to wait for the next bus not because the bus you are on was a few minutes late, but because that's the way it's actually scheduled.
I've known drivers who candidly told me that they have little to no say about operations even though they are on the front lines" everyday and see lots of issues. They even encourage us riders to file comments, as they feel we have a better voice. Well, apparently every time there is another "nickel and dime" fare increase (like the latest one), that isn't the case. I commented about that as well as I couldn't make the public meetings and particularly focused on keeping senior/disabled and low income fares where they currently are. They could have also raised regular adult fares to the next 25¢ which is much more easy to manage and left the HC fares at the current rate.
Without rider advocates on board (who actually have a say and not just are there as tokens), these sort of situations will continue where the board feel it knows what the public wants when the riding public sees different needs and matters that that require attention (and don't get me on the FX2 alignment).
I recognize this is resurrecting an old, old comment section, but I seem to hear a lot of misplaced negative sentiment towards the Trimet board. Maybe there were some "bad old days" that are tinting people's perspective negatively, but the board is appointed by the governor for 4 year terms, so it's now full of Brown and Kotek appointees, and reading about them, they all seem to be pretty committed public servants and subject experts on various facets of what's important about running a public transportation agency - transportation planning itself, law, public accounting, working with unions, architecture and design...
Half the board seems to be quite young for what it's worth, and I genuinely believe most of them ride TriMet. It's not hard to find transit enthusiasts in the Portland metro area - PSU's urban planning program is widely recognized, planning and urbanism enthusiasts move here /because/ the city punches so far above its weight class in terms of public and active transportation.
Maybe, a public transportation system is just really complex, and running one is hard, and these people are doing a really admirable job, especially considering they're serving such a sprawling, low density metro area.
As for the fare increase: I don't know exactly how long the fare has been $2.50, but I know they've repeatedly emphasized in public outreach that this is the first fare increase in more than a decade. Given inflation, $2.50 in 2014 dollars is /$3.34/ in 2024 dollars. In real dollars, our fare has been going down for over 10 years, and now they're increasing it to still less than it used to be.
...King County has a Transit Advisory Commission composed primarily of bus riders it has a major say in transit policy. We have nothing like that here. Most times I've attended open meeting the public input portion was a sham as little to none of the well organised concerns of attendees representing riding public were never considered. It is as if we wasted our time and breath.
THere were several proposals for he FX one pf which was running it on Powell to 82nd to Division. THey ended up settling on the worst option. I used to live just off DIvision in the Richmond neighbourhood. Every weekday during the afternoon commute, there would a line of slow moving bumper to bumper stop and go traffic that stretched for Ladd's all the way to 39th and sometimes beyond. Beforehand I lived just west of Ladds a couple blocks north of DIvision and rode the #70 to work which was often delayed in eh morning by frequent freight trains at the SE 12th crossing. Sometimes there would be two trains, or trains would even stop for a while, blocking the crossing ( I've still seen the latter occur).
I had a very difficult time seeing how FX buses could ever maintain a schedule with that,, let alone the heavy pedestrian traffic, left turns, and the railway crossing it had to contend with. For the latter there is a detour which goes all the up Mcloughlin to Hawthorne and then back down 7th to division, however it adds six more potential red lights to the run as well as encountering slow traffic on Mcloughlin depending on the time of day. again had it used the Powell alignment it would avoid all that (in fact the project was originally titled hte Powell-Division Transit and Development Project.
Below is an excerpt of a release on March 2015 detailed on on Portland.Gov for the proposed BRT line (which became the FX2) to Gresham.
[At the same meeting the Steering Committee, which includes community and government agency representatives, reached consensus on the most promising route options for the new high-capacity transit services slated for the Powell-Division corridor. The new bus rapid transit service will travel from the Central City across the Tilikum Crossing, up Powell Blvd to either 50th, 52nd or 82nd Avenues, where it will head north to Division St. It will then travel on Division to Gresham, where it will connect to Mount Hood Community College. The Steering Committee expressed strong support for 82nd Ave ].
Note the term "bus rapid transit service".
This is the alignment they I mentioned in my OP which I also supported during public open meetings and comments directly to TriMe. adding what I had observed about traffic train frequency after living in both the Richmond and Hosford-ABernathy neighbourhoods.
Concerning hte fare increase Senior/Disabled fares, while it is 12% for both HC and adult the increase tends to hit seniors harder due to many being on meagre fixed incomes from which necessities like housing, medications utilities, and food take a larger amount from. Again the original proposal mentioned the HC increase was to be only 5¢ to 1.30$ so the final amount came as a bit of shock
When the Max is safe to ride, we will attract more commuters. Until then, nobody will risk their lives and happiness to take the train to work. I have witnessed too much violence, trash, and human waste to board the Max on a regular basis. I have always been a proponent of light rail, and today I cannot say for sure that it is safe and effective to use on the reg.
...for one, there needs to be members on the board who actually use the system. I moved here 34 years ago from Washington State and have ridden TriMet throughout that entire time.
To be on the board pretty much requires connections and usually some sort of degree in civic/transit planning, administration, or whatever. This pretty much locks out people who actually deal with the system on a daily basis and in some cases know the needs of riders and drivers better than the current board members who drive everyday and rarely if ever set foot on a bus or Max. They don't know what it;'s like to stand on cold windy rainy day on the transit mall with no protection (those new "shelters" on the Transit Mall and along the FX2 route are a total joke), They don't know the frustration of missjsut missing a connection at a transit centre and having to wait for the next bus not because the bus you are on was a few minutes late, but because that's the way it's actually scheduled.
I've known drivers who candidly told me that they have little to no say about operations even though they are on the front lines" everyday and see lots of issues. They even encourage us riders to file comments, as they feel we have a better voice. Well, apparently every time there is another "nickel and dime" fare increase (like the latest one), that isn't the case. I commented about that as well as I couldn't make the public meetings and particularly focused on keeping senior/disabled and low income fares where they currently are. They could have also raised regular adult fares to the next 25¢ which is much more easy to manage and left the HC fares at the current rate.
Without rider advocates on board (who actually have a say and not just are there as tokens), these sort of situations will continue where the board feel it knows what the public wants when the riding public sees different needs and matters that that require attention (and don't get me on the FX2 alignment).
I recognize this is resurrecting an old, old comment section, but I seem to hear a lot of misplaced negative sentiment towards the Trimet board. Maybe there were some "bad old days" that are tinting people's perspective negatively, but the board is appointed by the governor for 4 year terms, so it's now full of Brown and Kotek appointees, and reading about them, they all seem to be pretty committed public servants and subject experts on various facets of what's important about running a public transportation agency - transportation planning itself, law, public accounting, working with unions, architecture and design...
Half the board seems to be quite young for what it's worth, and I genuinely believe most of them ride TriMet. It's not hard to find transit enthusiasts in the Portland metro area - PSU's urban planning program is widely recognized, planning and urbanism enthusiasts move here /because/ the city punches so far above its weight class in terms of public and active transportation.
Here are their bios, and you can email any of them directly from this page if you have complaints: https://trimet.org/about/board.htm
Maybe, a public transportation system is just really complex, and running one is hard, and these people are doing a really admirable job, especially considering they're serving such a sprawling, low density metro area.
As for the fare increase: I don't know exactly how long the fare has been $2.50, but I know they've repeatedly emphasized in public outreach that this is the first fare increase in more than a decade. Given inflation, $2.50 in 2014 dollars is /$3.34/ in 2024 dollars. In real dollars, our fare has been going down for over 10 years, and now they're increasing it to still less than it used to be.
...King County has a Transit Advisory Commission composed primarily of bus riders it has a major say in transit policy. We have nothing like that here. Most times I've attended open meeting the public input portion was a sham as little to none of the well organised concerns of attendees representing riding public were never considered. It is as if we wasted our time and breath.
THere were several proposals for he FX one pf which was running it on Powell to 82nd to Division. THey ended up settling on the worst option. I used to live just off DIvision in the Richmond neighbourhood. Every weekday during the afternoon commute, there would a line of slow moving bumper to bumper stop and go traffic that stretched for Ladd's all the way to 39th and sometimes beyond. Beforehand I lived just west of Ladds a couple blocks north of DIvision and rode the #70 to work which was often delayed in eh morning by frequent freight trains at the SE 12th crossing. Sometimes there would be two trains, or trains would even stop for a while, blocking the crossing ( I've still seen the latter occur).
I had a very difficult time seeing how FX buses could ever maintain a schedule with that,, let alone the heavy pedestrian traffic, left turns, and the railway crossing it had to contend with. For the latter there is a detour which goes all the up Mcloughlin to Hawthorne and then back down 7th to division, however it adds six more potential red lights to the run as well as encountering slow traffic on Mcloughlin depending on the time of day. again had it used the Powell alignment it would avoid all that (in fact the project was originally titled hte Powell-Division Transit and Development Project.
Below is an excerpt of a release on March 2015 detailed on on Portland.Gov for the proposed BRT line (which became the FX2) to Gresham.
[At the same meeting the Steering Committee, which includes community and government agency representatives, reached consensus on the most promising route options for the new high-capacity transit services slated for the Powell-Division corridor. The new bus rapid transit service will travel from the Central City across the Tilikum Crossing, up Powell Blvd to either 50th, 52nd or 82nd Avenues, where it will head north to Division St. It will then travel on Division to Gresham, where it will connect to Mount Hood Community College. The Steering Committee expressed strong support for 82nd Ave ].
Note the term "bus rapid transit service".
This is the alignment they I mentioned in my OP which I also supported during public open meetings and comments directly to TriMe. adding what I had observed about traffic train frequency after living in both the Richmond and Hosford-ABernathy neighbourhoods.
Concerning hte fare increase Senior/Disabled fares, while it is 12% for both HC and adult the increase tends to hit seniors harder due to many being on meagre fixed incomes from which necessities like housing, medications utilities, and food take a larger amount from. Again the original proposal mentioned the HC increase was to be only 5¢ to 1.30$ so the final amount came as a bit of shock
When the Max is safe to ride, we will attract more commuters. Until then, nobody will risk their lives and happiness to take the train to work. I have witnessed too much violence, trash, and human waste to board the Max on a regular basis. I have always been a proponent of light rail, and today I cannot say for sure that it is safe and effective to use on the reg.