"Light rail is actually a low-capacity system, and the streetcar is simply irrelevant. TriMet's buses carries two-thirds of all regional transit trips on a daily basis, and that's the service that should be recognized as high-capacity transit. Unfortunately, bus service is being sacrificed by TriMet in order to build costly new rail lines that carry relatively few people."

Despite spending billions on transit, Portland, Oregon residents depend on automobiles for their transportation needs

What do you have to say to that, TriMet?
My only wonder is if this is credible information?

MICHAEL ANDERSON INTERVIEWED ON "THE SPROCKET"

http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot.com/2011/05/michael-anderson-interviewed-on.html

Going the Other Way on Fares

http://www.rosecitytransit.org/more/fares.html

Make the adult fare $2 but only give 90 minutes of riding time (and not boarding time; the equivalent of about 1 hour in the current system)
Charge $2.50-$3.00 for a fare valid for 3 or 4 hours
End the zone system
Make Ticket Vending Machine- and operator-sold fares follow the same policies
Make youth and honored-citizen fares the same and 1/2 the price of adult fares
Put ticket printers in buses to replace transfers
Maybe eliminate 14-day and half-month passes, instead also offering a discount 7-day pass for youths/honored citizens
Possibly offer a discount day pass for youths/honored citizens

Standard & Poor rate Trimet an "A"

Click Here!

Progressive advocate: Tax credits are the wrong way to pay for YouthPass

Portland AFoot

C-Tran likes BRT

It will also study alternatives, including changes to existing bus service. The firm will also examine the potential environmental impacts of the project to ensure it meets federal and state regulations.Only a portion of the cost will come out of the transit agency's budget. The early planning is expected to cost $2.1 million. Of that, 80 percent will be paid by a Federal Transit Administration grant and the remaining $426,000 will be paid out of the C-Tran budget.
C-Tran awards $1.5 million contract for Vancouver bus rapid transit study

A Smile for the Commute Home

http://transitsleuth.com/2011/05/16/a-smile-for-the-commute-home/

Revoloution

'American Experience: Freedom Riders'

Into Hiding After Hit-and-Run

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/05/16/photo-bus-driver-journalists-death-released-155766

TriMet Fail

10 Accidental Discoveries

http://www.businesspundit.com/10-accidental-discoveries-that-generated-great-wealth/

Rethinking Transit #1: User Experience Fixins’ for King County Metro

Transit Sleuth

A Flea in his Ear

You can't blame regular folks for not knowing what the heck to pay attention to these days. Most of the US public is not preoccupied with the doings of the Greek finance ministry, the IMF, foreign bond spreads, CDS ratios, and the spooky action in the commodities pits. Especially not with Big Muddy rising and all those oil refineries waiting downstream like so many cypress stumps, not to mention two nuke plants at River Bend and Waterford, Louisiana. Wouldn't that make some hot gumbo?
James Howard Kunstler

TriMet: Blue, green, and yellow MAX trains out, but delays continue after derailment | Oregon Live
MAX Trains Delayed By Problems At (eastside) Rail Yard
And what do they do to save service? BUS BRIDGES! TriMet, you can't run a transit system without your buses as much as you seem to want to.

Monday, May 16, 2011

AMERIKA-THE NEW RUSSIA

Oregon: Study Finds Light Rail System Rarely Used