Frequent commenter Jason McHuff left this over on the open thread:
–Fareless Square Change Proposed: limiting it to rail only, with Green and Yellow Line replacing free bus service on the mall
–Bus Frequency Reductions Proposed (details): Many main lines go from every 15 minutes to every 17 minutes
Open Houses/Public Hearings regarding those July 13th
The Business Journal also has coverage.
33 responses to “TriMet Lays Out Fareless Square, Cuts Strategy”
I have mixed feelings about the proposed changes for Fareless Square. On one side I can see the benefits of cutting costs, but I am wary that the MAX may not provide as fast a service as the buses do right now.
You can read my blog post on my new blog that goes more in depth!
http://pdxme.com/?p=181
Every 17 minutes? Yeah, that’ll make the schedules easy to remember. Okay, I can catch it at 1:15, and 1:32, and 1:49, and 2:06, and 2:23 … yep. That shouldn’t be a problem at all, especially once you start taking transfers into account.
Seriously … if you’re going to trim service, take it down to one bus every 20 minutes and stop pretending it’s “frequent.”
Seriously … if you’re going to trim service, take it down to one bus every 20 minutes and stop pretending it’s “frequent.”
I agree. In fact, if this goes through, I like to see the “Frequent Service” branding discontinued on those routes. The reason is simple: Frequent Service is supposed to be “15 minutes or better during the day, every day.” That’s EXACT TriMet verbage from my current 14-Hawthorne schedule.
Guess I’d better make preparations now, this will probably be the next service cut proposal that’s rubber-stamped by the TriMet Board.
TriMet says:
“Due to the weak economy, TriMet still faces a $3.5 million budget shortfall.”
Funny it didn’t mention the $5 million WES shortfall.
Guess I’d better make preparations now, this will probably be the next service cut proposal that’s rubber-stamped by the TriMet Board.
Seriously – I was at the board meeting where they passed the first round of cuts, and I don’t even know why they bothered letting people testify there. They didn’t respond to the citizens, didn’t acknowledge what they said, and then unanimously passed the cuts. It would’ve saved them a lot of time to just say “We’ll pretend that you guys gave your testimonies, but since it doesn’t maek a difference, let’s just move on to the vote. All in favor? Resolution passed.”
Guess I’d better make preparations now, this will probably be the next service cut proposal that’s rubber-stamped by the TriMet Board.
Seriously – I was at the board meeting where they passed the first round of cuts, and I don’t even know why they bothered letting people testify there. They didn’t respond to the citizens, didn’t acknowledge what they said, and then unanimously passed the cuts. It would’ve saved them a lot of time to just say “We’ll pretend that you guys gave your testimonies, but since it doesn’t maek a difference, let’s just move on to the vote. All in favor? Resolution passed.”
Guess I’d better make preparations now, this will probably be the next service cut proposal that’s rubber-stamped by the TriMet Board.
Seriously – I was at the board meeting where they passed the first round of cuts, and I don’t even know why they bothered letting people testify there. They didn’t respond to the citizens, didn’t acknowledge what they said, and then unanimously passed the cuts. It would’ve saved them a lot of time to just say “We’ll pretend that you guys gave your testimonies, but since it doesn’t maek a difference, let’s just move on to the vote. All in favor? Resolution passed.”
Maybe Trimet could pull in some revenue if the ticket machines worked. This evening, I was trying to get on Max at the Galleria station. Trying to buy a ticket, I noticed that the Card Only Machine was out of service. Then I went over to the Cash/Card Machine, it said that it was not taking cards. So I went over to he Yamhill side. Same deal. Walked down to Pioneer Square, same issue with all machines on Morrison AND Yamhill. Went down to Pioneer Square…yup same issue. Went down to 3rd ave. Same deal. So I hopped on without paying. Yeah I know I could have shoved some dollars in but I rarely carry cash. I use my bank card for everything. Come on guys, you won’t even take my money. No wonder Trimet is millions in the hole.
Here’s The Oregonian’s coverage of the situation.
Overall, I feel that while it could be argued that some of TriMet’s decisions have helped create the current budget issues, we need to look at solving the real problem: That TriMet has been given a lot of inefficient, low-density development to serve.
Development which for TriMet results in buses either having to travel farther (more labor, fuel, etc) to serve the same amount of people or serving less people per route.
Development that is a result of tilted government policies and subsidies such as required parking, taxation that may discourage intensive development, brand-new schools for suburban development while the neighboring city schools empty out, infrastructure and services that cost more when people are spread out but are not priced more,…
In addition, drivers are given subsidies like the pollution-cleaning Big Pipe, streets funded by sources like urban renewal or property taxes, free public parking, oil defense, etc which also discourages them from taking transit.
Moreover, I feel that those things are what has led TriMet to make some of the decisions that certain people take issue with. That if there was a fair playing field we could have a rational discussion on things like whether or not to have MAX, streetcar or WES. I believe that either they would not be needed to attract people to transit or that there would be enough ridership to really justify them.
And regarding the payroll tax, why should someone who puts their business in Downtown Portland where the employees can ride existing transit pay more than someone who locates their business in a new fringe development that requires a brand-new (or extended) route? And why should a new housing development that creates a need for extended service not have to pay anything?
The other issue with it is that when employers along a line decrease employees the service still needs to run for the other workers. 1/4th of a bus can’t be cut like the numbers of employees can.
And regarding the payroll tax, why should someone who puts their business in Downtown Portland where the employees can ride existing transit pay more than someone who locates their business in a new fringe development that requires a brand-new (or extended) route?
That’s interesting, I was under the impression that the payroll tax that goes specifically to TriMet is the same, no matter where you are in the district.
The other issue with it is that when employers along a line decrease employees the service still needs to run for the other workers.
IMO, also part of the problem. If one were to ask me, I’d argue that it doesn’t matter what the payroll tax percentage is when companies either cut positions entirely and/or cut the pay of their other employees. If a business cuts salaries across-the-board at 5%, that means TriMet will get 5% less from that company. When a place goes out of business, that’s 100% less (same thing when an employee can no longer afford to travel to work due to a pay cut and gets fired–100% less of the amount that would otherwise be collected). Multiply by the size of the number of businesses in the metro area, and there’s a snowball effect.
i agree about frequent service lines, if its no longer “frequent service” remove the signage.
it would be nice if they could look into bus lanes, traffic signal priority and stop consolidation as a way of speeding up and more efficiently operating the service so they can operate fewer vehicles but maintain the current headways.
how about 100 million rides in a year? does someone have numbers or a graph showing the yearly ridership of portland transit over the years, i’d like to see how it compares to 1970 and WWII.
stop pretending it’s “frequent.”
Actually true frequent service is 8 minutes or less between buses. That means you never have to wait more than 15 minutes for service!
That was always a joke.
…………………..
rubber-stamped by the TriMet Board.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful indeed if even one member of the Fred Fan Club would argue and vote a dissent, on something, anything!
……………………….
Funny it didn’t mention the $5 million WES shortfall.
Very funny!
………………………….
“We’ll pretend that you guys gave your testimonies, but since it doesn’t maek a difference, let’s just move on to the vote. All in favor? Resolution passed.”
BINGO! GIVE THAT MAN A CEEEEGAR!
…………………..
Overall, I feel that while it could be argued that some of TriMet’s decisions have helped create the current budget issues,
I agree with this part of your post, not sure about the rest.
………………………
how about 100 million rides in a year?
I’ve always been highly suspicious of TRIMET’S statistics.
-Bus Frequency Reductions Proposed (details): Many main lines go from every 15 minutes to every 17 minutes
It should be noted that this is mid-day service, not rush hour service that is being affected.
This is typical of government institutions. Rather than removing the “Frequent Service” tag from any routes, they will instead change their definition of “Frequent Service” so that it still applies to whatever they want it to.
This is like police departments reclassifying some felonies as misdemeanors, then reporting that felony crime statistics are down, and then giving themselves a pat on the back for their ingenuity.
Of course, police departments can’t reclassify felonies as misdemeanors (or vice versa); only the Legislature can do that. And changing the definition of “good” is hardly unique to governments; private organizations do the same thing.
Jason’s point is that the fix for Tri-Met is to properly fund the service; not for different users of the service (and different modes) to constantly have to compete for scarce dollars.
Trimet now offers:
CONSISTENT SERVICE!
hehe..
They are FIVE MILLION short?
Well I can tell you right now where to find $7,000,000 and it won’t even TOUCH customer services at all!
GET RID OF THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT!
We don’t need a marketing department right now!
We can retrain every person in that department to be bus/rail/streetcar drivers!
PROBLEM SOLVED!
And why does it cost $2,543,295 to keep FRED’S office going?
That’s 10X his salary!!!
Instead of continuing on the unsustainable trajectory of local taxpayer funded subsidies to transit, fares need to be increased, Fareless Square needs to be totally eliminated and TriMet needs to charge an extra fare for carrying freight on transit such as transporting bicycles – all with the goal to become financially self-sustainable.
You sure that police departments can’t turn aggrivated assault into simple assault charges, or even into misdemeanor harassment charges? It actually gives two effects: a lesser charge is more likely to stick, and it “improves” the crime statistics even though the crime is still happening.
Doesn’t take a legislature to put a lesser (or no) charge on someone in order to make the stats look good, and it’s done quite a bit.
Maybe its time to look at adding something to peak hour fares to increase income or reducing non-peak hour fares to attract more riders. Doesn’t Seattle do this? Its a pain, but maybe its time.
Meanwhile Rail Fareless makes sense to me.
That’s interesting, I was under the impression that the payroll tax that goes specifically to TriMet is the same, no matter where you are in the district.
It is. It should have been “pay the same”. Overall, it makes sense to cut service if commuter ridership is down, but besides the fact that people ride to many other places besides work, lots of service is already infrequent and making it even less frequent has real effects.
Also, there’s a lot of things that the marketing department does. I’m pretty sure that they do the Web site and all the customer service stuff.
Lastly, I think that fares are expensive enough and that adding even a rush-hour only surcharge is not a good idea.
fares need to be increased
No, passengers need to increased, and maybe travel distances shortened. If you divide the cost of running a bus by 40 passengers, it comes out to about $1-2 per half-hour ride.
Fareless Square needs to be totally eliminated
If government policies and subsidies didn’t favor suburban development and driving, things like Fareless Square wouldn’t be needed because transit need to compete with them.
TriMet needs to charge an extra fare for carrying freight on transit such as transporting bicycles
A fair bike fare wouldn’t be that much since its not that expensive to maintain a bike rack and have it used (e.g. extra fuel to carry the extra weight). But TriMet actually did use to require a bike pass.
day #2 of ticket machines not working. Every machine along the WES line was down today as well as all card only machines on the MAX line.
So tell me why does Trimet have such a revenue shortfall???
When you said “reclassifying”, I thought you meant redefining certain crimes into a different class, not seeking lesser charges against a defendant. The latter is, of course, the perogative of the prosecutor–one reason it may be done is a misdemeanor charge can be filed by the DA acting alone, but a felony charge requires a grand jury.
It’s frequently done in borderline cases; I’m not aware of it being systematically done to save money on corrections or investigation costs.
Payroll taxes being payroll taxes, they are paid based on the employer’s location. If you live in Wilsonville and work downtown, a payroll tax is paid to Tri-Met on your behalf. If you live downtown and work in Wilsonville, you’re paying for SMART instead.
Some communities which are mainly residential suburbs draw a lot of service, but contribute little in payroll taxes–at least not directly. In most cases, the residents do work elsewhere in the service district, but not always.
One reason Wilsonville was able to opt out is the city has a very high jobs-to-residents ratio (at one point, it had the distinction of being the only city in Oregon to have more employees working within its borders than residents living there; given recent construction I doubt that is still true).
The Fareless Square changes make sense. Peak hour surcharges don’t. They are confusing and can wreak havoc with people’s plans, especially right around the changeover time (I currently live in Minneapolis which has a peak surcharge and it’s terrible). No transit system in America is “financially sustainable”. It’s just not possible under modern economic conditions. Charging extra for bikes, etc. makes theoretical sense but would add more unneccesary complexity.
That said, Tri-Met should also consider some zone reforms. The shape of Zone 1 is pretty sensible, but Zone 2 zigzags every which way. Except for the eastern edge, it appears to be based on the Portland city limits. (Was the part of Zone 3 that’s within the city limits annexed to Portland after the Zone system was established?) Something more consistent like concentric circles centred on the Portland City Hall should be considered. Fareless Rail could be 1 km (0.6 mi.) in radius, Zone 1 could be 5 km (3 mi.), Zone 2 could be 10 km (6 mi.), etc. Then perhaps the spread between a 2 and 3 Zone fare needs to go above 30 cents. It’s been 30 cents for 20 years, percentage wise it’s become almost insignificant (90 cents/$1.20 in 1991 vs. $2.00/$2.30 now).
17-minute frequencies? Yuck. Either keep at 15 or cut to 20, please. People should be able to memorise schedules. A 17-minute headway doesn’t lend itself to that.
Proof of Payment on MAX? Good idea but they need more inspectors. What is the frequency of inspection in Germany where this idea originated? I’m sure it’s more than used on any American LRT system and should be considered. Maybe then Tri-Met could even go back to POP on buses….
the city has a very high jobs-to-residents ratio
Exactly, though I think Wilsonville was a pretty different place when they left TriMet. Another thing I’ve pointed out here is that the jobs there seem to be of the higher-paying corporate variety. And those are pitfalls of the payroll tax–a richer (higher tax-producing) area can decide to keep those taxes to themselves. However, I have to admit that they do provide a very decent bus service, but that still doesn’t help highly residential areas that generate little payroll taxes.
add more unneccesary complexity
I don’t think it would be that hard to charge for a bike, especially since someone who wants to use the racks should look into the procedures of doing so.
concentric circles
Denver seems to do that with their rail system now, but I think applying that to buses which operate in every direction would be hard.
As for the present fare zones, they are a consolidation of the old five-zone system. But I’d have to look up the reasoning for that one. Though I know eastern Portland was annexed fairly recently.
Speaking of SERVICE CUTS, here is some interesting info.
Turns out the TRIMET is more interested in COMPUTER SERVICES THAN TRANSIT SERVICES:
http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot.com/2009/06/trimet-serves-computer-needs-more-than.html
I missed this previously; Adron linked to this on his site:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2009/05/trimet_ridership_numbers_slidi.html
It says that rush-hour ridership is down, however weekend bus usage is UP in April 2009 compared to April 2008, by 2.3%. But weekend bus service is what TriMet wants to reduce service on!
however weekend bus usage is UP in April 2009 compared to April 2008, by 2.3%. But weekend bus service is what TriMet wants to reduce service on!
Golly Gee, does it appear to anyone else that there may be some manipulation of the facts going on?
Tomorrow, August 12, is the date when Tri-Met’s board of directors votes on proposals to modify Fareless Square. The outcome of the vote is not certain, but many believe that they will vote to limit Fareless Square to rail vehicles (both MAX and streetcar), but no longer permit fareless rides on busses.
The stated reason for this is obvious–the trains run on proof of payment; so enforcing the Square is no different from current fare enforcement: If you are on the train (outside the square) and don’t have a valid pass, ticket, or transfer in your possession, you’re in violation. Busses, OTOH, run on pay-as-you-board; and drivers are expected to keep track of which passengers boarded without payment of fare and then stayed on the bus pass the square’s boundaries. (A similar issue exists for drivers who board and pay a 1-2 zone fare, then ride further).
The rail-only plan is further justified by claims that the majority of the square is within five blocks of a train. True, but often that train isn’t going where where you want. East-west connectivity in the square will only be provided by MAX in the center, and by the Streetcar in the south. (The new streetcar loop won’t help; Lovejoy and the Broadway Bridge are outside the square).
The Cascade Policy Institute, of course, wants to get rid of the square; its president, John Charles, penned a guest editorial in today’s Oregonian calling for that. He claims Tri-Met loses $3 million or so due to the Square, whereas most estimates put it at $800k (0.1% of Tri-Met’s budget). He ignores the fare collection issue. And, he claims that this policy would disadvantage the poor–it’s always cute to watch libertarians invoke the plight of poor people to support some reduction of government service.
What do I think? Eliminating Fareless bus service makes sense–on most lines–but it makes some trips within the square difficult. Perhaps this is the time for Tri-Met to start switching bus service to proof-of-payment, if only on some lines. Those lines which operate on proof-of-payment (pay a cash fare and you automatically get a receipt, and you may be asked to show it to an inspector; those with passes may board without bothering the driver) can continue Fareless operation.
It’s official… trying to ride a bus in “fareless (fairless?) square” may ‘result in fines of up to $250, exclusion, and/or arrest.’
Those of us in the Transit Riders Union gave the board quite an earful of public comment before they voted 6-1 in favor of axing fareless bus service. Director Lynn Lehrbach was the lone “no” vote.
(Please note that I personally don’t support the disruptive actions of a few of my colleagues during this mornings’ TriMet Board Meeting.)