Author: EngineerScotty

  • December 2014 Open Thread

    A few items for your consideration: In the “pigs are flying” department, the Cascade Policy Institute actually wrote the following words on their website: Portland is known for having one of the best public transportation systems in the country Perhaps that is damning with faint praise, but there it sits.  And the article it is…

  • November 2014 Open Thread

    Time to turn the clocks back, start thinking about shopping, and have another Open Thread. Next Tuesday is election day.  If you haven’t voted already, there are many places to drop off ballots around town (it is likely too late for mail; ballots that don’t reach the elections office by the close of the polls…

  • Updated 4X: WE HAVE A DEAL! TriMet, ATU 757 ratify contract agreement

    Breaking news:  ATU Local 757 has ratified the tentative contract agreement; TriMet’s operators are now operating under a contract (excluding those retroactively imposed by OLRB) for the first time in, seemingly, forever.  The deal is retroactive to November 2012, and expires in November 2016.  The deal will produce savings for the agency of $50M compared…

  • Making BRT faster

    No, I’m not talking about travel speeds.  As Portland currently has no BRT, there’s nothing to make faster (other than existing local bus service, over which any decent BRT would be an improvement). Instead, I’m talking about rolling out BRT faster. Right now, Portland has two BRT (or potential BRT) projects that have advanced passed…

  • Rethinking transit on the west side

      No, this is not a post about the Southwest Corridor project, though that is certainly a relevant topic here.  Instead, it’s an update on the Service Enhancement Plans covering the west side of town, both the Westside SEP (covering Beaverton, Aloha, Hillsboro, Cornelius, Forest Grove, Cedar Mill, Cedar Hills, and Bethany), and the Southwest…