*Occupy Wall Flowers*

The fact is that some of us had to give up Tri-Met several years ago when the first bus cuts went into effect (to fund WES and more MAX). The cuts eliminated bus service outside of rush hour. Which rendered the bus near us absolutely useless to us, since we live nowhere near a MAX line and don't work standard work hours.

Unbelievable. This is like looking around the room to see what items can be pawned to pay the heating bill.

How much is TriMet losing on WES? Was any of that cut?

They should just eliminate WES. Right now. Yesterday.

The 'boomers' are the bureaucrats still drawing from the city or state government trough.

Dude, you need some weed and maybe enough to share with the other few who don't have any!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This can't be real can it? The number 9 will no longer go downtown?? I rode that bus almost daily in my youth and even when I was older to get to work. I lived right on the 8 line but would walk the extra blocks because the number 9 had better "clientele".

This is so sad and there is really no excuse to defund a popular line like this just to sink all of the money into the mystery train to nowhere. I am just shaking my head.

They can't cancel WES for (IIRC) ten years, or they would have to give back the Federal construction dollars which drove the whole project to begin with.

OTOH they'll "pay" the same amount of money in operating losses -- and then some -- well before that end date. But none of that starves any fat construction firms, so that's okay. Crazy!

Tri-Met is getting more expensive and less convenient to use. Not a winning formula for increasing ridership. But don't worry: Portland is still the "multi-modal mecca."

And yeah, Boomers are way overrated.

I miss the 9 Broadway, and it was a great line -- even if it took a bit to stair-step through the neighborhood. Rarely crowded, and usually quite pleasant.

The only memorable problems I ever had were at Lloyd Center. Oh yeah, I want to stand around there twice a day. NOT! I don't like being anywhere near there anymore.

I got off easy this time, but I'm sure they'll get me eventually. They are even messing with the 9x express lines, and those were already stressed...

I work in Gresham and live in Hillsboro and work and live right next to two maxx stations and I still drive round trip 48 miles a day rather than ride the Maxx. That is how F***ed up the system is. Used to ride it downtown to spend money at shows and shops, no more. Not for years. Used to take it to the airport, not anymore. We drive. I ride it usually once a year to see if things have changed and I always regret it. It used to be a good system until the current idiots ran it into the ground with high fares, bad service and dirty trains.

Driving to and from my job: 12 minutes each way. Tri-Met: 90 to 120 minutes each way; 3-4 hours per day (depending on the day). Guess which option I chose.

"The fact that there is not a massive uprising against the people running Portland right now indicates to us that there's something seriously wrong with this town. The corruption runs too deep."
---

As I've said once or twice, Portland gets what Portland wants.

For the needed massive uprising there needs to be a catalyst. Not sure if this is it. And not sure the majority of the population are there yet.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

World-class transportation. The City That Works.

The fact is NOBODY CARES about Trimet!
Only 12% of the population uses it, despite the huge propaganda program.

9 out of 10 people don't use Trimet!

That's one reason why there is no uprising, the other reason is the people who do use it have no organizational skills!

Poor, Hispanic, too busy working, the Americans that everyone love to #$%@ on.

Perhaps the Clackistanis would be game for teaming up with the like-minded rebels from "The WC" on an anti-WES ballot initiative?

Of course, WES is just one facet of TriMet's plummet toward bankruptcy. They also need to (obviously) kill the Mystery Train, and stop with all the self-aggrandizing PR crap. When you're broke due to complete inefficiencies, you don't hire PR flacks to promote ways for yourself to become even more financially screwed.

But alas, that's the Portland way. Put a bird on your train to bankruptcy!

Where is Fred Hansen? He just finished up his residency in Adelaide titled "Growing vibrant communities through Transport". In his final report in late October he expounded "Density" as a major component to the solution. Good luck Australia and New Zealand.

But what's the problem down under? Recently I was in both countries. In Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, and even the smaller cities they have torn out streetcars in the past few decades to enhance bus service with express bus service and bus malls next to their inter-country train, ferry, and other transportation means. It is very easy to navigate their cities and beyond. The costs are less than here and the service is more than twice Portland's frequency.

I wonder if Adelaide really will buy Hansen's story. They need to come to Portland and meet other people besides the TriMet immense pontificating PR minions.

I seem to recall Portland started taking over the red bus (Rose City) when they refused a fare increase to (40 cents?)in 1967 or so.

The blue bus (Valley?) charged only 35 cents I think...and the taxpayers had no unfunded pension liability and NO TAXPAYER SUPPORT !

One more "public/private partnership" that blows up in the hand...taking off a few fingers....at the shoulder.

By the way, I routinely took the bus from 74th & Powell, ALONE, (age 8-9) downtown to the YMCA for swimming lessons and return for two years in '56 or so. And I never saw a fight or shooting!

Yeah man what happened to the boomers? Cultural revolution of the 1960's, the biggest most powerful voting block and now we are even more corrupted and backward than we were 50 years ago. WTF?

I'm sure there are books about it. "Selling Out or Buying In: A Cultural History of the Baby Boomer Generation."

I'd read that. Interesting topic.

I hate to say it, but this country will be a lot better off when we boomers are all dead.

It's because only the poor ride the bus, and they have no dollars to take and give developers.

Anyone remember TriMet's "Short Hopper"?

Sorry Jack. They killed the old #10 (now dubbed the #73 - same Rose Quarter only service) and with it my usage of the bus as a way to get to/from the office. The #10 was consistently full to, and this half measure #73 looks like a ghost vehicle whenever I pass one on my drive to/from work. No doubt this is a sign NE needs streetcar tracks to "incentivize" better choices

I hate to say it, but this country will be a lot better off when we boomers are all dead.

Sadly, this might be true.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/10/generational-warfare

I'd be in favor of a resolution demanding a statue of Jack be placed atop the verdant bosom of Mount Tabor though!

Remember when "The Boomers" were the hippies?...Now most are the 1 percenter's

Adelaide has some interesting transit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway

We could do something like this, or perhaps Curitiba with much more bang for the buck than any rail system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rede_Integrada_de_Transporte

But where then would all of the construction be done? There has to be lots of construction!

Anyone remember TriMet's "Short Hopper"?

That was a 1-zone ticket. I have two of those that I won't be using.

They killed the old #10 (now dubbed the #73 - same Rose Quarter only service) and with it my usage of the bus as a way to get to/from the office.

Yep. They'll probably eventually do that with the 8 and the 4, so that the only way across the river will be on MAX or a streetcar. Then they can crow about MAX ridership and what a success it is.

This is seriously passive-aggressive behavior. We can start by thanking Earl Blumenauer.

The last cuts eliminated weekend service on the only line that runs by the pharmacy I use for prescriptions. I could go elsewhere, but the prices are much higher. So I walk 4 miles because I don't own a car and rely on public transportation, my feet or a very old bike that doesn't do uphill grades willingly. But hey, if in some fever dream I wanted to go to Rockwood, no problem.

Don't worry Tri-Met has it all figured out. They're planning on cutting everything but huge infrastructure projects:

http://trimet.org/mailforms/budgetproposal

Tri-Met is in what I call the "chasing revenue death spiral," also seen in the payphone and newspaper industries. It goes like this: people don't use your service as much, so you cut service and raise rates/fees to cover the gap, which in turn causes fewer people to use your service, which causes further cuts, which....and continued forever, until you go bankrupt.

Which of the cuts detailed in the article will lead to MORE people, or MORE revenue? None. They will lead to fewer people taking fewer trips, which will lead to FURTHER cuts in the years ahead. Asinine strategy.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/02/portland_police_investigating_20.html

Portland police investigating assault on MAX

Published: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 9:08 AM Updated: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 9:16 AM

By Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian
Portland police are investigating an early morning robbery on a TriMet MAX train.

The victim told officers he was on the train near the Rose Quarter when three men knocked him down, assaulted him and took items from his backpack.
The suspects remain at large. The victim was uninjured.

-- The Oregonian

"Tri-Met is in what I call the "chasing revenue death spiral," also seen in the payphone and newspaper industries. It goes like this: people don't use your service as much, so you cut service and raise rates/fees to cover the gap, which in turn causes fewer people to use your service, which causes further cuts, which....and continued forever, until you go bankrupt.

Which of the cuts detailed in the article will lead to MORE people, or MORE revenue? None. They will lead to fewer people taking fewer trips, which will lead to FURTHER cuts in the years ahead. Asinine strategy."

Remember that Tri-Met revenues primarily come from tax collections, not from customer payments. (Fare collection is only 25% of revenues.) Tri-Met's job is to keep the Political Class (politicians, unions, politically-connected land developers) happy. Whether riders are happy (and keep paying) is much less important.

He who pays the piper calls the tune. TriMet's job is to make sure the State and Federal money keeps flowing in, and that the Political Class will support them when they need to raise the payroll tax.

Every wosrt of the worst supporter of this madness will be at JPACT tomorrow morning.

Here is the list of JPACT members.

http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files//2011_jpact_mbrs_alts_050911.pdf

From the above linked list:

The Honorable Rex Burkholder

Hand me a bag, please. I'm feeling nauseated.

Such doom-and-gloomers! Look at the bright side: we'll have train service to Milwaukie! Where we can . . . um . . . well . . . I guess buy some comic books at Dark Horse and tour the Kellogg Creek sewage treatment plant.

Jack: The corruption runs too deep.

TOJ: It should. It's had nearly four decades to fester and become almost genetically ingrained. With an adoring media applauding a city government that became increasingly authoritarian until today its slimy tentacles have extended to deciding what you can put in your garbage can.

I hate to say it, but this country will be a lot better off when we boomers are all dead.

If you want to read a comedy version of that, I suggest reading Christopher Buckley's "Boomsday". Check it out.

First sentence of the synopsis...

Outraged over the mounting Social Security debt, Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger and member of Generation Whatever, incites massive cultural warfare when she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75.

Downtown Denizen, Adelaide's common sense concerning their O-Bahn bus system is even practiced in their recent decision to cancel it's proposed extension, partial due to their recent massive flooding and "resulting in only limited transportation benefits". Do we have any local bureaucrats and politicians willing to stop MLR because of "limited transportation benefits", or no money?

Elsewhere in Australia common sense reared its head when recently they stopped the requirement to increase bio-fuel additives to their petro. They calculated it cost an average family over $180, and it screwed up engines, thus added to mechanical repair costs.

Who's going to be the first to advise me to move there? That might make common sense too.

They will never cancel any of the present or future rail lines because they are all part of Metro's master plan put together in the early 90's.

The condos, apartments, rail lines, bike boxes, and bioswales (among other things) are all part of this plan and I doubt most people even know about it...

Oh, there's some "low hanging fruit" that could be cut. The two-legged kind.

"Those cuts, however, were made with an eye toward preserving some services without hurting people who use the buses or trains, McFarlane said."

As opposed to the people served by TriMet who use the gyrocopter and burro service?

TriMet's flaks say, "TriMet hasn't spent any money on MLR construction." Yup. Spent butt loads on planning, giveaways to developers, insiders, graft-trading deals and putting other people's asses on the line for the debt they incur.

I'm not suggesting "The Law of the West" or Sharia Law, but these people must be taught the consequences of deception and theft. Just tar and feather the top dozen of the civic grifters, and a dozen of their private sector partners in crime. Please. Or the stocks. The stocks were nice.

In addition to discussing the federal match at risk, on the agenda JPACT will also be discussing the Clackamas County initiatives

COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR & COMMITTEE MEMBERS
• Filed initiatives in Clackamas County related to rail transportation

GO BY SKATEBOARD!

WES? - Expensive. One design (non-fixable). Does little.

Lightrail? Expensive. But does preserve a corridor for future use.

But, none of these compare to the day to day costs of the ATU labor contract. For every dollar spent in wages, Tri-Met spends over a buck-fifty in benefit costs. Yup - that's right. You get no service because all money is being spent on the people who "work" there.

The only way to fix this is for Tri-Met to declare backruptsy, dissolve the labor contracts, fire the Board and all executive staff, all supervisors, shut down operations for long enough to reorganize and start over from scratch with a private NP-NGO running things so it does not come under Oregon's Big Labor toally fixed and corrupt public sector labor law system.

"Lightrail? Expensive. But does preserve a corridor for future use."

With Light Rail now costing $200 MILLION a mile housing is a cheaper way to "preserve a corridor.

Lightrail? Expensive. But does preserve a corridor for future use.

Portland-Gresham Light Rail used streets, Interstate 84 and East Burnside. Only 2.5 miles is private ROW, and has PGE high-voltage power lines running along it that effectively "preserve a corridor".

Portland-Beaverton uses mostly streets, an underground alignment, and U.S. 26 and Oregon 217 right-of-way. It's already preserved.

Beaverton-Hillsboro uses the old Oregon Electric Railway ROW, also shared with BPA transmission lines. Since it was not subject to a land grant it could have been easily rail-banked to "preserve a corridor".

The Airport Line used I-205 right-of-way and land already owned by the Port of Portland - it was already "preserved".

The Expo Line used Interstate Avenue and Expo Road. It was already "preserved".

The Streetcar uses entirely streets - already "preserved".

The Milwaukie Line will use existing streets and run alongside the existing Union Pacific Railroad - it too is already "preserved".

The only line - the ONLY line - where one can argue that continued light rail/streetcar use will "preserve the corridor" is the Portland-Lake Oswego route, as failure to maintain rail operations will likely result in an adverse abandonment attempt by adjoining property owners to reclaim the land, resulting in the loss of the corridor. The ROW is not shared with other utilities that would preclude its use by neighbors.

X-Portlanders- if your plan would work, I'm all for it! Now who has the guts to implement it?

I'm just waiting for Tri-Met to decide that WES and MAX are passe' and we need subways instead.

They will never cancel any of the present or future rail lines because they are all part of Metro's master plan put together in the early 90's.

Yep, actually goes back as far as 1982. The more recent plan adds even more; they do say a few lines are "transit" lines (e.g. to those cranky transit-haters in Clark County), but you know they mean rail all the way! The system would be so redundant who needs dirty old buses anymore!

TrainMet will of course be long since bankrupt for they can build all that rail. The only question is how much destruction the bus system will endure before that happens.

Light rail would be fine if we actually had the population density to support it. Instead, Tri-Met has invested in a speculative transportation structure that serves too few (nearby) people--at the expense of more public transit for where the many citizens actually live and work. Too bad SimCity doesn't have this side effect as a "cost" in its program.

I wonder if there's any hope Tri-Met goes banko and we can start all over again? In a lot of ways, there's never been a greater need for mass transit here. Tri-Met, instead, has become a casualty of the local developer/contractor tricksters.

I have become such a skeptic that I believe any new agency thatnwould arise after a bankruptcy would be more like the military force that now rules Egypt after the ouster of Mubarak. Second verse, same as the first. The change really has to happen with the support of someone like the gov. Who can direct funds for buses, BRT study and construction, and realistic transit systems that are actually possible. It is tragic to see the region being destroyed because its leaders keep holding onto an impossible dream.

The whole thing reminds me of a George Booth cartoon I once saw. It featured an old dog harnessed to an enormous cart filled to overflowing with dwarves wielding whips and yelling "giddy-up!!!." (The dwarves being management, the large cart pie-in-the-sky projects and the old dog, the drivers and the public.) The cart is going nowhere fast.

Just received via email from TriMet:

You may have seen the initial budget proposal we released today, in which we propose changes to fares and service to help address an expected $17 million budget shortfall. You can learn more about the proposed changes, and share your feedback in person, by joining us at a community open house.

Saturday, February 11, 1–3 p.m.
Beaverton Library Conference Room
12375 SW 5th St.

Monday, February 13, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Multnomah County East County Health Center, Sharron Kelly A & B
600 NE 8th St., Gresham

Wednesday, February 15, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Portland Building, Room C
1120 SW 5th Ave.

Thursday, February 16, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Clackamas Town Center, Community Room, Lower Level
12000 SE 82nd Ave.

If you require a sign-language interpreter or other communication aids at a meeting, please call 503-802-8200 (select option 4) or TTY 503-802-8058 (7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays) at least 48 hours in advance.

I just got word from an analyst that TriMet will face at least a $20 million hole next year with similar holes for years to come.
They cannot possibly cut their way or build their way out of the imminent catastrophic financial collapse.

Yet Metro and TriMet are sending a delegation to DC to try and save the vanishing federal funding for Milwaukie Light Rail.

https://bojack.org/2012/02/will_congress_derail_mystery_t.html

Cry me a river.

My comments are not only about Tri-Met, but the broader picture as I see it.

What have we here?

A collaborative effort by government/private to get the public so disgusted with government so that privatization can be accepted more readily? I am concerned that we being led down a merry path to trend to privatization, and when all is done,
I think we would regret it.

As I see it, we are just about there now, all the public/private partnerships?
Our government is almost a private concern, doesn't it look and feel that way?
Doesn't our Congress act like they are private?
Doesn't our Council act like they are almost private?

Public In Name But Acting More Like Private?

Good trick isn't it?

Rather than be so outraged with government as to readily accept privatization, sweep the "money-changers, betrayers out" and get our government back as it should be, representing the people.

How far have we been taken down the road to privatization anyway and the more our elected officials collaborate and act as "privateers" the worse it has gotten. The officials are "taking the hit" for the government getting a "bad rap" - it is obvious something is going on, why would they do this?

In my opinion, it feels like another set up and we should not fall for privatization to be a savior for us. We need good government, when we lose good government, things get worse, .....isn't that about where we are now?
sans government worse yet!

I am not advocating for more government, but good government is the road we need to be on. Running to privatization as a way out of this will leave the people completely out of the decisions over all of us. We might as well lay down and take whatever they give us.

TriMet won't declare bankruptcy, because doing so would all but end the Empire Builder game of light rail everywhere. So TriMet is trying everything they can to protect the rail system.

They claim and have repeatedly told the myth that service cuts are the absolute last option on the table...but of course there's almost nothing cut BUT service. TriMet fields a massive team of lawyers, marketing personnel, engineers, architects, and even computer programmers - not one of them actually provides service.

TriMet claims so many of them are paid for out of restricted funds...but TriMet doesn't admit that those restricted funds were asked for by TriMet for light rail, and not buses. TriMet could have said no to those funds...no to those obligations...and not have to pay for the overhead that those responsibilities entail. TriMet continues under the belief that light rail doesn't cost anything...oh yes it does.

Appointing Neil McFarlane to the GM post was a huge mistake. His past history was a project manager for projects like WES, light rail, even the Convention Center. So he's an insider, politically connected. He also hates buses. Every public comment he's made about the bus system has been a veiled assualt against the system and its riders and he's made no qualms about cutting buses in favor of his pet projects - in particular, WES. The argument for WES has always been "the economy is bad, it needs more time to get established"...but it's OK to shut down or reduce established bus routes?

And yet, from Toronto Canada, this comment on a different blog:

"Our NeoCons are raising abortions & the death penalty to national debate, while scuttling our health by promoting the toxic oilsands globally.

Today, they got a square kick in the Teeth ! Toronto’s Mayor, who’s been acting more like an Emperor, got another punch in the Nuts when some of our Pols used legalese to reverse his expensive, time consuming public transit plan with cheaper, more plentiful Light Rail."

Cheaper? What do they know we don't?

A collaborative effort by government/private to get the public so disgusted with government so that privatization can be accepted more readily? I am concerned that we being led down a merry path to trend to privatization, and when all is done,
I think we would regret it.

One has to wonder if that's what the grand scheme is - there are a lot of transit agencies that don't operate their own services. Phoenix, Denver both contract out a good portion or all of their fixed route service. Los Angeles has a portion of their service contracted out. London operates on a franchise system using multiple contractors (First, the same company that operates many of the school bus systems here as well as the Port of Portland buses at the airport and a good portion of the LIFT service, is a major contractor throughout the U.K.)

It seems that TriMet is only interested in cutting front-line employees and service, and maybe Neil's effort to allow Operators to strike is a move in that direction - if Operators go on strike, he can replace them, and eventually permanently.

Of course TriMet will continue to be a massive organization with immense power...just no accountability to the public, and no real face to it. In other words...what will be the difference between TriMet and...say...the CIA or NSA?

I read that last line as "NASA" instead of "NSA" and thought, there's not that much difference between TriMet and NASA; both are cutting their scheduled service.

One of the many reasons I took my money, my business, my purchasing and got the hell out.
I was born here and I have watched P-Town shrivel into a slum of Liberalisimos.

I guess you can never go home.