TriMet backing away from some planned service cuts
By The Oregonian
April 20, 2010, 5:45PM
After a series of public meetings, TriMet announced today that it is backing away from a few of the service cuts it was planning as part of its effort to deal with budget shortfalls.
But other cuts remain in effect.
The transit agency announced that it will discontinue two bus lines instead of the three it had planned to cut; and that it will not eliminate any of the weekend bus lines it had planned to dump.
The agency still will eliminate the No. 27-Market/Main and No. 157-Happy Valley bus lines but will keep the No. 65-MarquamHill/Barbur, which also had been targeted. The agency will, however, cut back on the number of trips by the No. 65.
Another Marquam Hill bus line, No. 64-Marquam Hill/Tigard TC, will have some route and trip time changes and will provide some of the service no longer available on No. 65.
Also, the agency has decided not to eliminate weekend service by No. 32-Oatfield (Saturday), No. 45-Garden Home (Sunday) and No. 80-Kane/Troutdale (Saturday and Sunday). But No. 45 will have some route and schedule changes while the Nos. 32 and 80 will have a decreased span of service.
There were also some changes in MAX service, which are detailed in the attached document.
TriMet officials said the changes came after a series of public hearings and 10 weeks of public comment that resulted in more than 1,400 comments.
-- The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/trimet_backing_away_from_some.html
Although trimet is faced by the same consequences as many businesses, it is not a business, but a public service. I was shocked by the lack of public involvement in this cutting of bus lines. The two bus lines to be cut are most likely the least used, but what will those citizens do as an alternative? Most would drive. This was the first piece of evidence I have seen regarding public transportation in Portland that was not driven towards its development. As mentioned in the article below, trimet has the WES rail that does not serve its promised number of citizens, but it is still being developed. Buses serve every part of the city as they all travel to and from the city center. This weeks comparison shows a slight lean towards the outer urban areas in terms of transportation development in Portland. Thanks for reading,
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