Eliminating lowest-ridership bus service
TriMet estimated that it could save $1.8 million a year by discontinuing four to six bus lines and reducing trips on another ten to 12 lines "with less than half the system average ridership effectiveness," as well as service for "seasonal events."In January 2012, TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said the agency hadn't made "any final determination on which lines might be eliminated and which ones could be scaled back" but she singled out TriMet's 16 lowest-performing bus lines: the 16, 18, 23, 30, 34, 36, 37, 38, 43, 47, 50, 55, 59, 84, 152 and 154.
[edit] Eliminating 'redundant' bus service
TriMet estimated that it could save $1.3 million a year by reconfiguring overlapping or "redundant" bus routes to save costs, simplify routes or make travel more direct.In a January 2012 email, spokeswoman Mary Fetsch offered "a look at some which have some redundancy":
- Line 17 (NW 21st Ave/St. Helens Rd) in Northwest Portland
- Line 6 (Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) and Line 8 (NE 15th Ave) in North Portland
- Line 67 (Jenkins/158th Ave.) along Jenkins
- Line 47 (Baseline/Evergreen) and Line 48 (Cornell) in Willow Creek
- Line 87 (Airport Way/181st Ave.) in Parkrose
4 comments:
TriMet's 16 lowest-performing bus lines
Of these 16 bus lines:
Lines 16, 18, 23, 43, and 55 are nearly entirely within the City of Portland (the 43 and 55's western end is in Washington County but the majority of the route is in Portland. Neither end at a city - the 55 makes a loop in the eastern edge of Beaverton and the 43 ends at Washington Square.)
Line 30 is the Estacada bus. Discontinuing that route will have all of the problems of Boring - it'll require removing a lot of geography from TriMet's taxing district. (I'm sure the good folks in Estacada don't mind - in fact I bet they could run a bus themselves far better, and cheaper, with brand new commuter spec vehicles rather than in-city transit spec buses.)
Line 34 probably would go away without too much grief, it is close to the 32 and 33 routes.
36, 37 and 38 pose a problem since those three routes all serve large parts of Lake Oswego. Removing those lines leaves just the 35 and 78 bus routes. Will Lake Oswego be willing to reduce most of their route-miles and continue to pay TriMet taxes? The 38 also serves Kruse Way - specifically identified by transit proponents as an area where transit needs to be expanded, not reduced. Elimination of these routes would also eliminate all transit service between Tualatin and Lake Oswego without a transfer in Tigard, and would eliminate transit service to an industrial area of Tigard.
The 43 serves a variety of otherwise hard to access neighborhoods that don't have any other good alternatives. (And why would TriMet go out and plaster those 3D barcodes at bus stops on a bus line it wants to discontinue? On the other hand, this one hits Neil McFarlane personally so maybe I'm OK with it going.)
The 50 has been on the cutting block ever since it was the 60 route. It seems that TriMet doesn't know what to do with Cedar Mill. The Cedar Mill Shuttle was popular but TriMet axed it, and gee whiz - ridership plummeted!
The 59 could probably go since it's fairly close to the MAX line but it does access a number of destinations much more closely than MAX. But there are good north-south routes available.
The 84...isn't it going to be discontinued anyways?
The 152 is in Milwaukie...isn't that a route that MAX will need?
The 154...well, piss off West Linn even more. West Linn ought to just vote TriMet out like its sister communities in Clackamas County. It's pretty clear TriMet doesn't want West Linn. Now it's official.
"a look at some which have some redundancy":
Why would TriMet mess with the 6 and 8 lines? Aren't they among TriMet's most popular and productive routes? It's like Starbucks closing two stores that are immensely popular and profitable, simply because they're too close to each other. Don't mess with a good thing.
The 17 does have some redundancy with the Streetcar but then goes north. TriMet is right to eliminate the redundancy with the Streetcar - but aren't the 15 and 77 lines more "redundant" than the 17?
The 67...redundant, how? Yes, the stretch along Jenkins, and Cedar Hills...yes, it can go. But the stretch on 158th and Bethany has no alternate. Maybe looping the 67 through Tektronix, Millikan and 153rd, or maybe to T.V. Highway and up 170th? Or, have it stay on Merlo to 170th, then up to Baseline, then Baseline back to 158th (on the north side of Costco) so it'd also serve the 170th MAX station.
48 serves as the "mainline" route along Cornell...47 is the "scenic route" that serves Baseline and Evergreen. Combining the two routes would do what neither route does best and would only further discourage ridership.
What TriMet SHOULD be doing is looking for ways to improve the service - using smaller vehicles (read: lower fuel expense), work with the union to create rules that allow lower seniority drivers (read: lower pay) to work these shorter, easier routes - maybe even a stepping stone from someone that wants to move from paratransit to fixed-route, since the vehicles could be the same cutaway buses.
I live on the 59 route - it's not really "close" to MAX since it runs about a mile and a half (or more) north of it. Unfortunately ridership on it tanked when it went from running from about 5am-7pm 7 days a week to M-F rush hour only. And surprise surprise, the choice riders started driving instead.
I'd be more amenable to that being cut IF and only if they took out the "redundant" part of the 67 and had that go up Cedar Hills to Walker instead of Jenkins to replace service on Walker Rd should the 59 be cut. Still screws the people who live on Park Way or Walker between 158th and 185th though since there wouldn't be anything remotely close by for them.
47 and 48 should be redirected away from Willow Creek. Makes absolutely no sense to not be able to get from Cornell west of 185th to Cornell east of Evergreen (go ahead, Erik, you try it).
Erik: Just because things are inconvenient to you and give you an opportunity to gripe more, doesn't mean we care. Please stop looking at things from such a short-sighted perspective and actually offer something meaningful for a change. We'll just stop reading your posts until you do.
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