I know some people get quite angry with me for quoting John Charles so often due to his anti union sentiments. However I maintain that is material on transit and light rail specifically is of exceptional insight. Furthermore to disregard the opinions of those who disagree with you is downright anti-intellectual. If anything the point of view opposite of the one you hold is the one thing that should be studied. You can't learn anything listening only to points of view that agree with yours.
This is the challenge that Charles makes to Trimet:
There
is no surprise here; new light rail lines always cannibalize bus
service, in order to artificially inflate light rail ridership. The
express 57 route from Hillsboro to Portland was cancelled to benefit the
westside MAX line, and the 99e express bus will be sacrificed for the
Milwaukie LR line.
As for the notion that light rail saves TM
money on operating costs, that's a convenient factoid invented by TM to
justify their rail mania, but never demonstrated with actual
calculations. In the TM "monthly performance reports", it has always
been noted up-front that "operating costs" do not include debt service
or depreciation. Those are two big-ticket cost items for rail. And when
all the first-generation MAX cars have to be replaced by TM in 2027,
they are planning a massive bond sale to finance it, which will add much
more debt service to all operating costs -- except that TM will define
those costs out of existence.
In the name of "transparency",
TriMet could perform a nice public service by publishing their
methodology for computing "operating costs", and invite review by
outsiders. I'm sure it would be an enlightening conversation
4 comments:
If he really cared about TriMet's finances and the best use of taxpayer dollars, he would skewer them on wasting money on duplicated resources if the express buses were kept.
The express bus to Hillsboro (the 58, the 57 hasn't been changed west of Beaverton), ran only during rush hours and didn't help people trying to get to Beverton, Sunset or elsewhere in between.
See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmchuff/5128143756/sizes/o/
Furthermore, Westside MAX (as well as the Red and Yellow Lines) did not "cannibalize bus service" and in fact came with a large increase in service, with many areas going from no or rush hour-only service to service 7 days a week. (Yes there have been cut backs since)
See: http://web.archive.org/web/19990220215346/http://www.tri-met.org/alerts/newroutes.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmchuff/sets/72157625146300179
http://web.archive.org/web/19970119063317/http:/www.trimet.org/deer-map.html
Two other things:
PM peak TriMet service from downtown Portland to the Westside is much more efficient with MAX:
http://www.rosecitytransit.org/more/maxvbus.GIF
http://www.rosecitytransit.org/more/sunset.GIF
MAX cars are a lot more expensive then a bus, but they last a lot longer and hold a lot more people, so the cost/capacity/year isn't necessarily much higher (it would actually be an interesting comparison). And vehicle cost isn't calculated into bus service cost either.
You don't know anything Mchuff
I'd be willing to meet with you and go over the details/discuss it if you like.
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