The "commuter rail" has been a money pit since the day it opened. Serving only the tiniest of Trimet riders, its one of TriMet's most beloved projects. They refuse any talk of cutting it.
The "Portland Streetcar" has been a boom to Portland developers, like board member TIFFANY SWIETZER who runs the largest development company in the Pearl district of Portland. It's been operating as a free service for years and its main purpose is to get developers to invest along its route. It's not about transit, but it has been sucking down transit funds.
2 comments:
The WES should be $5 one way,$9 round trip, and valid for bus or Max. The actual cost is $20 for one person going one way,so these prices are still a deal for the luxury service it provides.
Why has Jon Hunt not said one word about the combined debt service of the yellow and green lines and WES ,and how it surely surpasses the amount of the budget deficit? All these projects went forward without any public demand for them whatsoever. Furthermore, the next beast of financial burden, M.L.R., is still not fully funded and is being rammed through despite the hit it will take on future budgets (not to mention the public demand AGAINST it) .
A WES fare absolutely should NOT be valid for any other service - a WES fare should be a WES fare for one trip on WES, period.
Commuter rail systems rarely ever offer connecting service on a ticket - and when they do the terms are very limited - often only to specific bus lines that are timed to operate as shuttles in conjunction with the commuter train. Since TriMet offers no such service (the closest TriMet came to that was the tail of the 43 to serve Nimbus/Gemini, and that existed prior to WES...and the 53s line which began back in 1998 as a Westside MAX shuttle line), there's no reason for a WES fare to be valid for any bus or MAX train.
I also believe WES fares should be mileage based, not a flat fare. It should start at $3 just to board the train, and $.50 for each station passed or reach ($1.00 for Wilsonville, with a base fare at Wilsonville starting at $4.00) - so the maximum fare would be $6.00 ($4.00 for Wilsonville, plus $.50 for passing Tualatin, Tigard, Hall/Nimbus, and reaching Beaverton).
http://www.soundtransit.org/Fares-and-Passes/Sounder-fares.xml
http://www.rideuta.com/mc/?page=RidingUTA-PayingYourFare-Fares
http://www.metrolinktrains.com/ticketspricing/pricefinderresults.html?from_station=131&to_station=110&fare_type=adult&viewticketoptions.x=89&viewticketoptions.y=23
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