Trimess

Monday, August 6, 2012

Poltifact says Trimet is exaggerating

PolitiFact Oregon | Would we need to add 2.9 lanes to the Sunset Highway if not for Westside MAX?

4 comments:

Cameron Johnson said...

Westside MAX only Parallels the 26 at Washington Park and Sunset TC. It goes within five blocks of a semi-exit at Goose Hollow but that doesn't really count. The busiest exit between the beginning of the Sunset Highway and the 217 (okay, there's only three different choices) is Sylvan, which can only be accessed by line 58, which runs in old buses every 30 minutes peak hour, through traffic.

Except for the Sunset Park and Riders, I can't really see how MAX has helped clear that many riders. I mean, let's not even count how many riders are transit-dependent or don't use the Park and Ride. I'd give them a lane if I were generous.

Why the hell can I create more common sense about TriMet's system then... sigh.

Al M said...

As if we didn't know that Trimet made up stuff

Cameron Johnson said...

Ugh, but they're not even GOOD at it!

Jason McHuff said...

MAX does go west from 217 just like the Sunset does, albeit not as close to it. It is quite possible that people who get on MAX at stations west of Sunset would end up on 26 if they drove.

Overall, the issue that the article fails to address is where would all the buses go if MAX didn't exist. Before MAX opened (and a lot of growth happened) 14 years ago, there were 67 scheduled westbound buses in the in the peak 3 hours. To provide the equivalent reliability and traffic capacity would require a separate bus roadway.