CAMERON JOHNSON SPEAKS TO TRIMET'S LATEST PLOY TO PIT TRANSIT ADVOCATES AGAINST EACH OTHER

 Cameron Johnson has been an outspoken activist for transit dependent Trimet riders for years and is very experienced in his understanding of Trimet management and board intrigues.

A little bit of backstory from a leader at Bus Riders Unite:

We've been working on the Campaign since the beginning of 2011, and have only recently gained the clout to actually make progress with presenting it to OPAL.Since June of 2013, we've been meeting with TriMet staff members talking about the campaign and how we can make it work.

We were unaware of TriMet's serious desire to restore frequency until they actually posted it on their website. When they posted it, they immediately designated it as forcing a choice between the two, and implied that OPAL did not care about restoring frequency as long as they won their campaign.
This is simply not true; as the document implies, this choice was sprung upon us without warning. While there has always been a paragraph or two about one day restoring frequency in the TIP for the past five years, there has also been the same unfulfilled paragraph about adding frequency to bus lines like the 31-King and 76-Beaverton/Tualatin. We didn't know it was planned until TriMet had made their rounds with the media in July.

Let it be known that we at OPAL and Bus Riders Unite do care about restoring frequency, but we believe our campaign will help more riders immediately for a third of the cost. While restoring frequency is important, it only fixes half of the routes and does not account for routes that are not frequent service like the 20 and 71. Because of this, riders looking to transfer to these lines are still going to face complications. The Campaign is an immediate asset to bus riders of every demographic all across the city, especially those of lower income and transit-dependent demographics. We have also been working with EcoNW to fine-tune the estimates with newer and more logical criteria; since then they have reduced their estimate closer to the ball-park of $2.5-3million.

I wanted to make sure that people knew the full story and that we are aware of the "choice" but still believe it's a false choice. With over $20 million in the bank after the budget crisis that never was last year that left a lot of bus service torn up, we feel that TriMet should not only consult the riders on what to do with the money, but keep in mind that there is enough for more than just one project.