On a question about public transportation, some of the candidates took whacks at TriMet, which provides transit services to the region but has been criticized in Tualatin for not offering much service in the area. The agency operates the WES commuter rail, which stops in Tualatin in between Beaverton and Wilsonville, and has a handful of lines running through Tualatin — but service in the city is far sparser than it is in larger, closer-in Portland suburbs like Beaverton and Tigard.
“This part of the Metro area, we're really underserved by Metro,” Southwick said, referring to the regional government. “And so we're paying our fair share in taxes for it, but we're not getting service. I think the Wilsonville area has done a great job with some of their own transit services, so I think we can learn from Wilsonville and some of the things they've been able to do. But we need to increase transit locally within Tualatin.”
Parrish was blunt.
“South Metro transportation has always been just a total pain since I've lived here,” she said, adding, “There's no incentive right now for anybody to use transportation when Metro and TriMet is not servicing our community, and we are paying more than our fair share of employment taxes to support TriMet from all over House District 37.”
Davis spoke passionately on the transportation issue, praising the remarks made by the other candidates while criticizing TriMet for, among other things, its unelected board of directors.
“They need to be accountable to the citizens that they're supposed to be serving, because you know that they haven't been serving us as well as they should have been for a very long time,” Davis said.
Davis said that she has “been happy to see the service improvements with TriMet … but it has been incredibly frustrating to work with them, and it takes forever.”
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