But the new South Corridor Project is not without criticism.
Opponents consider the plan to be a waste of money, while
congruently increasing future fare prices, reducing bus
services, and only benefitting downtown property owners.
Portland-based group, Bus Riders Unite! argue that TriMet has
miscalculated how costly the project was and did not take bus
riders into consideration when drafting the plan. The Orange
line rail extension will cost $1.59 billion dollars and cut down
certain bus services – eliminating routes with duplicate services
like TriMet Bus Line 33-McLaughlin.
Rail is like a shiny new toy...
TriMet confirmed that they plan to create a new line into
downtown Milwaukie from lines 31 and 33, extend weekend
service to line 19, and have Southwest Macadam Avenue –
instead of Corbett Avenue – be served by line 99. The agency
has specified that they will continue maintaining lines 9, 17, 32,
33, 34, and 99 at the same frequency. Moreover, lines 9 and 17
will avoid congestion near the South Waterfront by crossing the
new Tilikum Crossing.
Vivian Satterfield, Associate Director of OPAL, an
environmental justice organization, stated “TriMet tends to
invest in rail at the expense of bus investments. Buses serve
a very specific population – more people of color, low income
households, and who live on the fringes of urban centers. Rail
projects tend to be all about capital investments and tend to
reduce our ability to think more diversely. Rail is like a shiny new
toy, but in reality, the burden of building out heavy rail is that it
takes a toll on our overall environment – it runs clean, but builds
dirty. Buses also have longer term employment opportunities.”
it runs clean, but builds dirty.
Light rail consumes less energy per passenger than buses in
theory, but many riders tend to drive to the light rail station –
generating more carbon dioxide – than waiting at the nearby bus
stop.
Portland native and frequent public transportation rider, Jason
Bradd, says: “I once interviewed for a transportation company
and heard that building branch lines is how TriMet makes money,
and they’ll keep building them as long as they can keep making
money. The actual day to day operations don’t make money –
they only make money through capital investments. Besides the
enormous cost and money being wasted, when they’re up and
running, they’re not the most efficient way of getting around –
bus lines are better. It only runs efficiently during peak hours
and it doesn’t take them exactly where they want to go both
ways. Buses are closer to where you can transfer. You have to
make a special trip to get to the MAX line and spend more time
afterwards.”
TriMet only receives 25% of their revenue from passenger fares,
10% from state and federal grants, and 9% from other unnamed
“sources” according to a report published by TriMet. But the
majority of revenue (57%) comes from payroll taxes paid by
business along the rail lines. Taking this data into account, more
rail lines mean more revenue for TriMet. As Vivien Satterfield
stated, capital investment in rail is extremely lucrative for