Wednesday, March 25, 2009

TriMet Adjusts Service Cuts; More Public Meetings On Tap

TriMet, after taking in a whole lot of public commentary (and maybe reading a blog or two, who knows?) has refined its service cutback initiative. Here's the executive skinny:

Routes Eliminated down from twelve to five. And here are the losers: 41-Tacoma, 74-Lloyd District/Southeast, 86-Alderwood, 153-South End Loop Road and 157-Happy Valley.

That 41 elimination is what caught my eye. It's just as well; with only morning and afternoon service and no weekend service at all, it was a pretty lame replacement for the old route which was discontinued when weight limits made using the Sellwood Bridge out of the question.

The rest of the lines proposed for elimination will run on reduced hours/days or will be combined into new routes. Notable here is the 33-Fremont, which will remain but in a foreshortened form: only running weekdays with no evening or weekend service, and only between Emanuel Hospital and the Gateway Transit Center.

Emanuel Hospital? If you're going to end the line at Emanuel, why not go for broke and go to the Rose Quarter TC? More connections available there, one fewer transfer for line 33 riders. And you want to go somewhere after hours or on weekends? C'est la guerre, mon cher; C'est la vie, mon ami.

Another interesting bit of bus route alchemy: the 18-Hillside and the 63-Washington Park will be combined, and 63-Washington Park will elminate weekend service.

Many lines will lose weekend service. Lines 1-Vermont, 10-Harold, 34-River Road and 51-Vista will lose Saturday service but retain weekday service. Lines 17-NW 21st Ave/St. Helens Rd, 48-Cornell, and 67-Jenkins/158th Ave.will lose Sunday service but still have weekday and Saturday service. A few other lines will see drastic changes in weekend coverage.

There will be three public meetings on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of April in SW and downtown Portland and the Clackamas Town Center area respectively. TriMet has a press release on their site which has more complete details on the proposed service reductions and times and locations of the meetings.

Feel your area's getting the short end of the transit stick? Show up and make yourself heard!

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