Is the 17 Broadway staying put?
I wrote last fall about Tri-Met's plan to move the 17 Broadway bus from Northeast 24th Avenue to Northeast 33rd Avenue. This would leave a one-mile gap between the north-south buses through the Irvington and Alameda neighborhoods – not that it would matter to me any longer, but it was of interest to some transit users. One rider squawked pretty loudly about it on the bikey people blog, here.
Well, they've instituted changes to various Tri-Met routes as of last Sunday, and I'm a little surprised to see that the move of the 17 was not among them. Maybe they've given up on the idea.
Meanwhile, the big news is that they're not running the Max trains into the wee small hours of the morning any more; the after-midnight runs are being replaced by buses. Tri-Met says it's because they need to have the trains down for maintenance. I suspect that an unstated reason is that riders consider the buses safer than the trains, especially overnight, and the transit boys are clutching and scratching for any paying passengers they can scrounge up, at any hour.
On the bus, the driver at least has a chance to see if fares are being dodged, to be aware of what's going on in the passenger section, and to call the cops if something bad is happening. On the Max, the train operator is way in the front, behind a locked door, out of sight and out of earshot, and if there's trouble, it sure seems like they don't know and they don't want to know.
Anyway, I'm here to tell you that reports of the 17's rerouting may have been greatly exaggerated.
I rode Max several times this summer after the Blues Festival. Downtown was eerily absent of human activity. Max trains to the Eastside were pretty much empty. (And, yes, being an "elderly" female rider, I rode in the front car close to the driver.) I wonder if it's economics. What's cheaper to run with 10 or fewer riders - a bus or Max?
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm sure that's a factor. That 17 on 24th Avenue runs empty or near empty many a night.
DeleteThe existence of Max trains had some credibility when downtown Portland was a hub of activity. Since the death of downtown Portland, Max has become a financial albatross around the neck of public transit. I don’t see Max recovering anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteThey were hellbent on running it to Tualatin, too, wrecking Barbur Boulevard in the process. That boondoggle seems to have slowed down, although it will probably never be dead. And they're still determined that the train is going to run over the new Interstate Bridge, if it ever gets built.
DeleteColumbia crossing won’t be resolved until there is a reduction in the number of people demanding a seat at the table
DeleteThe death of commercial real estate, especially downtown is the end of the line for a thriving economy. If nobody works in offices, then nobody is around to buy coffee in the morning, lunch at noon and beers after work. And Trimet can't operate in the Black with that many riders no longer in the system.
ReplyDeleteOne good bit of news- there are still decent people on the bus. I left a bag of new shoes and a book on the Glisan the other day and luckily someone turned it in. I rode the Orange line to their office on SE 17th yesterday to get it back. Now getting North without going back downtown is another story (3 buses later).