MaxRedline

Trubble In The Chunnel

The route for electric choo-choos between England and France has been closed indefinitely.  You can't get much "cleaner and greener" than this.

Trapped Eurostar passengers spoke of languishing in the dark for up to 16 hours without adequate food, water or any clear idea of what was happening. Some reportedly suffered asthma and panic attacks.

While most of the trains were towed out, two had to be evacuated, forcing passengers to walk through sections of the darkened tunnel.

Earlier, officials blamed the problems on the quick transition from the icy cold of France, which is suffering some of its worst winter weather in years, to the relative warmth of the tunnel, which could have produced condensation and interfered with the trains’ electrical systems. But the exact cause remains unclear.

Well, that's just silly.  Everybody knows the exact cause: Man-Made Global Warming.  At least we know that it's concentrated in the tunnel, so the rest of us can get on with layering clothes, shoveling snow, and breaking ice.

Losers

TriMet is trying to paint a rosy face on its ridership figures, but it isn't playing well.  Portland's so-called "mayor" isn't getting any love, either.  He's too stupid to have figured out that he should have just resigned.

In a rare rebuke to Portland Mayor Sam Adamsand efforts to rein in emissions linked to climate change, a panel led by the Metro CouncilThursday morning voted for a cautious approach in evaluating potential pollution effects of transportation projects.

Collette introduced a Metro alternative to Adams' proposal before the panel could consider the mayor's plan.

"We're not ignoring your amendments," Collette told Adams.

"I've been in public service for a very long time and I'm well aware of what's going on here," Adams replied. "While I appreciate your procedural sleight of hand, I'd like my amendment to be considered first."

Burkholder said the Metro Council wanted to "acknowledge the city of Portland's concerns."

"We say, let's develop those tools and bring them back to this body in an urgent manner," Burkholder said.

Adams quickly moved to table Metro's alternative. That prompted some confusion, as the members weren't sure how to handle the parliamentary jousting. Metro Council President David Bragdon, not officially a member of the committee, hustled to a back office to fetch a worn copy of Robert's Rules of Order, and read aloud a section on how to handle a motion to table.

In the end, Burkholder's amendment passed with Adams as the sole dissenter. Afterwards, Adams' proposal failed in an 11-to-5 vote.

Note to Sam: you've never been in public service, unless you consider the term to mean driving around in a public parking lot with your pants unzipped and crashing into stuff.  While it's entertaining, most of the rest of us don't view that as "public service".

You could best serve by leaving.  Quietly.

"Green" Transport May Spin Out

With the current conditions, what usually happens in Portland?  We're in a deep freeze right now.  That can mean only one thing: when the rain hits, we'll have lots of ice.

TriMet is already warning folks that they may not be able to function:

The MAX Light Rail, WES Commuter Rail and Portland Streetcar will operate normally unless there is a problem with the tracks, switchphone. Shuttle buses will be used during MAX disruptions, whenever possiblees or the overhead wires, which can get jammed with ice. When there is a major disruption, service updates will be posted on the reader boards at MAX and WES stations, in addition to alerts via web and....

This isn't a warning, it's a guarantee.  Happens every time.  And what do they use to get around problems?  Why, buses, of course.  They spend billions of dollars (literally) on fixed-rail, yet rely on buses when fixed-rail halts.

Obviously, it makes much more sense to invest in buses and to disinvest in fixed-rail.  Buses just aren't sexy.  Maybe we could fit them with those girlie mudflaps....

Seattle Discovers Light Rail

Say what you will about light rail, that it functions very effectively in bringing together diverse elements of the community is indisputable.  By building fixed-rail lines while simultaneously cancelling bus service in areas served by the lines, transit agencies are able to assemble a high-density, target-rich environment for the thugs who gravitate to the lines.  Seattlites are now finding out why the lines are referred to as "crime lines" in so many of the urban areas in which they've been built.

Here in Portland, we've become very familiar with the concept.  At last count, The Oregonian newspaper had 2150 articles relating to crime along light rail lines; much of which is concentrated within three blocks of a line.  But hey, the trains are "green" - well, except for the blood.

Metro: Don't Bogart That Joint, My Friend

At its November 12 meeting, Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) adopted “performance targets” calling for a tripling of walking, biking, and transit use by 2035. This came despite the release of the Annual Portland Resident Survey conducted by the City Auditor, showing that levels of solo driving for commuters actually increased by 4.6% this year and that transit use dropped by 9%.

Oh, and the million more people that the area's supposed to draw?  That's not happening either.  Apparently, all of the barista jobs are full.  Of course, facts never get in the way of Metro's grand plans.

This is really what Metro would like to do - they'd like nothing better than to force the entire metropolitan population to live in a giant beehive.  But they can't, so they make do with shiny trains and bicycle paths instead.  For now.

Who Would Ever Have Thought?

Certainly not government.  When the "planners" decided that a commuter rail line between Beaverton and Wilsonville was worth the diversion investment of transport dollars to "improve" the existing Portland & Western Railroad tracks and associated "upgrades", it never occurred to them that the rules for heavy rail differ greatly from the usual streetcar-ry things.  For one thing, on railroads, it's required that the horn be sounded four times at each public crossing.

Between the regular trains and the TriMet "commuter trains" folks in the city of Tualatin are treated to 1,280 weekday horn blasts, and they aren't liking it much.  This was an unanticipated issue, as is usually the case when government tries to run something.  TriMet, therefore, is trying to get a waiver so that their wildly unpopular commuter trains can be quieter.  The idea seems to be to just let them kind of sneak through towns.

This place was founded upon the concept of limited government.  Apparently, there's no such thing.

Ah, The Wonders Of "Planning".

The mantra in the Portland area is "density".  That makes a degree of sense, as most Portland area politicians are really dense, themselves.  How stupid are they?

They don't realize that high density conditions actually cost more than low density alternatives.  And they believe that high density results in more social interaction, as people walk and bicycle around.  In an utopian world, that might be the case.  But we live here, and the fact of the matter is that high density living actually results in less social interaction.  Well, at least less of what might be termed as positive social interaction.

People who live in lab-rat warrens tend to keep to themselves, and are much less likely to engage in social interaction than are their counterpart rubes, who live in "sprawl" (low-density areas).

In other words, their vaunted "high-density" "planning" has hit a huge speed-bump: nothing works as "planned".

In the private sector, the spectacular series of failure after failure would result in an influx of "planners" looking for new jobs.  In the public sector, results don't matter; it's the thought that counts.

The Myth Of Light Rail "Success".

Portland Tribune ran a puff piece on the newest running light rail lines, the gist of which seems to involve how wonderful it all is.  They conveniently ignored the little things - like the cost per mile, and the fact that it's largely run on the "honor system" - which means that a lot of riders don't pay.  Transit ridership is booming on the light rail lines - or so they'd have you believe.  The actual facts, of course, paint a far different picture:

Portland, Oregon (3-County) Transit

Urban Travel Market Share

Compared to Before Light Rail

Roadway

1985--97.9%

2007--97.9%

Transit

1985---2.1%

2007---2.1%

Transit Share:

Change from 1985 = 0%

Data from US Department of Transportation & Texas Transportation Institute

Assumes national automobile occupancy rate of 1.6

That Visioning Thing Continues

The first new stop on the proposed light rail extension into Vancouver will be the subject of a public workshop next week at Jantzen Beach.

As several commenters on the story note:
WHAT PART OF 'VOTED DOWN TWICE' DON'T POLITICIANS UNDERSTAND?

'Proposed' . . . Proposed by WHO? This thing has been voted down over and over, and is not wanted! When are the politicians and the newspaper editors going to realize this?

Heh.  Portland-area voters also voted light rail "extensions" down.  Now we don't get to vote any more.  You can attend the "public workshops" if you want to waste time, but the politicians have a love affair with expensive trains, and they really don't care what you think.

Streetcars!

Each mile of streetcar rails that the City of Portland adds also adds 114 miles of road paving to the Portland backlog.  Portland’s current backlog could pave a two-lane road from Portland to San Francisco, California.  And the brain-trust in Portland's City Council continues to pursue bright, shiny streetcars.

In addition to the huge construction costs, CoPo's streetcars operate at a huge loss: by itself, CoPo subsidizes the tiny streetcar lines currently in place to the tune of $2 million tax dollars a year - while TriMet also kicks in unspecified funds to the operation.

Roads just aren't sexy enough for the alleged "mayor" of Portland - and if there's one thing we know about Sam Adams, only sex is important.  So far, there are no plans to extend streetcar tracks through City Hall restrooms, but that's doubtless on the agenda.