MaxRedline

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.

The Sound Of Progress

Sound Transit has a bit of a problem: too much sound.  In fact, their own studies have indicated that their brand-spankin' new light rail line produces a lot of screeching.  Golly, who'd ever have thought that metal wheels on metal tracks - proven 19th-century technology - might do that?

How loud is it?  Sound Transit said light rail is not just loud enough to interrupt sleep, but also loud enough to hurt you.

No biggie, though: they're all set to solve the problem that they created.  Crews will install lubricating devices on the track way to essentially grease the wheels.

Very forward-thinking!  They'll get you to use loot rail, thus "reducing our dependence upon foreign oil" and solve the noise issue by...using foreign oil.  Who could resist?

Portland Light Rail Stopped In Its Tracks

Yes, a train got stuck downtown when one of (according to The Oregonian) it is doors wouldn't close.  Now, if this happened to a bus, it wouldn't be an issue.  But no - it happened on a fixed-rail vehicle.  A very expensive and silly fixed-rail "solution" to a non-existent "problem".

When something like this happens on a fixed-rail "system", then everything else on those rails is screwed.  The malfunctioning train was moved out of the way about 5 p.m. and service was resumed, but Witt cautioned Blue and Red line MAX riders that they might face delays of an hour or more as trains get back on schedule.

Hey, it's only an extra hour out of your life.

This is what the transit folks just don't get:  time is precious.  I can drive to work in less than 15 minutes.  If I take transit, it takes 2.5 hours each way.  Five hours, assuming there's not an extra hour of delay.  There's no way that I'm going to waste over a day per week in order to ride mass transit, and I really don't care whether it's "green" or whether it isn't.

Columbian Editor Dons Conductors' Cap

Hollering "All Aboard!", the "editorial page editor" (whatever that is) over at the Vancouver USA newspaper displays an amazing degree of ignorance regarding light rail.  He apparently believes that "If light rail is such a wasteful boondoggle, shouldn't the systems around the nation be contracting and even closing?"

He goes on to note that instead, "the reverse has been happening for more than 25 years" (the Neil Goldschmidt era).  He conveniently left that latter part out.  Aside from being an admitted child-rapist, Goldschmidt pushed for a "modern" transportation system based upon 19th-century technology, and built largely upon tax funds formerly dedicated to roads.

He asks:  How could governments and transportation planners nationwide have been so incredibly stupid — or worse, so duplicitous and corrupt — for the past quarter of a century?

The obvious answer:  Democratics.  Neil Goldschmidt.  Sam Adams.  Randy Leonard.  David Bragdon.  These are the folks who brought you 19th-century transport, and the latter three were behind the vacant condo towers (replete with fixed rail) in what is referred to as the "South Waterfront District" in Portland. 

Especially in Portland, but also elsewhere across the country, the legacy of the child-rapist lives on - and it began a quarter of a century ago:  Neil Goldschmidt, mayor of Portland, killed a freeway in favor of a fixed rail plan (when he wasn't busy raping a girl who lived a couple of houses down). 

Oregon voters (Portland) elected the pedophile to the governor's office, where he pursued similar policies (although by now he was paying hush money to the girl).  Then, just as things on the rape side were getting potentially grim, the peanut farmer - President Jimmuh Cahtah - tapped him to be the national Transportation Secretary.

And the rest is history, Johnny.  This is why "newspapers" are tanking:  the "editors" lack any understanding of precedents, they make sure that "news" items conform to their bias, and they are not inclined to let facts get in the way of a good story.

Of course, there are other options.  Bus lines run on roads, and if they encounter a problem, they can compensate - unlike light rail.  There are also, for the egocentric politicians, less expensive alternatives to light rail that essentially perform the same tasks - only better, and at less cost.

Some 13 miles of these can be built at the cost of one mile of light rail.  They can take you closer to where you want to go.  And they don't conflict with cars, trucks, buses, cyclists, and pedestrians. 

Aww. Growing Pains.

We do a great job of growing pains here in the Portland area.  Almost everyone they elect turns out to be one.  Metro (still the only regional governmental layer in the USA, and with good reason) has decided that the Portland metro area can absorb a million more people in the next couple of decades.  We'll grow up, not out.  We'll build more condos that nobody's buying, and do more townhouses and other infill strategeries.  We won't build more roads, though, as that would be very bad.  We'll put more vehicles onto roads that are already maxed out, then gripe about the fact that people aren't taking mass transit.

People don't take mass transit for two very good reasons: (1) if it takes them where they want to go, it generally takes several hours.  (2)  most often, it doesn't take them where they want to go.

Portland's "smart people" have never understood the fundamentals.

Now, Portland's pervy little "mayor" is insisting that the City of Vancouver accede to his pervy little whims, or they can forget about that new I-5 bridge.  Understandably, the Mayor of Vancouver is a bit ticked off by the perve's attitude.  What worked with Portland "mayor" Sammy's underage boyfriend doesn't seem to be something that the Mayor of Vancouver's going to swallow.

With the Portland "mayor", everything revolves around his golden balls.  With luck, Vancouver's Mayor may just step up and do a world-class kick.

Oooh Yah!

Trimet claimed nearly 18000 riders on their new "Green Line" on the first commute day.  $576 million for an 8.3 mile line.  Packing in 18000 riders.  Trimet admits that the trains were virtually empty - as were their "park and ride" lots.  But they still call it a raging success.