Entries Tagged 'TriMet in the News' ↓

The Oregon Humane Society is having their 21st annual Doggie Dash on May 10.  And, good news - your dog (however big or small) can ride MAX with you if you bring your official Dash registration papers to the event and your dog’s Dash big on the way home from it.

Even though I see non-guide dogs riding MAX from time to time (that’s a no-no people: only guide dogs are allowed to be on the MAX excluding this special day), I think the MAX trains will be ‘gone to the dogs’ on May 10.

Just read over at Oregon Live that the TriMet bus driver who fatally hit a 15 year-old cyclist back in February has been cleared of any wrongdoing.  Based on the reports of the examination, it seems like it was just a really unfortunate & unlucky turn of events that just happen to fall in place at that point of time.

The Portland Business Journal has a piece about TriMet expanding their “TriMet code” which regulates conduct on the transit system. Essentially, the changes were made so there were more “tools” for TriMet personnel to deal with rowdy, disruptive or violent riders.

“Rowdy & obnoxious” riders can now be removed from riding any TriMet service for six hours. Individuals able to impose these new rules on riders include fare inspectors and field supervisors.

I’m glad to see TriMet making some moves to make their light rail & bus system even safer and more convenient to ride than ever. Bravo!

Trimetiquette reader Bjorn let me know of a new article posted by Oregon Live - “You shout, you’re out.“  And, again, I’m all for this.  It seems like a small handful of young people (and older, of course, as well) think getting on the MAX or bus allows them to do anything they want.  Not so anymore…

Read over at the Tigard Area 10 Neighborhood Blog that the Tigard library is having a Westside Express Service (WES) Day. TriMet personnel will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the new service that will begin having testing trains run in the summer.

More details:

WES Day
Sunday, May 18 from 1 - 4
Tigard Library
13125 SW Hall Blvd

View Larger Map

The Oregonian has an article about the ongoing problem of guide dogs for the blind & disabled still receiving electric shocks from the light rail tracks. Although the shock isn’t that powerful, it does amount to a “really big shock of static electricity.”

Now, guide dogs are put through rigorous training to become the appropriate pets to help those blind & disabled. I would think a little shock here and there might confuse them a little… but I’m not 100% sure. The article states that there have been zero lasting effects from these shocks to the dogs.

Does anyone have experience about how guide dogs are trained? And if so, what are the chances that a “really big shock of static electricity” would do some permanent damage? My fiancee’s family has some experience with training guide dogs… so perhaps I’ll try to get her to comment.

Read a recap of Wednesday’s light-rail forum for Vancouver over at the Columbian today. The meeting reportedly brought out 100 Vancouverians (is that how you call them…?).

The forum was to bring about a discussion on the Columbia River Crossing Project (which installing a light-rail system is included in the four billion dollar project in replacing the I-5 bridge)… instead, the discussion mainly hovered around the future of gasoline & the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.

One of the best things in the recap article written was about Michael Ennis, transportation director for the Washington Policy Center. He presented conclusions after studying the light-rail systems for Portland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles & San Diego. His conclusions were that light-rail systems:

• Serve about 2 percent of the work force.
• Remove only 0.39 percent to 1.1 percent of cars from freeways and roads.
• Require government subsidies to cover 73 percent of operating costs.
• Cost 35 to 100 times more to attract a new riders to light rail than it would to a traditional bus system

“Cars are the solution,” Ennis said. “Cars are not the problem.” Really? Cars are indeed the solution when we bring about a means to end our oil dependency. They’re the solution when more than 2% of the population (an estimate) drive a hybrid.

From how I see it now, and with how our slow adoption rate of hybrids and looking for cleaner fuel alternatives, thinking that “cars are the solution” is a way of saying, “Let’s use oil til the last drop and then figure out another way to drive the main mode of our transportation system.”

The Forest Grove News Times has an interesting piece about a push to extend the #57 TriMet bus line. Proponents are hoping to extend the line deeper into Forest Grove… possibly to the high school or the bustling housing developments along Gales Creek Road. The proposition of an extension to the bus line is made more attractive due to a new high school health center in development (construction is expected to be done within a year’s time).

It looks as if the Forest Grove High School is one of three high schools in Washington County that the nearest public transportation outlet is more than a mile away. Having a bus line servicing students at that high school would really help those local families…

Any thoughts about this proposed bus line extension? For it? Against it?