Fareless Square to go rail-only fareless in January 2010

Posted by Christian in TriMet on Aug 12th, 2009 | 4 comments

Fareless Square will be going fareless rail-only effective Sunday January 3, 2010.  This means no more fareless rides for bus service in the Fareless Square.  TriMet reports that 51% of public opinion supported the cut for free bus service.

OregonLive reports that there was one dissenting vote:

“Lynn Lehrbach, of eastern Multnomah County, was the lone dissenter in the board’s vote. He said the fareless area helps bring rich and poor together.”

Umm… yeaaaaah.  That seems, to me, to be a really weird reason.

Here’s the release from TriMet.

What do you all think?  Good idea?  Bad?  Personally, I guess I support this move more-so than abolishing Fareless Square entirely.  Having the MAX Green Line downtown should help a bit.



4 Responses to “ “Fareless Square to go rail-only fareless in January 2010”

  1. C. Johnson says:
    August 13, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    I figure I could be the first to comment on this. In truth, If I were self-focused, I wouldn’t give a goshdarn. I am not often downtown, and I never travel only within downtown. And usually when I do travel, I have a bus pass, so I use Fareless Square to make my transfer longer or to keep from reaching for my wallet. I plan on using the Green Line On A regular basis, as I live by East PDX Comm Ctr and can bike to it, so, yeah, I don’t care too much about how I’m going to fare.
    For Downtown Dwellers, It could be a whirlwind of insanity. There are seniors (and yes, I know, they have a special downtown pass) and homeless people who can only get around on bus or MAX. Let’s say we have a homeless person who sleeps at Rose Quarter. He has friends in Riverplace off of River and Moody. Right now, all he has to do is hop on the 35 to get there directly. But with buses being priced in the square now (and he having no income) he will be forced to take the MAX to 10th at Galleria and Streetcar to Riverplace or MAX to PSU and Streetcar to Riverplace.

    I guess what I want to say is, the MAX situation covers most of the square, but it is not convenient and does require multiple transfers. I say either great downtown lines (17-Everett-Lincoln, 6-Jefferson, 35-Riverplace,) get fareless as well (with line 17 running all days between everett and 14th and 136th ave) or zone 1 passes are discounted.

    This is my opinion. Thanks for having me
    Cameron

    Reply
  2. C. Johnson says:
    August 16, 2009 at 11:49 am

    Wow… Why Is it every time I post I kill a thread?

    Reply
  3. Christian says:
    August 16, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    Hah, I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’s just that there’s a lot of chatter on other sites :)

    Reply
  4. Eva says:
    August 18, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    Christian,

    Hm… You don’t.

    :-) Just keep up the good stuff you put on here!

    Reply

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