TriMet is no longer affordable transportation

Many of us can’t rely on our piggy banks to gather enough dough in order to purchase a car – let alone gas.

That’s what TriMet is for, right? Our Portland metro-area transit agency is supposedly a more economical alternative to the expense of making round trips with a personal vehicle. But the truth is, TriMet is ridiculously expensive.

According to TriMet’s web site, the agency finalized a fare increase to $2.50 for a two-hour ticket, and $5 for an all-day pass. Trimet says it typically raises fares a little each year to cope with inflation. But, in reality, due to increasing debt and a $12-$17 million budget gap, the agency was forced to jack up the prices and exterminate a fair number of services that were greatly appreciated by the riding public, in order to stay afloat this time.

Now, I don’t consider having to leave home earlier, fighting Portland’s cruel weather and schlepping to the nearest bus stop any more affordable than driving anymore. According to fueleconomy.gov, a mid-sized car has an average fuel consumption of 23 mpg. If you pay roughly $3 per gallon for gas and each day you make a 46-mile roundtrip, you’re going to spend around $6 each day.

Is it really worth the trouble to commute by bus, rail and walking and waiting to save a measly dollar?

Of course, it’s different if you’re traveling all the way from Gresham to Beaverton. The truth is, $5 each day adds up. Recently, I’ve taken to walking the extra 20-30 minutes instead of riding transportation to five stops to school. I’d much rather burn calories than the cash in my wallet.

TriMet has been one of the best, award-winning public transit agencies in the world. I don’t want to discredit it. It has tried its hardest to make using its transit services more comfortable. It redesigned the interior and exterior of buses. It also developed modern hybrid buses to save on fuel costs.

However, TriMet’s recent instability and tone-deaf proposals to help fix its financial crisis leaves many people, like myself, on the fence.

I feel like TriMet has its priorities mixed up. It offers its employees extravagant benefits, such as pension, child/elder care, deferred compensation, tuition reimbursement, etc. I find that noble, except the agency also cut many valued services such as the free rail zone, and it has reduced MAX light-rail service (except on weekdays during rush-hour), placed several new boundaries on LIFT services for riders with disabilities and eliminated roundtrips using a single fare.

TriMet is floundering. In order to successfully craft a solution to its debt crisis, it has to choose what’s more important: unbeatable employee benefits, or more services for low-income residents who use TriMet.

Trimet, as a public service agency, should choose the latter. Just like teachers, who sacrifice comfortable wages to boost and invest in the future of their students, they should focus on the people they serve.

This latest fare hike might be the breaking point. According to trimet.org, the agency has admitted that additional fare changes and even more service cuts lie ahead if it fails to win a pending labor contract arbitration and to succeed in making proper spending reforms.

The situation has aroused new debates and protests. It seems as though local riders have become apprehensive, regarding the future of TriMet. The agency can‘t afford to lose public appeal over a 40-cent fare increase. If TriMet loses too much business, I know many employees will be laid off, and the world-renowned transportation service could see its demise.