Sam Adams Rides the MAX
It’s somewhat reassuring to spot a fairly well-known public official — and potential next mayor of Portland — riding public transportation in the morning.
Nobody seemed to notice him, really, just another Portlander in a business suit riding the train to work and reading the paper. And as tempted as I was to quiz him about some public policy — like why the hell MAX rates were going up again in September — I figured it was best to leave him alone and let him enjoy his morning.
But if you are not so inclined, prep your questions and keep an eye out for Mr. Adams.
Related posts:
I can guarantee that whatever the TriMet fare increase is, it doesn’t keep up with the fuel cost increases…
hey, i ride the MAX, so there’s no gas consumption there… and from hearing a TriMet report, I know that max ridership is up, so in that little tiny corner of the public-transportation world, there shouldn’t be an increase.
and, if gas prices keep going up, ridership as a whole SHOULD go up as well, especially if they actually targeted people who didn’t want to spend money on gas, leading to less need for an increase.
jonashpdx…
Actually, there should be an increase for exactly the same reasons you gave. Laws of supply and demand and all that. Given that there are a finite number of seats available on the MAX and that demand for those seats is increasing, the price for each seat should increase.
justin, that’s one school of thought, of course, seeing as we’re a market-driven society in most respects.
though actually, i’m not of the school that prices for public transportation should be market-driven. i know, i’m a dirty commie, sue me. to me, the benefit of having more people ride and less cars on the road should be a goal of the city, and the only way to make that happen is to make it be a reasonable alternative to people.
maybe what we need is a competing privately owened public transportation system to compete with TriMet so that prices across the board will go down and people have more options than just riding their car or riding a bus/train.
*this same argument applies to the healthcare industry as well– it’s pretty sad, i think, that there’s so much profit reaped from what should be a readily available service.
You can’t have a competing privately owned transportation system. Public transit cannot exist at cheap prices without public subsidy. If TriMet had to cover their costs simply using fares, the costs would be so high that nobody would ride.
I can tell more people are using public transportation because my commute is much faster now. It happens everytime we get a bump in gas prices. Folks leave their cars at home and use TriMet services. Then TriMet raises their fares, gas prices go down, MAX has problems, and a certain percentage of riders go back to being drivers. It’s a cycle that I’ve observed over the last 20+ years of commuting from Hillsboro to Tualatin.
thank you, aaron, for taking me so seriously. but you actually prove my point that public transport is/should be outside of the typical supply/demand loop because it is subsidized and therefore using things like gas-price increases to justify fare increases shouldn’t be linked.
“I know that max ridership is up, so in that little tiny corner of the public-transportation world, there shouldn’t be an increase.”
I love how people can make completely uneducated statements like that and then defend them vigorously. Have you seen TriMet’s financials? Are you privy to ANY TriMet info regarding fuel expenses?
Be honest for once. NOBODY wants fares to increase. NOBODY likes it, but my god, look how much the cost of fuel has skyrocketed the last few years. If TriMet had a fare system that was locked to the price of fuel, could you even imagine what the price would be? It would be going up every week.
“public transport is/should be outside of the typical supply/demand loop because it is subsidized and therefore using things like gas-price increases to justify fare increases shouldn’t be linked.”
Huh?
If TriMet gets free fuel, I’d agree. Yes, they get government funding, but cost increases are cost increases.
curious and sheesh, you’re right, i’m definitely undereducated on this subject as far as fare increases/gas consumption/etc., and i won’t even attempt to argue that (though I was privy to a recent TriMet board of directors meeting in which they said that ridership across the board has been steady, with increases on MAX lines and on weekend ridership). but in fact, good on you for pointing it out.
but I still think (I could be wrong, as i’m sure someone will point out) that part of the point of subsidizing something like public transportation is to give people a fair and reasonably priced way to get to work, to school, to wherever they need to go ALONG with measuring the impact (environmental, social, etc) on the place in which we live and not just bottom lines. and yes, fare increases are inevitable and in some respects and at some times justified, but (and again I repeat myself) financial impacts are not/should not be the only considerations taken into account when talking about things like public transportation.
I don’t take the MAX because i love it or because it’s the cheapest way to work or for a number of other reasons, and hell, if it went away tomorrow or rates quadrupled or a million other things, then I’d find another way to work. but i have the luxury of that choice, which a lot of people don’t. again, maybe it’s the crazy commie in me (constantly at war with the hard-line conservative, truly), but i’d rather a focus on getting more trains/buses (maybe even diesel/biodiesel like city employee vehicles) with more people on them than on whether or not TriMet was making a profit. the way the system impacts the color of the city and our lifestyles is an important consideration.
I’ll also say (to end this longer-winded comment than the original piece) that we’re lucky to have the transportation system we do, for all and any frustrations that are voiced about it.
Um, maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see many Tri-Met vehicles that run on gasoline (save for those Crown Vickis they use for ?). I drive a Diesel, and so far, Diesel has been steady for quite a while. Buses run on Diesel, the MAX on electricity.
Maybe they’re switching to wind.
I definitely over-simplified the MAX situation originally, mostly just to play devil’s advocate. Public transportation definitely won’t play by the same rules as a truly free market. After all, it’s pretty much a government-subsidized non-profit monopoly… not exactly the ideal free market model.
That said, though, it might be “good” in the end for the rates to follow those economic laws. If TriMet can charge a little more when demand goes up (even if their costs remain the same), their profit margin would increase. Given that they’re a non-profit organization, you could argue that it would then a) free up more money for other projects that would benefit everyone (new MAX lines) or b) allow the organization to rely less on subsidies (and save the tax payers some money).
I seem to see Sam around North Portland quite a bit. I saw him at a table at Sal’s italian resturaunt a while ago.
TriMet could care less whether you ride their buses or not, the fares make up a fraction of their revenue. They get almost all of their operating revenue from employee payroll taxes, additional riders add a tiny bit, but the cost of adding more buses means adding more union backed drivers…$$$…the old saying is
TriMet runs a great system, if only there weren’t so many people using it. it makes me sad, the #4 Fessenden is packed, and as a man on crutches I find it offensive how hard it is to get on/off the bus at rush hour..