PDX Links for May
A fare increase, a tire fire, and more.
I’m still traveling so it’s a bit hard to keep up on the news, especially the back and forth with the city budget and with the Republican walk out (again) in Salem. These things are important but also kind of a bore to keep track of. Still, there were enough other tidbits that caught my eye this month.
1: TriMet is increasing fares (bus and Max) from $2.50 to $2.80, effective 2024. Obviously increased fares are always a bummer but this increase seems reasonable to me considering that fares haven’t increased since 2015. Adjusted for inflation, $2.50 in 2015 dollars is $3.25 now, so fares are at least rising slower than that.
I know there’s a subset of folks who think we should go the other direction and make bus/metro transport free (RIP the fareless square). I am not one of them. Public transport isn’t rocket science and there are other cities who do it better. Let’s not reinvent the wheel and simply follow the lead (i.e. ruthlessly copy good practices) of world class cities.1 What does that mean? A laser focus on sustainably increasing ridership. In our case, that likely starts with more frequent buses and train service on the most popular routes (the Max has some fundamental limitations to truly becoming high capacity but more frequent bus service on major lines should be an easier lift).
It also goes without saying that the Feds should also be raising gas taxes (which haven’t been raised since 1993) and I’m open to more creative approaches in the transportation space if well-implemented, like congestion pricing. But even with that, someone has to pay the public transport operating costs and it makes sense for users to foot at least part of the bill.
2: The new commission maps are still works in progress but progress appears to be progressing. I’m intrigued to see where we land. [June 3rd edit: here are the initial candidates. The options seem ok to me from a cursory look.]
3: Dekum’s long-empty theater is being revived, with the Lobby Bar now open inside. Dekum triangle is already a gem; this just makes it better.
4: Meanwhile, a bunch of old classics have closed in May: Zell’s Cafe, Grain & Gristle, and Castagna are the ones that caught my eye. All three spaces appear to be reopening as something new.
For those of you who remember your recent Portland history: rumor always had it that it was sous chefs from Castagna who roamed Ladd’s Addition stealing herbs from people’s gardens but I’m not sure that was ever verified.
5: In what will surely amuse right wing media pundits, a pile of shredded tires caught fire not once but twice in a week.
6: Whistle-blower complaint inside of Portland Fire & Rescue. The gap between the public and the city bureaucracy in their respective support Portland Street Response is rather surprising to me. Sometimes it feels like everyone in this city is rooting for PSR to succeed except for the folks (PF&R, PPB, the mayor’s office) whose work it is to actually enable them.
7: Another month, another article about red tape driving away developers from building affordable housing. Readers seem to mostly agree.
8: Voters soundly reject measure 26-238 (new cap. gains tax for eviction services), which Mortlandia came out against last month. For those counting, I’m now 2-0 in ballot measure endorsements. If only I had started this blog a decade earlier and maybe we’d have fluoridated water...
My recommendation would be to model our system after Prague. Why? It’s a similarly sized metro (2.7 million folks to our 2.2 million), it has a hilly West side and flatter East side bisected by a winding river (with ~18 bridges), and a widely acclaimed metro system. For what it’s worth, their system costs 2.20 € ($2.36) for a 90 minute fare.