Portland Transit | TriMet/Mass Transit News

[PDXDENSITY]

Originally Posted by MightyAlweg

They are less likely to use public transit because public transit is dirty, inconvenient, unattractive, and slow. One look at the people waiting for a bus at a bus stop is usually all I need to remind me why I don't use public transit; they range from glum and slightly dangerous looking teens to boring lower-class worker drones to sketchy tweakers to stinky homeless men with obvious mental disorders.

Quite frankly, I don't want to have to wait 10 minutes for a bus for the privilege of sitting next to any one of those demographics for a bumpy, slow and uncomfortable ride to a stop three blocks from my actual destination.

Once most people advance beyond lower-middle class, they get a car and never look back. The last time I rode MAX downtown, on a lark in the summer of 2008 during my 20th high school reunion, I swore I'd never do it again. Between the stinky and scary homeless guys and the swearing degenerate teenagers screaming at people for looking too Gay (and as a Gay man, that wasn't too cool to live through), I really couldn't understand why anyone would want to live like that, subject to the whims and inefficient timetable of Tri-Met Supervisors and the social rejects their product attracts.

I'm quite happy in my own safe and comfortable car without the homophobic attacks, thank you. And after achieving middle class status in young adulthood, I can afford the parking fee when I drive downtown for whatever reason.

You are espousing a very American mindset that many people move to Portland to get away from. We need to add more transit.

[soleri]

Originally Posted by MightyAlweg

They are less likely to use public transit because public transit is dirty, inconvenient, unattractive, and slow. One look at the people waiting for a bus at a bus stop is usually all I need to remind me why I don't use public transit; they range from glum and slightly dangerous looking teens to boring lower-class worker drones to sketchy tweakers to stinky homeless men with obvious mental disorders.

Your post highlights my greatest worry about Portland. If you see yourself as so special and wonderful that you wouldn't even think about sitting next to "those people", you might as well be living in Scottsdale, Bellevue, or Pacific Palisades. I take transit everywhere and I'm seldom if ever bothered by the existence of my "lessers". Indeed, I think I would prefer their company to that of some junior Rush Limbaugh.

Want to ruin Portland? Make sure EVERYONE drives. Then you'll destroy the very quality of life that brought you here in the first place.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by soleri

Your post highlights my greatest worry about Portland. If you see yourself as so special and wonderful that you wouldn't even think about sitting next to "those people", you might as well be living in Scottsdale, Bellevue, or Pacific Palisades. I take transit everywhere and I'm seldom if ever bothered by the existence of my "lessers". Indeed, I think I would prefer their company to that of some junior Rush Limbaugh.

Want to ruin Portland? Make sure EVERYONE drives. Then you'll destroy the very quality of life that brought you here in the first place.

My son was robbed and beat up at the 162nd and Burnside stop

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

My son was robbed and beat up at the 162nd and Burnside stop

My step brother was held up, forced out of his car by gunpoint and had it stolen in Beaverton.

[soleri]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

My son was robbed and beat up at the 162nd and Burnside stop

Imagine Portland with 750,000 more entitled people who won't use transit because they heard about someone who got beat up and robbed at a bus stop.

Bad things DO happen, like people getting in car wrecks (over 30,000 die each year). Compare and contrast to stories like yours. We are an amazingly irrational nation.

[58rhodes]

Portland can be rough place

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by soleri

Imagine Portland with 750,000 more entitled people who won't use transit because they heard about someone who got beat up and robbed at a bus stop.

Bad things DO happen, like people getting in car wrecks (over 30,000 die each year). Compare and contrast to stories like yours. We are an amazingly irrational nation.

so you dont care that someone was hospitalized?

[58rhodes]

Im not saying people should or shouldnt use public transpo, Im just saying that there has never been any crime whatsoever in or around a Max stop or TrI MET facility

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

Im not saying people should or shouldnt use public transpo, Im just saying that there are places --stops --routes that are more dangerous than others. Parts of Beaverton and Aloha are some of the worst as far as crime.

I'm sure you must have factual data to back up that statement. Please pass that info along or refrain from making 'factual' statements that aren't based on anything but your perception.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

I'm sure you must have factual data to back up that statement. Please pass that info along or refrain from making 'factual' statements that aren't based on anything but your perception.

I will just refrain from posting anything

[cityscapes]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

Portland can be rough place

I'm from the Miami area and have spent significant time in Atlanta and now live in Portland. The roughest parts of Portland can't even begin to compete with even the semi-bad parts of those cities. Whenever people in Oregon say things about a place being dangerous I just assume they have a pretty small frame of reference when it comes to crime, real personal danger, and impoverished crime ridden neighborhoods.

[colganc]

Originally Posted by soleri

Your post highlights my greatest worry about Portland. If you see yourself as so special and wonderful that you wouldn't even think about sitting next to "those people", you might as well be living in Scottsdale, Bellevue, or Pacific Palisades. I take transit everywhere and I'm seldom if ever bothered by the existence of my "lessers". Indeed, I think I would prefer their company to that of some junior Rush Limbaugh.

Want to ruin Portland? Make sure EVERYONE drives. Then you'll destroy the very quality of life that brought you here in the first place.

I run about a 50% incident rate taking the MAX from PDX. Incident meaning verbal altercations between passengers that makes me feel at least uncomfortable and at most not safe. Back in the early 2000s I lived downtown and took MAX to work everyday. I didn't have any issues then. From my own anecdotes and looking at the stations with the most crime, its likely to be very dependent on what line and stops are taken/used.

To contrast in my car, I've been followed and dealt with other drivers road rage. It's not all sunshine and roses that way either . For me personally, the extra space afforded by having my own car (or even when I bike) prevents people from entering my "personal" bubble and makes me feel like I have the opportunity to take a different direction if I feel unsafe. On MAX or a bus, psychologically at some level, I feel stuck.

[soleri]

I see "interesting" things on the MAX from time to time. Say, a garrulous drunk, or a person wishing to share their music preferences with everyone else. But if you're freaked out by verbal altercations, you should probably not live in a city. I'm not sure what it is about mass transit that makes some people fear for their lives but it's not that bad. Just take a deep breath and pray to Aryan Jesus to deliver you from any unpleasantness. This, too, shall pass. And please: never go to Chicago, San Francisco, or New York City. You'll surely have a heart attack.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by cityscapes

I'm from the Miami area and have spent significant time in Atlanta and now live in Portland. The roughest parts of Portland can't even begin to compete with even the semi-bad parts of those cities. Whenever people in Oregon say things about a place being dangerous I just assume they have a pretty small frame of reference when it comes to crime, real personal danger, and impoverished crime ridden neighborhoods.

This is SO true. Most locals have no concept of what a REAL ghetto/slum/barrio looks like. Rockwood, or Lents, or Old Town, or some of the rougher areas of Aloha or Vancouver are heaven compared to large swaths of major cities east of the Rockies and south of the Siskiyous.

[colganc]

Originally Posted by 65MAX

This is SO true. Most locals have no concept of what a REAL ghetto/slum/barrio looks like. Rockwood, or Lents, or Old Town, or some of the rougher areas of Aloha or Vancouver are heaven compared to large swaths of major cities east of the Rockies and south of the Siskiyous.

Or closer to home, many locations in the SF bay area or greater Los Angeles.

[colganc]

Originally Posted by soleri

I see "interesting" things on the MAX from time to time. Say, a garrulous drunk, or a person wishing to share their music preferences with everyone else. But if you're freaked out by verbal altercations, you should probably not live in a city. I'm not sure what it is about mass transit that makes some people fear for their lives but it's not that bad. Just take a deep breath and pray to Aryan Jesus to deliver you from any unpleasantness. This, too, shall pass. And please: never go to Chicago, San Francisco, or New York City. You'll surely have a heart attack.

Spent plenty of time in San Francisco (BART, Muni, Caltrain, buses, walking, etc) and have visited Chicago (have only ridden the "L" blue and red lines, no buses). I haven't yet hit NYC, but hope to soon.

I've spent plenty of time on TriMet vehicles too. Even though I continue to use (by choice) public transit, that does not mean I will sugar coat or pretend away my bad experiences. Nor pretend psychological factors that to one degree or another effect all humans don't exist.

It sounds like you want to get as many people (including affluent persons) using public transit, biking, or walking as much as possible. Understanding what causes people to not use those methods would beneficial for you to achieve your aims.

Most of the time sticks are used to get people using public transit, biking, or walking (the option chosen is the best of multiple bad options). After better understanding what people do not like about public transit, biking, or walking it may give ideas as to how to provide them carrots (best of multiple good options) to use those methods.

When people actively choose those options over driving due to a carrot approach that is when transit ridership will be obscenely high and your goal of low car usage achieved.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by cityscapes

I'm from the Miami area and have spent significant time in Atlanta and now live in Portland. The roughest parts of Portland can't even begin to compete with even the semi-bad parts of those cities. Whenever people in Oregon say things about a place being dangerous I just assume they have a pretty small frame of reference when it comes to crime, real personal danger, and impoverished crime ridden neighborhoods.

you are right nobody in Oregon commits violent crimes--my bad
Have you ever heard of the underground tunnels in Portland???????
Do some research

[colganc]

Originally Posted by soleri

I see "interesting" things on the MAX from time to time. Say, a garrulous drunk, or a person wishing to share their music preferences with everyone else. But if you're freaked out by verbal altercations, you should probably not live in a city. I'm not sure what it is about mass transit that makes some people fear for their lives but it's not that bad. Just take a deep breath and pray to Aryan Jesus to deliver you from any unpleasantness. This, too, shall pass. And please: never go to Chicago, San Francisco, or New York City. You'll surely have a heart attack.

Take a look at the Awareness and Attitude survey TriMet has done: http://trimet.org/publications/#research

At the bottom of page of the document the question (#8) asked, "Have personal safety concerns ever prevented you from taking TriMet MAX trains?" 20% of TriMet riders responded "Yes" and 31% of non-riders responded "Yes".

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

you are right nobody in Oregon commits violent crimes--my bad
Have you ever heard of the underground tunnels in Portland???????
Do some research

???

Who said there were no violent crimes in Oregon?

[soleri]

Originally Posted by colganc

Spent plenty of time in San Francisco (BART, Muni, Caltrain, buses, walking, etc) and have visited Chicago (have only ridden the "L" blue and red lines, no buses). I haven't yet hit NYC, but hope to soon.

I've spent plenty of time on TriMet vehicles too. Even though I continue to use (by choice) public transit, that does not mean I will sugar coat or pretend away my bad experiences. Nor pretend psychological factors that to one degree or another effect all humans don't exist.

It sounds like you want to get as many people (including affluent persons) using public transit, biking, or walking as much as possible. Understanding what causes people to not use those methods would beneficial for you to achieve your aims.

Most of the time sticks are used to get people using public transit, biking, or walking (the option chosen is the best of multiple bad options). After better understanding what people do not like about public transit, biking, or walking it may give ideas as to how to provide them carrots (best of multiple good options) to use those methods.

When people actively choose those options over driving due to a carrot approach that is when transit ridership will be obscenely high and your goal of low car usage achieved.

I can certainly understand how fear overwhelms people, particularly when sharing public spaces with other people who don't look or behave like them. It's true: I want these people to get over themselves. You're much more threatened by cars than the dusky-skinned hordes on buses and light rail. It's this real lack of threat appraisal that makes cities such a tough sell, even the whitest large city in America, Portland, Oregon.

Portland's future rests on people becoming more comfortable doing what freaks out suburbanites. If people use "safety" to mask their fear of other people, they're not merely disguising their real reasons but also ensuring that Portland doesn't evolve in ways that real cities necessarily must. Portland's increasing urbanism will challenge you. I suggest you meet that challenge instead of making excuses how afraid it makes you.