Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Proposed WES changes may hurt SMART bus schedule

TriMet floating idea of changing morning, evening routes from 30 to 40 minutes

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 3/10/2010 3:16:35 PM

Local transit officials are taking a “wait and see” approach after an announcement last week that TriMet is considering an idea to reduce service on the year-old Westside Express Service trains.

TriMet is facing a $27 million budget shortfall and currently has a plan to cut bus and MAX service around the Portland Metro area to make up some of the money.

Last week TriMet officials said that WES also could be impacted, as the transit agency looks at all its options.

The idea, according to Mary Fetsch, TriMet spokeswoman, is to change WES service from arriving and departing every 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

The idea, at first blush, has SMART officials concerned with how it could impact their transit schedules.

“Our entire system was designed so our buses would meet the train,” said contract transit director Cynthia Thompson. “If the trains are suddenly on a different schedule, we would have to look at the entire system and see what we could do.”

Thompson said her initial concern is that TriMet is looking to implement bus and MAX changes by September, and she doesn’t think that gives her staff enough time to redesign the bus schedule for SMART.

“When we did this for the start of WES it took us a year,” Thompson said. “My feeling is by the time a decision is made, we could be left with about five months to redo the schedule again, and I don’t think that’s enough time.”

Thompson was also concerned that there were no public comment open houses near Wilsonville.
“It is just an idea at this point,” countered Fetsch. “We haven’t calculated what we would save or found out how it would impact our partners on the project.”

When pressed on Friday, Fetsch said any decision about cutting commuter train service to Wilsonville would be done separately from the current considerations of service cuts to light rail and bus service, which is expected to be completed in September.

“There aren’t any open houses in Wilsonville or the South Metro area because at this point we don’t have a proposal,” Fetsch said.

Examining the future of WES
The idea comes after Metro added increased WES service to the Regional Transportation Plan for High Capacity Transit (HCT).

The HCT report found that one of the major near-term investments should be to include “additional capital improvements to the WES commuter rail line that will allow for 15-minute peak headways and the addition of midday service.”

Near-term is defined in the regional transportation plan as something that could occur in the next four years.

Tony Mendoza, transit project analysis manager for Metro, said the plan was approved in December with the rest of the RTP passage. He said any cuts to the WES line would be an “operational decision” but that regional priorities for transit remain the same.

“WES was designated a regional priority and continues to be a regional priority,” Mendoza said Friday. “There was no operational funding option included in the process that Metro did for the RTP. The operational funding is always a challenge when it comes to high capacity transit.”
Fetsch agrees.

“The findings were ‘we want more service in that corridor,’” Fetsch said. “The question becomes, how do you pay for that? They are nice ideals, but how do you pay for them.”

Any changes in service would need to be negotiated between the city and TriMet according to a March 2006 intergovernmental agreement. Under the agreement, signed by Fred Hansen, general manager of TriMet and then Mayor Charlotte Lehan, the transit agency is required to provide at least 16 trains during the morning commute period and 16 in the afternoon. The agreement also outlines that when there are increases in service, the city and TriMet will renegotiate in good faith. It does not deal with reductions in service.

Of note, the 45 minute idea TriMet officials are considering would push the number of trains below 16.
WES has been the target of criticism because of its $162 million price tag, lower than expected ridership and an operating cost of $6.2 million annually.

The January 2010 Monthly Performance Report, released Feb. 17, shows that bus service costs approximately $3.17 per rider, MAX is $1.97 per rider while WES came in at $20.41 per rider, with only LIFT service costing more at $28.34 per user.

The report also states that in January, WES carried an average of 1,230 riders per day – the first time the average has been above 1,200 since it opened a year ago.

When asked how the 45-minute frequency of the trains would impact ridership, Fetsch said frequency was the number one attractor for riders throughout the whole system, bus, MAX or train.

“Hourly service doesn’t attract a lot of riders, because when you miss it, you have to wait another hour,” she said. “When you have frequent service – as we have found on our frequent service bus lines – it attracts more riders.”

Despite that, Fetsch said moving the frequency of the trains to 45 minutes should not impact service greatly.

“It’s 15 minutes,” she said of moving the frequency from 30 to 45 minutes. “It’s a 15 minute change. Can people adjust their schedules by 15 minutes? That is at the rider point of view and we are not at that point to have those conversations, we are at the stage of talking to our partners at this point.”

Business community concerned
The Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee met on Friday to, in part, talk about the proposed service changes to WES. President Ray Phelps said the chamber is concerned about how the reduced frequency would impact ridership.

“We are going to meet with the city and the SMART representatives to find out more information about how this is going to impact future ridership,” Phelps said. “We have been disappointed with the ridership so far, but it’s up this year and that is a good thing. We are supportive of transit options that get cars off the highway during peak times at the beginning and end of the business day.”

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