Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Portland commuter rail hits roadblock
Portland's transit agency, Tri-Met, wants to run a commuter-rail line from suburban Wilsonville to suburban Beaverton. The "cool" thing about this line, says this Oregonian writer, "is it would be relatively cheap." Yes, relative to sending someone to the moon. The line is expected to cost more than $100 million to start and more than $4 million a year to operate. Buses would be about $3 million to start and less than $1 million a year to operate.
There is a small snag. Wilsonville dropped out of Tri-Met several years ago when it realized it could provide better transit service for less money. Now Tri-Met wants Wilsonville to cough up $400,000 a year to subsidize the rail line. Wilsonville says it doesn't want to. For one thing, hardly anyone in Wilsonville wants to go to Beaverton, yet this would cost the city 20 percent of its transit budget.
Unfortunately, this will probably not derail the project. Tri-Met will get its money, if not from Wilsonville then from some other unwary taxpayers.
There is a small snag. Wilsonville dropped out of Tri-Met several years ago when it realized it could provide better transit service for less money. Now Tri-Met wants Wilsonville to cough up $400,000 a year to subsidize the rail line. Wilsonville says it doesn't want to. For one thing, hardly anyone in Wilsonville wants to go to Beaverton, yet this would cost the city 20 percent of its transit budget.
Unfortunately, this will probably not derail the project. Tri-Met will get its money, if not from Wilsonville then from some other unwary taxpayers.
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