<<  <  >  >>

Transit's shares

iting Portland for the BBC.18 Portland "loves

tive consulting contract. His wife was also a

to ride" transit, said the New York Times.19 But

vice-president of Pacific Power & Light,

of Portland travel

Oregon's largest electric utility.15

the sad truth is that Portland's transit num-

and commuting

bers are little better than mediocre.

All in all, Goldschmidt was easily the

most powerful man in Oregon.16 In

are lower today

More than 97 percent of all motorized

passenger travel (and virtually all freight

response to that power, "the city and the

than they were

movement) in the Portland area is by auto-

Portland Development Commission went

before the city

mobile. Though transit's share of passenger

crazy," observes Lewis & Clark law profes-

travel has fluctuated between 1.8 and 2.6 per-

sor (and popular blogger) Jack Bogdanski,

began building

cent over the past 35 years, it has never made

"throwing money at Goldschmidt clients

light rail.

a significant dent in auto usage.

like there was no tomorrow, making all

sorts of dubious deals."17

Portland's transit agency, TriMet, accu-

rately brags that Portland transit usage grew

Was Portland's land-use and transporta-

faster than driving in the 1990s. But it fails to

tion planning system nothing more than a

mention that transit's share declined in the

giant real estate scam for Goldschmidt's

1980s, when the region's first light-rail line

clients and cronies? To help answer that ques-

was under construction. In 1980 more than

tion, this paper will first examine some of the

2.6 percent of motorized passenger travel in

benefits claimed for Portland's planning sys-

the Portland area used transit. By 1990, that

tem and then look at some of the costs.

had fallen to 1.8 percent. Over the next 12

years, it slowly climbed to 2.3 percent but still

The Portland Myths

remained well below the 1980 level. Since

2002 it has stagnated or slightly fallen.20

Portland planners and officials have done

Even if it were still increasing, the difference

their best to promote claims that their inte-

between 1.8 and 2.6 percent means taking

grated planning process is successful. In par-

less than 1 percent of cars off the road.

ticular, they say that

Because transit's major market is com-

muters, many prefer to measure transit by its

1. Investments in transit and land-use

share of commuting rather than of total pas-

changes promoted by planning rules

senger travel. During the 1970s, TriMet made

have significantly reduced auto use;

many improvements in bus service, including

2. Transit-oriented developments have

building a downtown transit mall, increasing

proven commercially successful and

bus frequencies, and providing commuters

have moved many people out of their

with park-and-ride stations. Between 1970

cars;

and 1980, total transit ridership tripled and

3. Rail transit has, in turn, stimulated

the share of commuters taking transit to

work increased from 7.0 to 9.8 percent.21

billions of dollars of land-use devel-

opments;

After construction began on Portland's

4. The urban-growth boundary and

first light-rail line, however, cost overruns

other planning rules have significantly

forced TriMet to raise bus fares and reduce

reduced sprawl; and

service. By 1990, four years after the light-rail

5. Portlanders love their plans.

line opened, only 6.7 percent of commuters

rode transit to work--less than in 1970.

Ridership recovered in the 1990s, but by

Myth #1:

2000 the share of commuters using transit

Portland Loves Transit

was still only 7.7 percent, well under the 1980

rate. By comparison, buses in Portland's rival

to the north, Seattle, carried a smaller per-

"Car junkies like me are becoming an

centage of travel than Portland in 1980, but

endangered species," enthused a reporter vis-

5