L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Al Bradbury (left) and Xander Dunlap are members of the new Portland Transit Riders Union, a grassroots group formed to fight TriMet budget cuts.

New ‘riders union’ to lobby for changes, alternative funding

By Merry Mackinnon

The Portland Tribune, Jun 4, 2009Dennis Priebe has no income, walks with a cane, lives downtown in a subsidized apartment and relies on food stamps. He worries how he’ll pay for trips to the grocery store if TriMet eliminates Fareless Square.

Judy Ridenour never learned to drive a car and purchased her Southeast Portland house because it’s close to an express commuter bus stop. But in three months, that bus line will cease to exist, so Ridenour will set her alarm an hour ahead and then transfer from the bus to the MAX to get to her job in Lloyd District.

Stuart Fishman lives in Raleigh Hills, works nights at a grocery store and doesn’t own a car. He commutes by bus, but it will no longer run on weekend evenings, so Fishman has arranged to borrow a car.

On May 27, after three months of public input, TriMet’s board of directors approved cuts to bus and MAX light rail service. Effective Sept. 13, the cuts will eliminate four bus lines, significantly change 20 bus lines, discontinue 15 bus lines’ weekend service and reduce service to other bus lines. MAX line service reductions will begin Aug. 30.

TriMet officials also are debating whether to drop Portland’s Fareless Square — the fare-free zone that covers downtown and parts of inner Northeast Portland around the Rose Quarter and Lloyd Center. And the transit agency is considering more cuts if the economy doesn’t improve soon.

But the cuts are no longer coming without organized opposition; TriMet’s recent moves have spurred the creation of a grassroots group calling itself the Portland Transit Riders Union. Its goal: to get TriMet to expand service, lower fares, democratize decisions and stop laying off transit workers.

Members of the transit riders union, formed after TriMet’s February announcement of proposed cutbacks in bus and MAX service, gathered to protest the cuts at Pioneer Courthouse Square following the TriMet board’s May 27 meeting. They held signs that read “Defend Public Transportation” and “Tax the CEOs — Save TriMet.”

The group spells out its concerns in flyers members handed out to passersby — stating that service cuts disproportionately hurt low-income people who rely on public transportation, particularly those working nights and swing shifts.

“These are hard times,” said Al Bradbury, one of the transit riders union’s founders. “TriMet should be expanding service, not cutting it.”

TriMet doesn’t argue that point.

“We agree with them. We’d love to be expanding service,” said TriMet Communications Director Mary Fetsch. “They should lobby Salem. They should lobby Congress.”

That’s what they intend to do, said transit riders union leaders — lobby for funding alternatives for mass transit, including corporate tax increases, higher income taxes on the wealthy, less spending on highways and more on public transportation.

The group also wants TriMet’s fare hikes rolled back. And it’s pushing to change TriMet’s seven-member board. The board should be elected, not appointed by the governor, as is the case, said Portland Transit Riders Union co-founder Tim Koch.

“Let’s put a little democracy into one of the most important public services’ boards in Oregon,” Koch said.

According to Fetsch, the idea of an elected board comes up every now and then. But TriMet officials prefer the way the board is configured.

“We have a solid board, with folks who bring a lot of expertise,” Fetsch said. “It’s diverse and includes two union leaders.”

In raising the issue of an elected board, transit riders union organizers point to the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union. Inspired by the achievements of that well-organized group, the Portland group hopes to follow in its footsteps. Koch, who once lived in Los Angeles, recalls riding the crowded Wilshire Boulevard bus and watching activists, wearing Bus Rider Union T-shirts, boarding buses to rally riders on behalf of their cause.

“We’re modeling after L.A.,” Koch said.

However, the Portland group’s strategy differs from its Los Angeles counterpart when it comes to light rail. To save inner city bus lines serving minorities and low-income workers, the Los Angeles group fought light rail development to the wealthier suburbs. But Portland’s MAX lines to places like Gresham and Beaverton benefit the low-income, immigrant and minority communities that live there, so the Portland Transit Riders Union supports MAX.

Another Portland organization that favors equitable and sustainable communities sides with the Portland transit riders group but sympathizes with TriMet’s lack of options in its budget.

“TriMet is in a tough spot right now,” said Mara Gross, Coalition For A Livable Future policy director.

Because 55 percent of TriMet’s budget is funded through employer payroll taxes, TriMet’s revenue fell as layoffs increased in Oregon during the recession. A bit more than 20 percent of TriMet’s operating revenue comes from passengers fares; most of the rest comes from state and federal grants.

So, in spite of record ridership rates, the cuts were necessary to plug a $23.6 million budget gap. To soften the effect on riders, cuts were made throughout the agency, Fetsch said, including hiring and salary freezes, layoffs and furloughs.

“The last thing we want to touch is service,” Fetsch said.

But if the economy worsens, transit riders could face even more cuts to service in the future, Fetsch said.

Also, TriMet and groups that it considers “stakeholders,” including social service agencies, are currently meeting to debate Fareless Square’s future. Fetsch said one possible outcome might be to discontinue the downtown free ride on buses but maintain it on streetcars.

As for Gross, she shares the transit riders union’s concerns about TriMet cuts.

“This is part of a larger problem of needing to find ways to adequately fund our public transportation,” Gross said. “Cutting transit operations is a real problem in our community.”