Major decisions were made Tuesday evening by C-Tran’s board to move forward to fund light rail and a massive new BRT project. The unfolding story leaves us wondering what can explain the bizarre behavior of local politicians.
Many citizens asked the C-Tran board to address a number of significant questions this evening. Here are some of them and C-Tran’s answers. I likely have some citizen’s names spelled wrong (as I guessed at the spelling):
Kevin Kay said BRT… is a mistake. Large buses have left him behind multiple times sitting in his wheel chair in the rain.
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Dave Hinton asked why C-Tran expects to a get 40% fare box recovery rate (money per rider) when it seems unrealistic and is twice as much as Portland Metro gets, our nearest neighbor? Why hasn’t C-Tran interviewed any law enforcement officers from Gresham or Clackamas to hear their views on the high crime rate that follows Light Rail?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Debbie Peterson presented a sequence of photographs that she took of the actual situation at the Vancouver Mall transit station showing that hour after hour the parking places, bus shelters and buses were almost completely empty. How can C-Tran claim huge numbers in ridership when the evidence clearly shows very low ridership? Can we verify that the ridership numbers that C-Tran claims actually match reality?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Jim Karlock: Since C-Tran is telling us that BRT will cost less than current bus service, why must we raise taxes to fund it?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Margarett Tweet: Why has C-Tran not provided the public information request that she asked for on April 14?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Hannah Tweet (a bright young high school or college student): Conducted an in-depth study of bike riders using C-Tran buses. She presented the results of 30 actual bus boardings that showed the average time to load a bike on the front of a bus was typically 15 seconds. The longest time recorded was 1 minute. Her interviews showed that 1 or 2 bike riders per month have no room to put their bike on the front of the bus. She asked why C-Tran says it takes minutes to load each bike and why C-Tran wants million dollar super BRT buses to carry bikes inside? Simply changing from a 2-bike to a 3-bike carrier would provide a simple low cost solution for bikes.
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Sharron Nasset: Why does C-Tran predict a huge growth in ridership and then plan to spend huge sums to meet that prediction when actual ridership has decreased over the past year and trends downward? Why doesn’t C-Tran wait for real riders before building such a massive system?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Tiffany Couch (forensic accountant and fraud investigator) asked why C-Tran’s plans show that they will run a deficit every year for BRT? Why is C-Tran now planning on spending tens of millions on a new BRT system when only 6 months ago, C-Tran said they needed Proposition 1 to avoid going over “a financial cliff”?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Mike Bomar: Why are we raising the sales tax even higher in Clark County to make it easier for people to shop in Portland to save on sales tax?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Paul Montegue (representing David Evans and the CRC contractors at Identity Clark County): If the voters defeat the ballot measure in November to raise taxes for Light Rail and BRT, can C-Tran provide Identity Clark County with assurances that C-Tran will still fund it? Can C-Tran provide Identity Clark County with assurances that Light Rail and BRT will be turned over to the City of Vancouver or to Portland TriMet so it can still go forward?
C-Tran’s answer: No Reply.
Council Member Bill Ganley said that Yacolt wants out of C-Tran’s taxing district. How can Yacolt withdraw from C-Tran?
C-Tran’s answer: C-Tran’s attorney wasn’t ready to answer that question.
Tim Leavitt said he had not heard one reason why citizens had to be asked to approve a tax increase and that it will be funded regardless of a ballot measure defeat.
C-Tran Board Member / Council Member Connie Jo freeman asked what the process would be if we wanted to “stop the light rail train” or reverse a decision to move forward with BRT after the decision was already made. What can we do if we change our mind?
C-Tran’s answer: The C-Tran board can just vote to change or stop it. The C-Tran board can vote to make major changes and major changes are part of the process anyway.
C-Tran Board Member / County Commissioner Tom Mielke asked why we are rushing ahead on BRT when we have not fairly considered the alternatives including the no-build option? Why are we hurrying to raise taxes and seek federal funding when the Independent Oversight Panel won’t even have their report ready for another month? Why can’t we take the time to get the answers to carefully plan this? Why are we doing this when the sequence seems backwards by asking for funding before we know enough about it? What’s wrong with finishing our work this year and then consider asking for funding next year?
C-Tran’s answer: Waiting could result in not getting federal funding sooner.
C-Tran then passed the resolution to move forward to adopt BRT as the locally preferred alternative, apply for federal funding, and add a ballot measure to the November ballot to raise the sales tax to fund the operation and maintenance cost of Light Rail and BRT.
