The Antiplanner

The Pleasures of Public Transit

27th August 2007

The Pleasures of Public Transit

posted in News commentary, Transportation |

Here are some heartwarming examples of how public transit helps build a sense of community as compared with those soul-destroying automobiles.

A family of tourists got on a Portland light-rail train looking forward to a day of seeing all the sights that can be seen within walking distance of one of Portland’s rail lines. But then they heard someone shouting “the foulest of epithets” in the back of the car.

The shouter moved closer to them, pulled a collapsible rifle out of a duffle bag and quickly assembled it while muttering something about “not appreciating” the fact that another passenger had told him he shouldn’t bring a gun on board. Everyone held their breath, but nothing more happened until the next stop, when a uniformed officer escorted the man off the train.

Those tourists would have been even more excited about their visit to Portland if they had been on a bus the day before when someone told the driver he had a bomb in his backpack. The bus was evacuated and Southeast 82nd Avenue — one of Portland’s major arterials — was shut down for an hour.

Or maybe those tourists happened to take a ride to Gresham the following day, where they might have witnessed someone shot in the head next to the light-rail line. Just a routine week on Portland’s transit system, which is known for its drug trafficking (see the Oregonian, February 10, 2003) and gang activities (Oregonian, October 20, 1997 — neither article available on line).

Thanks to bojack.org for alerting me to these incidents. One of bojack’s commenters says he is a retired police officer from Gresham and advises, “If you ride the MAX east of Parkrose between 6 p.m and 4:30 a.m, you’re pretty much taking your life in your hands. I would walk first.” That pretty much agrees with what I have heard other people say about Portland’s supposedly safe light rail.

Not everyone on or near a public transit vehicle is going to threaten you with bombs or guns. But you are much more likely to meet someone like that on the buses or rails than in your private automobile.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under News commentary, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 5 responses to “The Pleasures of Public Transit”

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  1. 1 On August 27th, 2007, johngalt said:

    This must be why the Oregonian says:

    “…because as the region curbs the growth of car travel time, it also adds relatively pleasant transit travel time that is not figured in — and the pleasant travel time is less expensive to commuters, he said…Time spent alone in a car is largely unpleasant and costly, and therefore people are willing to pay to avoid it, Litman said. But time in high-quality transit environments is less unpleasant than driving — and Portland is adding those kinds of minutes, he said.”

    http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1187576751202450.xml&coll=7

    posted on August 27th, 2007 at 8:35 am

  2. 2 On August 27th, 2007, DE said:

    When you can’t argue on the facts….

    Use Anecdotes! Taking a page from the BoJack school of urban analysis are we? Why is it that you don’t see transit-advocates gleefully blogging about road rage incidents as an example of why highways are bad? Just last month someone was shot by a gang member on 26. Is this a reason not to drive on 26? NO. Is it a reason why “driving is dangerous?” No.

    As for your comment (borrowed) suggesting that riding MAX past Parkrose after 6pm is taking your life into your hands, I’d love to take the ride with you. Hundreds of people do it every day without incident. Why do you rely so much on “what I’ve heard other people say about Portland’s LRT?” Why not ride it yourself more often? Way too much of your analysis is based on some jackass or bojackass making a flip remark based on one negative experience. Then there are daily transit riders like myself who enjoy their “relatively pleasant transit travel time,” and all of our opinions are worthless in your anecdotal wonderland.

    posted on August 27th, 2007 at 10:45 am

  3. 3 On August 27th, 2007, DE said:

    Moreover, there’s no evidence that the guy shot in the head had anything to do with MAX or transit. Thanks for making the false association. For all we know, the shooter got away in a car…

    posted on August 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am

  4. 4 On August 29th, 2007, frankh said:

    Ok so I will make sure the next time I fly into town and use the MAX late at night I will be armed…yes 4 young thugs decided to intimidate the passengers of my particular car while we were going out to Hilsboro airport to pick up our airplane we landed there for an evening in Portland….Having grown up in the inner city I didn’t mind the tense few minutes of “conversation” with these butt heads but it scared the you know what out of my Wife and promptly runined out evening.

    What really amazes me is the number of single women that were travelling on this deathtrap late at night. I hope they are packing because if I ever travel that way again I most certainly will be.
    If we ever come to Portland again it will be by car
    But more realistically we’ll find somewhere else to spend out money

    Frank

    posted on August 29th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

  5. 5 On September 12th, 2007, Update: Police Beefing up Patrols » The Antiplanner said:

    [...] A few weeks ago, I mentioned a shooting that took place near Portland’s light-rail line and implied that it might not be safe to ride that line, especially after dark. Someone commented that “there’s no evidence that the guy shot in the head had anything to do with MAX or transit.” [...]

    posted on September 12th, 2007 at 10:02 pm

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