Portland gets it...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

http://www.trimet.org/projects/index.htm

I-205/Portland Mall MAX Light Rail Project
I-205 Light Rail will bring high-capacity transit service to Clackamas County, Milwaukie and Southeast Portland via a MAX line along I-205. Portland Mall Light Rail will enliven 5th and 6th avenues downtown while adding MAX service between Union Station and Portland State University.

Washington County Commuter Rail
The Washington County Commuter Rail line will serve the heavily traveled Interstate 5/Highway 217 corridor, and connect with MAX in Beaverton. More

Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail
Phase 2 of the South Corridor Project, a future Portland-Milwaukie MAX extension is being planned. More

Portland Streetcar Lowell Extension
Construction of a Streetcar extension to SW Lowell St in the South Waterfront District is underway. Service could begin in summer 2007. More at portlandstreetcar.org


Our Roadmap: The Transit Investment Plan
TriMet's Transit Investment Plan is a rolling five-year plan that serves as a roadmap for expanding service to meet the region's transportation and livability goals.

[nxylas]

1. Columbia, SC doesn't get it

I was at a meeting of the Richland County Transit Committee the other night and Portland's name came up repeatedly as an example of best practice. And now I read that the State of Oregon is considering a proposal to give its residents single-payer universal healthcare too. Man, if it wasn't for the hassle of relocating and the fact that my wife and I both have relatively secure jobs in Columbia, I'd up sticks and move there in a heartbeat.

[ramapo]

2. Since the 1970s

I remember getting literature during the late '70s which outlined Portland's light rail plans. They were one of the few metropolitan areas making serious plans for alternative transportation.
Seems to still be the case.

Mass transit has been expanded out to the suburbs in some areas like Boston and Chicago but for the most part the decades since the 1970s have seen the continued massive highway subsidies.

I always laugh when I hear the tired complaints about our tax dollars being wasted via socialistic-type funding of Amtrak, etc. Of course, nobody thinks for a second about the billions
spent on road construction.

Mass transit here in North Jersey is fairly dysfunctional. Aside from rush hour train service to Manhattan, it is generally a slow to impossible trip to take mass transit anywhere. Sensible proposals have languished for years and years to restore service on former rail lines.

Once upon a time, there was a very functional light rail system here. It was replaced long ago by the bus, which is now an almost invisible form of transportation torture.

It is nice to see that transportation enlightenment exists in one small enclave.

[nxylas]

3. Haven't you heard?

Public funding of mass transit is a subsidy. Public funding of the highway network is "investment".