Wow. This was an excellent and well done video. Very professional. I could easily have seen this running on a local TV news channel.
I too take MAX from Gateway Park & Ride in the east to PSU at least twice per week. I use my vehicle to travel from my home in Washougal WA to the MAX station at Gateway. I have noticed the fare increasing from $2.24 to $2.50 for this commute. But for me this ride is still a great deal. The small dollar increase does not dent my pocketbook too much and with the price of gas now reaching toward $5 per gallon it is a big savings for me. And add on top of that $10 per day vehicle parking fees and my savings only multiplies.
I do know that TRIMET is doing what they can to fiscally manage their dwindling financial resources better and this increase, along with the service changes, is one of the ways they are trying to become more self sufficient.
I am thankful Portland had the foresight to create MAX. I now hope that MAX will be extended into Clark County Washington as is currently proposed by the CRC commission and the new I-5 bridge project. If this happens, I, and many other residents of SW Washington that are also PSU students, will be able to take MAX all the way from Vancouver to PSU direct.
Thanks, Mariana, for choosing to highlight the topic of transit. I just want to add a couple of additional pieces of information to round out your post:
1) TriMet and Portland Streetcar are actually separate entities. This is why we were able to negotiate an affordable sponsorship agreement that would allow all PSU students and employees to now ride the Portland Streetcar for free. We attempted to negotiate something similar with TriMet, but our offer was refused.
2) TriMet’s initial proposal for fare increases would have caused the PSU FlexPass to jump in price from $190 to $224. We were able to negotiate a program discount, as well as a small increase to our own per-pass subsidy which brought the price down to $205.
3) At most other institutions where students receive a discounted transit pass, that discount is generally paid for with student fees. PSU does not currently have a student fee to help offset the cost of transit (or any other mode of transportation). The current subsidy of the FlexPass program (approximately $650k for this year) will be paid entirely from the Transportation & Parking Services budget, which earns revenue from the sale of parking permits and issuance of parking citations.
Wow. This was an excellent and well done video. Very professional. I could easily have seen this running on a local TV news channel.
I too take MAX from Gateway Park & Ride in the east to PSU at least twice per week. I use my vehicle to travel from my home in Washougal WA to the MAX station at Gateway. I have noticed the fare increasing from $2.24 to $2.50 for this commute. But for me this ride is still a great deal. The small dollar increase does not dent my pocketbook too much and with the price of gas now reaching toward $5 per gallon it is a big savings for me. And add on top of that $10 per day vehicle parking fees and my savings only multiplies.
I do know that TRIMET is doing what they can to fiscally manage their dwindling financial resources better and this increase, along with the service changes, is one of the ways they are trying to become more self sufficient.
I am thankful Portland had the foresight to create MAX. I now hope that MAX will be extended into Clark County Washington as is currently proposed by the CRC commission and the new I-5 bridge project. If this happens, I, and many other residents of SW Washington that are also PSU students, will be able to take MAX all the way from Vancouver to PSU direct.
Thanks, Mariana, for choosing to highlight the topic of transit. I just want to add a couple of additional pieces of information to round out your post:
1) TriMet and Portland Streetcar are actually separate entities. This is why we were able to negotiate an affordable sponsorship agreement that would allow all PSU students and employees to now ride the Portland Streetcar for free. We attempted to negotiate something similar with TriMet, but our offer was refused.
2) TriMet’s initial proposal for fare increases would have caused the PSU FlexPass to jump in price from $190 to $224. We were able to negotiate a program discount, as well as a small increase to our own per-pass subsidy which brought the price down to $205.
3) At most other institutions where students receive a discounted transit pass, that discount is generally paid for with student fees. PSU does not currently have a student fee to help offset the cost of transit (or any other mode of transportation). The current subsidy of the FlexPass program (approximately $650k for this year) will be paid entirely from the Transportation & Parking Services budget, which earns revenue from the sale of parking permits and issuance of parking citations.