In 2011, C-Tran passed a public vote to raise taxes to preserve our bus service and stated funds would not be used for high-capacity transit. In 2012, C-Tran held a vote on high-capacity Bus Rapid Transit and light rail, which voters in every city in Clark County rejected. In 2013, voters again rejected BRT and light rail through two Clark County advisory votes.
In complete disregard of the votes, C-Tran statements and policies, the C-Tran board majority voted for contracts for both light rail and BRT in 2013 (C-Tran board members Connie Jo Freeman, Bill Ganley, David Madore and Tom Mielke did not vote for the contracts.)
The C-Tran board should revoke the light-rail contract, and not contract for BRT this month. BRT 60-foot bendable buses cost over $1 million each for little benefit. The extra length allows storing bikes inside instead of outside on racks on standard 40-foot buses. BRT sidewalk ticket dispensers are subject to vandalism and breakdown vs. the onboard system serving the estimated 20 percent of riders paying on the bus. The plan to run BRT buses more often during peak times can be performed by the existing fleet, if higher demand materializes. According to C-Tran data, standard 40-foot buses are rarely at capacity.
C-Tran should not divert millions of dollars to voter-rejected light rail and BRT.
Margaret Tweet
Camas
