I’m a regular bus passenger on the Salmon Creek I-5 Express bus to downtown Portland. Sept. 16 was the first day of a combined route for the 199-99th Street Express and the 134-Salmon Creek Express. It appears that C-Tran has done it again: Raised fares and cut services. Many comments were shared by all of the passengers.
I was on the 3:12 p.m. bus home. Several passengers did not have a seat. It was the same on the bus I was on at 6:27 a.m. That bus was not a combined route, according to the new schedule, but it appears it was by the look of the many new faces.
I’m sure C-Tran knew what they were doing when they combined these routes and cut some buses.
Normally, it’s mostly commuters who work in downtown and are grateful to not have to drive and pay for parking. Our employers pay or assist in paying the monthly express pass, which recently went up in price. But there are also students and some folks, for whatever reason, who don’t drive and rely on the bus.
